Working Over Summer Walleyes
By Ron Anlauf
They’re getting deeper and deeper and there’s
nothing you can do about it, except maybe go with them. If you
don’t you’re going to be out of luck, especially if you’re trying
to put together a decent catch of mid summer walleyes. The thing
is things do change, and can happen rather quickly when the July
heat switch is turned up on high.
Early season hot spots that had been so productive
just a couple of weeks ago may be completely void of old marble
eyes now, and it might take some serious moves to get back on the
fish. In many cases that next move is a deeper one, followed by a
deeper one, and so on and so on. In fact you can almost plot the
next move by looking at where they’ve been and searching for the
next logical jump. Unfortunately walleyes don’t always operate in
a logical matter (at least as it might seem to us), and the only
thing you can really do is make an educated guess and then take a
look for your self.
There’s
good news for anglers chasing summer ‘eyes according to Team
Crestliner Member Scott Fairbairn; “The patterns that set up by
mid summer are the most consistent of the entire season. Instead
of being here today and gone tomorrow walleyes will load up in
specific areas where they can be counted on to be found week after
week. Another thing that happens is fish that were spread out
earlier in the season start to stack up in major schools. Instead
of catching a few here and a few over there they tend to come from
smaller more specific spots. That can be good or bad, depending
on whether or not you’re able to unlock the secrets to their
whereabouts.”
Professional
angler Rick Olson went deep for this big mid summer walleye
Where you look will depend on where the walleyes
were last heard from and may include shallower structure like rock
and gravel bars and even sand and weed flats. From there you can
start to look deeper like to a main lake hump, or underwater
point, or the deep edge of a weed flat.
A good contour map and competent electronics can be
invaluable when trying to locate the next hot spot and could
dramatically shorten up the amount of time you have to spend in
the search mode. Even better and faster would be a highly
accurate Global Positioning System that could display that same
type of map and show exactly where you are in relationship to the
contours. Fortunately for us such a system exists and comes in
the form of a G.P.S. and fish finder, like the Garmin 178C .
The 178C is a color graph and G.P.S. combination
that has the ability to accept and display a series of highly
accurate MapSource contour maps. The high definition graph
utilizes See-Thru Technology making it possible to see fish
holding tight to the bottom, which is a common occurrence whenever
walleyes are relating to structure.
If deeper structure is in the picture you’re in
luck as fish holding in said areas are easily marked with good
electronics. Precious angling time can be saved by investigating
likely looking areas thoroughly with your electronics before ever
wetting a line. By using electronics that you have confidence in
you can look over potential hangouts and be relatively certain
whether or not anybody’s home.
If you’re marking fish you can try working through
them with a live bait rig tipped with a crawler, leech, or even
minnow. Another option is to pick up the pace a little and drag a
bouncer and spinner thorough the area.
Team Crestliner Member Rick Olson of Mina, South
Dakota will often use a bouncer and a plain hook when targeting
walleyes holding tight to structure; “A bouncer helps to get the
bait off the bottom and will allow you to drag the bait through
rocks, gravel, and even some weeds without constantly hanging up.
To give you an example; We were fishing a tournament on Lake St.
Claire near Detroit some years back and found big schools of
walleyes buried deep in the weeds. We used heavier two and three
ounce bouncers to plow a path through the cabbage for the spinner
to follow and caught plenty of tournament “keepers” right out if
the middle of the big mess.”
Finding walleyes holding on the deep edge of a weed
line can be tough, especially if they’re holding up inside the
weeds. According to Scott; “You can still find walleyes with your
electronics even when they’re buried in the weeds and is where a
color graph really helps. By turning down the gain you can
actually separate the fish from the weeds and see where they’re
holed up.”
Scott will often troll the edge with a live bait
rig and crawler if he can get away with it, but if the panfish are
causing too much trouble he’ll switch to a leech which can take a
beating and still be effective. “Another option is using plastic
baits like the Berkley Power Worm, which can be extremely
effective and will often out produce the real thing.” He’ll also
go back and strain an area with a jig if he feels there might be
more fish present. “I’ll use a weedless jig like the Norhtland
Tackle Weed-Weasel in a 1/8 or ¼ oz size, depending on how deep it
is, and tip it with a leech or piece of crawler. With the
Weed-Weasel you can actually pitch the jig well into the weeds and
slowly work it out to the edge without constantly hanging up.”
There’s another pattern that deserves some
attention and includes suspended walleyes in basin areas.
Fairbairn has spent countless hours chasing down suspended fish
and states that walleyes will suspend earlier and later in the
season, but it’s the mid summer period that sees the heaviest
concentrations. He’s also developed highly efficient methods for
finding and catching basin runners, and includes the proper use of
electronics.
When he’s looking for fish in unfamiliar waters
he’ll cruise back and forth over basin areas while barely running
on plane and watch for blobs on his fish finder that are holding
anywhere from top to bottom. “When you’re on plane you won’t see
the nice arcs and detail like you would when running slow, but the
graph will still show the return of fish, or even schools of
bait. If and when you do see something, get off plane and scan
the area nice and slow and give it a real good look. If you’re
marking bait you’re probably in the right neighborhood and should
keep looking until you start to see some heavier arcs and make
note of how deep most of the fish are holding. From there you can
set up a trolling run using crank baits or spinners and try to
target a bait to run just over the tops of the bigger marks.”
Deep, deeper, or even suspended, there are
definitely some solid opportunities in store for mid summer
anglers. Yes it’s going to take a little investigative work to
get the job done but somebody has to do it, and it might as well
be you, Scott, Rick or me. See you on the water.
Ron Anlauf
