Walleye Fishing

[eurolarva]

Hi guys I am new to this forum and also new to Walleye fishing. I mainly catch panfish, bass and an occasional northern. I fish around the Taylors Falls area on a Lake called South Center. My question is what should I be doing to catch walleyes. Lake turned two weeks ago. I have been trolling with shiners and jigs and have had no luck finding them. Lake has good structure and plenty of shallow and deep areas. I am going this weekend and could use some advise.

[Northlander]

I would slow troll live Lindy Rigs with a BIG Shiner or sucker minnow or troll stickbaits or shadrap type baits. When you find them in deeper water like 15 plus I would vertical jig them. Just a start.

[mistermom]

That Beetle Spin in your Avatar is a great weed walleye lure. Just replace the plastic grub with a twister tail. It is a technique that has caught hundreds of walleyes for me and many others. Bass guys accidently catch tons of walleyes on spinnerbaits every year.

mm

[eurolarva]

My main tackle box is the beetle spin. I have caught a few walleyes with it when walleye fishermen cant catch them. I went out and caught some nice bass. One was over five lb. I tried the shiners with a spinner rig, floating jig head and also jigging. No luck. I dont feel bad nobody else was catching them. Bait shops says the water is not cold enough yet for them to go on feeding frenzy. Thanks for the replys. I just found this site and think it is great. It is nice to find a forum this close to home that is this active.

[sami0115]

euro... welcome to the greatest fishing site in the world!

[eurolarva]

Thanks for the welcome sami. We got some cold weather this week so hopefully I will have better luck this weekend. I will probably have to winterize the boat this weekend. Just to be safe I will get some crappie minnows as well as shiners.

[abens1078]

try some night fishing too with the same techniques mentioned by Northlander. Don't be afraid to go bigger this time of year.

Good luck

[mistermom]

Hey!

You ever try North Center? I'm not sure but it might be an even better walleye lake than South Center. The DNR test nettings show a better population if I remember correctly.

Beetle spins are great! The nice thing is you don't know what you're going to catch when you throw one out. I've caught bass, smallies, crappies, northerns, trout, as well as walleyes. Great lure!

mm

[MT Net]

Hey mm, lets hit North Center this winter.

I'll second Northlanders Lindy rig technique. I prefer 4 to 5 foot leaders and crawlers. Sometimes with a spinner.

Always fun!

[slick814]

Euro-

First off, welcome to FM. Sit down, grab a beer & make yourself at home.

I'll second MTNet on the long leaders and spinners... only question is what color to use? ANd that'll depend on what kind of water you've got.. stained, clear, whichever... I've also had good luck here & there (mostly there) using a beetlespin with a twister on it instead of the grub body...

Don't be afraid to try different stuff. I learned 2 new techniques this summer, and they were things I wouldn't have tried before talking to some of the folks here on FM.

[eurolarva]

The bait store recommended North center and the channel between lindsrom and chisago lake. I opted for the later and got pretty much skunked. I will try the lindy thing again. My leader was only about 3 ft so I will make it longer. I will also pick up some night crawlers. I agree with the beetle spin. I have caught most of my fish with them. I have some white twisters in my tackle box and will try them out. Once again thanks for the advise.

[MT Net]

Waht we used to do in the early spring, when the water was still very cold, we would anchor and rig up our Lindy rigs using minnows, not moving at all. This kept the minnows near the bottom where the walleyes were, and they would skurp them up. The trick is to figure out how much time to let them have it before setting the hook. Too much time, and you run the risk of gut hooking them. No release possible then.

Good luck!

[lawmanjoe]

It's I bit of a drive for you, but not compared to me going to the big pond, if you are still able to get out this year try the Mississippi near the Red Wing dam or St. Croix near Prescot. Both places jiging with a minnow should get you some.

[Jmnhunter]

euro, I dont know about open water S. center, but my buddy and I had our ice houses out there now for the last couple of years, and 2 years ago, at least twice every week someone would pull up 9+pound walleye; in the shallow water up to 8ft by sunset point. Last year caught alot of cigars and keepers. you should run into them now I would say in the deep waters, at least thats where they are located here in Bemidji, and S. center has that deep water.

-good luck

jn

[eurolarva]

I spent 6 hours on two lakes pulling shiners and night crawlers and not even a nibble. found one spot in 18 ft of water and found small perch attacking the shiner. Fish finder is lit up like a xmas tree in some of these spots. I give up. I put the boat away for the winter. I pulled a 27 inch walleye by needle point this summer just before the sun went down in 3 ft of water with a small beetle spin. I know they are out there but I could not intice them. Maybe when the ice is on. The pan fish are biting like the ice is out. Wind made it almost impossible to see the bites. Guess I will have to wait a month and go for them through the ice.

[Northlander]

Dont feel bad my walleye bite has dwindled down to almost nil as well. Sure was a wierd/slow fall for me. Only fish I could get were smaller and in much deeper water than I ever expected. Only thing I could get them on was a 1.5 oz. no snag and a 3ft. snell with a large sucker minnow.

[Chad711]

They were hot on Bemidji tonight..About time, its not over yet!

[LocalGuide]

The walleye bite is still hot yet! Dont give up totally. I didnt catch my big monstor this fall either, I hope I will yet though. But I have caught many limits(numbers) of 13"-22" fish. Last weekend (sat/sunday) I prolly caught over 50 fish them 2 days. It was a blast and wasnt as cold as last year either.

Hopefully I can get out one or two more times before thanksgiving yet, but we'll see how it goes.

Oh BTW, the lure of choice was a watermellon colored fireball jig (3/8 oz) and nice healthy creek chub while fishing in deeper water.

[Jmnhunter]

chad, what were you using on Bemidji? I live on campus and feel like catching some eye's

-thanks

JN