river walleye?
We live fairly close to the Rio Grande where it is said to hold walleye, so instead of driving 6 or 8 hours to trout fish, thought we would try for those guys, but never have, can anyone give me an idea of what they might chase? Streamers? Down deep? Any particular favorites?
I've yet to catch a walleye on fly gear, but have caught plenty on spinning gear. Here's some suggestions from those experiences:
1. Fish close to the bottom in rivers.
2. Match the size/shape of your local baitfish as closely as possible.
3. Browns and yellows are often good colors, but don't ignore chartreuse, orange, or silver/white.
4. Unlike largemouth bass that will take a deep-bodied lure, walleyes tend to prefer a longer, cylindrical-shaped bait. Think "cigar".
David Merical
St. Louis, MO
Look for a fly called "The Jiggy", I've had some decent success with it catching a couple eyes on accident but it tends to fith the bill for a deep running slim bodied fly. Here is a link to a bit of an article about the fly. http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/jiggy/
Steve
I have caught them here on our river using this pattern with some minor changes:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/feat...sh/part535.php
The changes I have made are adding about 8 wraps of .025 lead weight on the hook shank ( in place of the beadhead) and then using black Punch Yarn as an underbody to build up the cigar shape and covering the lead and making a shorter furled tail. Once the fly is tied and whip finished, I go cover the whip finish with red thread and do another whip finish using the red thread. Brush the whole fly out good to make it real buggy.
Last edited by WarrenP; 12-30-2010 at 05:26 PM.
Warren
Fly fishing and fly tying are two things that I do, and when I am doing them, they are the only 2 things I think about. They clear my mind.
The few I've caught while going for smallies have all been caught on light colored clousers. I fish a leech-looking zonker on the bottom also but haven't caught a walleye on one yet.
Here's a FAOL article on Walleye that might help
http://flyanglersonline.com/features...sh/part102.php
How deep is the Rio where you are fishing? I know guys that fly-fish for walleyes near here while wading rivers that are generally waist-deep or less in the summers. They just use WFF lines and beadhead woolly buggers.
David Merical
St. Louis, MO
Well, Dave, that's a part of the equation, the place I've heard about is directly below the two major irrigation dams, and when irrigation season ends, so does the water, as you will notice if you're ever in El Paso in the winter. I don't even know if the fish survive the winter, and feed all through, or if they magically appear when the water level goes up.
Thanks for the link Bass Bug, it was very helpful. I never think of using the FAOL search anymore.
the walleyes I have caught have all been on accident while fishing for smallies. One was on a crayfish pattern and the others where on clousers or on muddler minnows. each time I have been using a floating line with about 9 ft leader so I don't think that the flies where all that deep. but like I said they all have been surprises to catch.
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