I got a new fishing report from the Iowa DNR and the walleye are starting to bite from shore in some lakes. Is anybody fishing for them?
Thanks for the reminder. Big Creek Lake’s walleyes have probably moved into the shorelines again…at least in the evenings. I could probably reach some with a fly rod.
Do you use a sinking or sink-tip line when targeting walleyes?
I have my best luck with an intermediate sink tip line. It gives me a little better control of how deep I’m fishing so I can stay close to the bottom but just out of the rocks. I’m generally throwing the same baitfish patterns I use for whites and crappies for walleyes. I’ve had some good luck on pine squirrel and/or rabbit leeches as well.
Dave,
This spring I had my best luck using an intermediate slow sinking line and then used a black deceiver type fly tied on a jig hook. I had a small size 00 spinner on a barrel swivel attached to the front of the fly & had some bead chain eyes immediatly behind the spinner. It was my version of a fly fisherman’s road runner. I had some trouble getting snagging weeds with this combo but when I switched to a floating line I didn’t catch near as many walleye though the walleye I caught was my biggest one. This is two day’s experience.
I’ve also had my best luck this fall catching bass & bluegill when I use the intermediate line.
I live far out of walleye range now (Dallas), but when I lived in suburban Chicago, we would target the walleye (and several other species) by fishing below the dams along the Fox River. It was always a grab bag what would end up on your line, but quite entertaining. Clousers, deceivers, and woolly buggers worked best, on intermediate lines.
Have we talked before? I used to fish the Fox some…from below the dam at South Elgin down to below the dam in Geneva. I used to work in Naperville, St. Charles and West Chicago. That is a great river! Smallies, walleyes, muskies, white bass, channel cats…like you said…you never knew what you’d end up with on your line!