This week I spent a couple of days up at Spirit Lake with my wife to celebrate my birthday. While we were there I had to opportunity to go fly fishing. The first night I went and what should be biting within wader distance from shore but walleye! Cool! Got three in only about an hour and a half. The next night I went back and it was wall to wall people but I still managed to land the biggest one of the trip.
I’ve been wanting to do this for some time and finally achieved it. I am one happy fly fisherman 
Sorry but no pics.
Happy Birthday to you Sir
Cool, I’ve always wanted to land a walleye on the fly. So tell us a little about the fishing. No, not the name of the lake, but rather the conditions. Where you fishing a shallow rocky point or a drop off? What kind of fly and how did you work the fly. With no pictures, we need more details.
Thanks and congrats.
Rick
I was fishing in an area where one lake drains into another. This draws shiners who come here to spawn which in turn draws numerous other fish including walleye who come in to feed on them. These in turn draw even larger predators up to an including muskie.
The methods and tactics I used to catch walleye are these. The fly I used was a black bead head clouser fly tied on a size 2 Eagle Claw 570 jig hook. I modified it by adding a size 00 gold spinner to the front of the bead head. I just used a small barrel swivel and split ring to hold it to the fly and allow the spinner to turn. I fished it with a slow hand twist. At first I used a intermediate sinking line but the water was so shallow that I was picking up debris for the bottom too often so I switched to a floating line and a standard 9 ft leader. The water I was casting into was only about 6 ft deep at most. The best time for me was dusk or later though bait fishermen were catching walleye much earlier. I think it was my location and not tactics that was responsible for this. Next time I’ll have to try and see.
In In-Fisherman’s Walleye Guide they ran an article about how walleye come in way shallow to feed on spawning shiners. I suspect a fly fisherman would have a real advantage in this situation.
Nicely done report, thanks.
I’m still hoping for a fly-caught walleye. Good job, Cycler68!
FishnDave, Have you every looked at trying the Des Moines River? I’ve read a few reports about it and it looks like it’s a great walleye river. There ought to be someplace where the walleye come in close and shallow enough for you to get them especially during a mayfly hatch. Aftonangler on another bb used to just hammer the walleye with his fly rod during a mayfly hatch while spin fishermen were frustrated in their attempts.
The upper Des Moines River…like near Algona, I think…is a tremendous walleye river. There’s a walleye fishing club that keeps that area stocked, and every year I see pictures of BIG walleyes that come out of there. I haven’t trekked up that way, though.
Below Saylorville Lake on the Des Moines River here, is hit or miss. It was a good for walleyes for a few years, then we’ve had periodic MAJOR floods since '93, which seems to wash most of the fish way downstream past a few dams (so they can’t come back up). Big Creek Lake gets stocked, but despite a minimum length limit of 15", the DNR admits that most of the walleyes end up in peoples coolers and stringers at 13".
Another interesting thing…The DNR sampled walleyes after ice-out on Big Creek, and tagged some. At least one tagged fish was caught in the river BELOW Saylorville Lake (Big Creek spills into Saylorville) within a few weeks! So, not only did it manage to get through the chainlink fish barrier at Big Creek, it survived going through the discharge tube at Saylorville dam, a straight-line distance of nearly 7 miles.
I’ve seen substantial mayfly hatches up around the Iowa Great Lakes, but nothing much around central Iowa.
I think ice-out at Big Creek Lake would be the best opportunity to get some walleyes on fly gear. I’ve only tried it once or twice, with no success yet. I’m sure I’ll get 'em some day. :o)
Hmmmm, I thought the Des Moines river might have a mayfly hatch but looks like it doesn’t. Up here the Missouri has a weak hatch but on the other side of the state the Mississippi had a great hatch when my wife and I were there several years ago in July. We took a motel room in Gutenburg and there happened to be a great hatch. Big mayflies were everywhere and coated the ground. I had the best smallmouth fishing I ever had in my life with some walleye and catfish thrown into the mix. I have no idea if this a regular occurrence or not but one time I got lucky.
Do the walleye in Saylorville or any other of the reservoirs come in shallow in the fall or spring? They do in Spirit & Storm lake as well as some other places I know of.