First time walleye. What to do.

[mookie]

I have been fishing for trout for a long time and I hate them, I would almost rather catch squawfish. I do love the taste of spiny rays, specifically perch and walleye.

I have never specifically fished for walleye, have caught a couple that ate my trout set up, caught my biggest bass ever that same way. I have done a little studying and I would like to either try the snake or roosevelt.

What are some basic setups that I will need? Lures, line, ect. What style of fishing is the best depending on time of year and location (river or lake)?

Are there any good spots to try out? Not looking for your sweet spots, just a general area. I think I would prefer the snake from little goose to clarkston.

I also am interested in catfish, but that can be for another day.

The reason I am asking for so many specifics is because I don't get many chances to get out so I try not to spend to much time guessing about rigs and such. Used to have my brother as a fishing partner but he had twins a year ago so he ain't getting out for awhile.

Thanks.

[fish2live]

Im new to the walleye fishing as well but ive had some luck at porcupine bay Lake Roosevelt, lunch the boat and jump across the river to the left about 40 yards off the rocks cast to the rocks and bottom jig really slow, i was using spider line with a quarter ounce jig head and a chartreuse tube with legs, im sure there are better ways to fish for them but like I said im new to that fish as well, hope this helps.

[gpc]

Your basic set up can just be your trout set up. My walleye gear is something like this. 6' -8.5' med-med hvy rod.

My rod is a 8.5' med hvy casting rod (my salmon rod). The reel is spooled with 12lb trielene. But I will go up to 15lb line. 99% of the time you are dragging the bottom. It helps to have a rod with a little back bone and stronger line to get your gear off the snaggs.

The lures are real simple, once again your trout gear will work. Worm harneses and plugs. Plugs can range in size from 2" all the way to 7" or 8" depending on time of year. But your wedding rings and 2" floating Rapalas will take some walleye.

You can also jig for walleye but that can be a little tricky and I wouldn't recommend that for a 1st time walleye guy. Plus you are able to cover a lot more ground and locate the schools easier if you are trolling.

Most of the time you will be trolling in shallow water for walleye I consider 30' too deep when trolling during the summer months. And normally stick to about 12' of water. The reports I am getting for this time of year are 15' - 60' is where you want to be. But once again I am more of a shallow walleye fishermen.


I will be more than happy to share some info and get a little more specific.

[RAK]

You need some good line, 1/2 oz jigs, 3" grubs, and worms. The walley are 45-55 ft on porcupine bay now. However on Columbia they are down to 70 feet deep. Jigging is an easy method. A good way to find walleye is to go right up to walleye fisher men and ask the depth they are fishing on. Use an electric motor to stay on the same depth and jig right of the bottom.

Trolling walleye is similar to trout trolling. Use a bottom walker or bottom booncer to troll deep. I think wedding ring work the best but many catch walleye with spinners and rapala.

[t-mac]

I can't speak for Washington, but if they bite what they do in Nevada I use to kill them off of Rapala shad raps (particularly Fire Tiger, Perch, and Walleye colors) and thats from the bank and trolling shallows.

We also used steel leaders too, due to their teeth.

[lonnie197272]

If your looking for good walleye fishing and the ease of catching them I would suggest going to Moses Lake or Potholes for the first couple times. There is a huge population and they are pretty easy to catch and not difficult to find. Sometimes the river systems can be tricky to figure out. When fishing the lakes use a 1/2 to 5/8 bottom walker with a double whammy spinner, walleye pop, or smile spinners. Make sure you put on a good healthy crawler or even gulp crawlers or leech. Troll these on the break lines off the flats in the 10-15 foot range on Moses. Depending on the time of year Potholes tend to hold a little deeper. Look for hard bottoms that transition into softer bottoms adjacent to good spawniing grounds at this point. Later in the year the shad raps and DTs work great. As far as jigging goes its a great tool to use but the best way to approach that is troll till you locate feeding areas then put on a 1/4 to 1/8 ounce jig with either a twister, twin tail grub or tube. tip it with just a tiny piece of crawler and either vertical jig or cast to the areas that you have picked up fish at. A good way to mark it is with marker bouys or gps and just concentrate on that area with the jigs.

[racfish]

Ive caught them at Mar-don alot. Nothing too big but I've seen some biggies out the Potholes. Also Banks Lake is good. When in doubt of what to use I usually go for the Vibrex or the Blue Fox. Cant go wrong with either spinner for all types of fish.

[mookie]

Good information. Looks like I will be having to hit the store to stock up on some gear. Like I needed an excuse. Looks like I am fairly well stocked in the rod/reel department but I always can use some new lures.

Thanks.

[BMGW]

If you have a boat head to the mouth of the Palouse River on the Snake. This time of year now for the next whole month is prime time, the catch limit is the most liberal anywhere in Washington state and thats for a good reason, lots of them! Send me your address and I will send you a sample of my Walleye rig especially designed for Eastern Washington. In short you will do best to either troll or drift for them and work the bottom with worm harness. If you get into a good school you can anchor and jig for them or drift and jig works well too. Pulling a worm you want your bait about 4-12" off the bottom that is their strike zone especially in the spring of the year a little slower troll than for trout, lift and drop the rod tip a bit or bring forward and drop back occasionally. If you send for my rig you will always be able to feel the bottom knowing that your in the zone fishing with confidance. When hooking your worm to a double harness make sure you hook the front hook right close to the very front of the worms head, and then let the trailing hook either trail without hooking the worm or run the second hook through the worm as it is in its natural unstreched length, in other words don't hook the back hook too far back, easy to tell when you pull the harness in the water the worm should just glide along and not go into a twirling or balled up mess... Walleye are slow deliberate biters on worms, let them have a couple of bites, even give them a little slack and then pull slowly forward if they tug set the hook, if not or you miss drop back they are still there. Change your speed now and then and zig zag big lazy zigs, walleye often take a bait on a slight drop or hesitation on a corner. Filet them just like a perch, dip in egg and roll in cracker crumbs and fry. Yum! Give me a hollar and I will send you a nice Walleye care package: bmgw@q.com Don:salut:

[comstockdl]

I am new owner and saw your interest in Walleye. That is my favorate. Any information you have on when, where and how would be appreciated.

[tnj8222]

Me and my brother in law took my Jon an tried trolling for them on lower goose lake at potholes. Bottom walkers with spin glow settup on I think is a double whammy. Found lots of fish in 30 to 55 and another school about 70 feet. We thought we had bites but set hook when we felt them. Had no clue really lol. We tried on points that were not cliffs which was hard to find. we need help lots of good info here thanks guys. Will be sending pm's to you guys

[lonnie197272]

Hey tnj is the gate still open to get back there? They lock it usually the first of May. Well if you do find yourself able to get back there again, head southeast. When you get past the cliffs on the south side there are just some shale rock banks start trolling there in 15-25'. Continue that troll till you get to the point where the bank flattens out. Just troll that back and forth and you will put some eyes in the boat. Not sure what color whammy your using but try bronze or green and silver with a small colorado blade. This has produced lots of eyes from that lake. Good luck!!

[tnj8222]

Hey tnj is the gate still open to get back there? They lock it usually the first of May. Well if you do find yourself able to get back there again, head southeast. When you get past the cliffs on the south side there are just some shale rock banks start trolling there in 15-25'. Continue that troll till you get to the point where the bank flattens out. Just troll that back and forth and you will put some eyes in the boat. Not sure what color whammy your using but try bronze or green and silver with a small colorado blade. This has produced lots of eyes from that lake. Good luck!!

says its year round on the map I got at mardon didn't see a gate so not sure. Thanks for the info

[lonnie197272]

Ya if I had read it a little better I would have seen the lower not upper goose. My mistake, both are open year round but upper goose is the better lake and close to vehicles from may to sept. which sux. They have to many fires and vandalism back there so they just shut it off. But anyway same tech. still apply for lower goose just find the water depth I was talkin about and you should find the fish.