Northwest Fishing Reports

Do walleye take worms? Or are they gonna want something more distracting? Any advice?

Crawlers work just fine.

Crawlers on a three ft leader worked great for us shore fishing on the Columbia. Just real in a little at a time slowly.

I have also caught 2 nice Walleye on the Columbia fishing using nightcrawlers.

Tell us how you intend to fish the worms. If you ball them up like a lot of trout fishermen, worms are not so good. If you hook them one time, and let them wiggle and twitch, worms are a great walleye bait. Of course if you have small fish in the area, you will go through a lot of worms (LOL).

I have taken many outsized walleye by tail hooking the worm, then using a worm inflater to float it off the bottom, using 6" to as much as 6' of leader, then cast it out and let it sit. IF the walleye are not moving around, then bring it in a little at a time to "cover the water". Sometimes the inflater is not needed.

Worms, as a bait, on walleye spinner rigs is one of the favorites, with only leaches and minnows considered as good or better. Note that minnows, at least live minnows, are not allowed in WA and leaches will not be allowed next year (See VHS).

Worms as a bait for tipping jigs is hot as well. And................well, you get the point. Worms are great, it is how you rig them for walleye that matters.

On Leaches;

Gulp Alive now has both susppending leaches and new this year Floating Leaches 5". The later would be excellent for bank fishing as it gets the bait up a little of the bottom with the leader as the control on how far up it will suspend. Put this on a Carolina or Lindy rig and you have a winner.

Dear God William do you work for Al Linder or something.

Trust me when I tell you Gulp and Gulp Alive, minnows, crawlers and leeches DO NOT outfish live bait. Sure they will 1 time in 10 outfish live bait but more than likely that will have more to do with the talent at the end of the rod more than the bait at the end of the hook.

Seriously, how many Walleyes have you caught on Gulp? Give me an accurate count. I want to make sure this something you know works and not some advertisement you saw.

I fish for Walleyes often. I have used Gulp Minnows, Gulp Worms, Gulp Leeches and Gulp Goby (immitation sculpin). I have caught 1 eye on all of it. Its probably me though.

Here is a pic of the 27 inch walleye my wife caught 2 years ago from shore with a size 8 hook with nightcrawler by Kettle Fallshttp://www.washingtonlakes.com/Photos/5 ... re1151.jpg

Very nice!

Joe Heater wrote:Dear God William do you work for Al Linder or something.

Trust me when I tell you Gulp and Gulp Alive, minnows, crawlers and leeches DO NOT outfish live bait. Sure they will 1 time in 10 outfish live bait but more than likely that will have more to do with the talent at the end of the rod more than the bait at the end of the hook.

Seriously, how many Walleyes have you caught on Gulp? Give me an accurate count. I want to make sure this something you know works and not some advertisement you saw.

I fish for Walleyes often. I have used Gulp Minnows, Gulp Worms, Gulp Leeches and Gulp Goby (immitation sculpin). I have caught 1 eye on all of it. Its probably me though.

LOL, I'm not William, but I will agree that for still fishing plastics and synthetics are not very useful. When used as a trailer on a spinner harness, or as a jig trailer, or even as a drop shot bait, they are quite good. But, no more so than a scented plastic used the same way.

Excellent feedback, everyone. I'm encouraged to hear good reports for fishing off the banks of the Columbia. I'm going to give it a try.

And... Spadam98, awesome pic!

Landlocked, as Anglinarcher mentioned before before about letting the worm wiggle, yes.

The following is the method that works best for me. I use a slip sinker on the main line heavy enough to stay put (esp in current). Then a bead, then a barrell swivel and 18 to 24" of leader with a #4 hook (prefer octapus). My worm, I hook only through the head so it can wiggle. I leave my line loose (as to droop) and watch for it to tighten (if I have no wind or current). As it gets tight I open the bail and let it take it until it stops. In current or windy conditions I will hold my line tought with my finger and bail. When I feel pressure I will let it take it until it stops (sometimes it don't stop in current) and then set the hook.


This especially works well when you are getting tiny little pulls. But that also could be small crawdads. There is a slight difference between the Eyes and Dads with that tiny pull. And that is to hard to explain, am not even going to try.
Sometimes they are just plain agressive and it is no problem catching them with worm on the bottom.


As I mentioned this method works the best for me when I shore fish for Walleyes. It my not be for you but give a try and PM me how it works for you. Good Luck Landlocked!

I'm just a bass guy, and have no business talking walleye and honestly don't do much shore fishing, but I caught this one at Banks lake fishing from shore with a lipless crankbait. I'd say if you are around an area that has a nice break with some rocks and weeds to give it a try. You can cast them a mile and cover alot of water and if there are aggressive fish around you're odds are pretty good you'll get their attention. I grew up fishing for Walleye on Lake Erie in Ohio, and occasionally you could time it right and really whack them with lipless cranks when you were shore fishing. tight lines! - Dave

It's been a while since I've seen a wally that size out of banks...that's a WACKO! :geek: Nice job thanks for the pic.

Thanks Mav, appreciate the comment. -Dave

Very Strong Dave!!!:-$ :chef:

Hey Swede, this may be the only time I ever have a chance to post to the Walleye section, so much appreciated! My dad would be proud (he's a Walleye charter boat captain on lake erie, but I just have too much of the bassin bug in me.) Best - Dave

I do Banks lake every year and catch fairly decent walleye from shore.Nothing large but its still fun.Nightcrawlers or a vibrex for me. I find the Blue Fox works almost every time. I usually fish in or around the Steamboat Rock area from shore.

The great Lakes we played some maybe your Dad knows (George Douglas) steelhead, salmon and big Browns guide back that way now moved to the Great NW:-$

We did a 1 hour live radio show for one year Great kid and one of the best I have faced with a the puffer stick for the easy readers thats a the Fly Rod!](*,) :thumleft:

Again Great fish and thanks for sharing thats getting it done!=d>

Landlocked wrote:Do walleye take worms? Or are they gonna want something more distracting? Any advice?

Yes. Worms work well in spring and again in fall, but crank baits can also work. Generally, in my experience, a nice finesse rigged worm fished properly is deadly almost anywhere the fish are....

Yeah, i have used the gulp, but almost exclusively for bass. Not sure if I ever got a wally on it. Finesse em' in spring/fall...crank'em in summer.