Nbobich
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Walleye
Tried doing some walleye fishing this past week and had no luck. Can anyone give me any advice on what to do/use? Ive herd people talk about using rapalas, but which ones should I try? There are so many different types along with the different colors... Any advice would be great, I just wanna learn a little bit more about this fish and the tackle it takes to catch them!
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Mr Twister
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jigs are great in the fall tipped with fat head minnows. right now anything the imitates a bait fish jointed, floating, countdown gotta just try em and find wat works. havent walleye fished in a couple months. where are you fishing that might help?
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eye crosser
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If your fishing lakes go deep. Most water temps are in the upper 70's right now.
If your fishing rivers, fish just below the riffles where the water starts to flatten out. Good spot this time of the year for your Rapalas, can never go wrong with silver and black or perch. The eyes are holding behind obstructions and just waiting for food to be swept by. Cast quartering down stream and lift the tip of your pole paralell to water or slightly above. Less line in the water the better the hook set. When the Rapala is just about straight down stream from you start reeling at a steady pace. This is when I get most of my hits when the lure starts to swim cross current.
In the next couple of weeks the crabs will be shedding again and they are a great bait for eyes in the rivers. Plus they will catch just about anything swimming. Just cast up onto the riffle and let your line drift down stream. Keep the line off the bottom by holding your tip of the pole at the 10 o'clock position. A no. 2 or 4 hook and a split shot and a nice soft shell crab hooked through the tail and your in business. When you feel that thump thump thump slowly life your line and get all the slack out of it and set the hook. For some reason the eyes will grab the bait and swim up stream with it. They will do this with a nose hooked crawler also.
The river I fish, the eyes seem to go on a feeding spree come the end of August and the first 2 weeks of September and almost everyone of them will be full of crabs. As the water cools a fast retreive using just about any lure will work. Once the water temps fall back into the low 60's or 50 degree temps a nice jig-curly tail and minnow combination will work.
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Nbobich
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Thanks guys, Ill be camping at jamestown this weekend and hope to try again. Last week my family and I stayed the week at canadohta and I tried every evening. We also went to pymatuming one of the days and rented a pontoon boat for the day...
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eye crosser
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This seems to be the dead time of the year for eyes in lakes. Another 4-6 weeks and they will start to turn on again in the lake for a brief period while the water temps start to fall. Than your going to have the fall turn over where the water temps will start to become the same from the top of the water column to the bottom. I could never get them at this time. Just don't fish it hard enough to find the fish, I just wait for the ice, a lot easier. from the reports that I've read the eyes will make some brief movement towards the shallows than back to deep water for the winter. My neighbor fishes in Oct-Nov from shore casting LARGE Rapalas and does well at night.
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slabfinder
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ORIGINAL: eye crosser
If your fishing lakes go deep. Most water temps are in the upper 70's right now.
If your fishing rivers, fish just below the riffles where the water starts to flatten out. Good spot this time of the year for your Rapalas, can never go wrong with silver and black or perch. The eyes are holding behind obstructions and just waiting for food to be swept by. Cast quartering down stream and lift the tip of your pole paralell to water or slightly above. Less line in the water the better the hook set. When the Rapala is just about straight down stream from you start reeling at a steady pace. This is when I get most of my hits when the lure starts to swim cross current.
In the next couple of weeks the crabs will be shedding again and they are a great bait for eyes in the rivers. Plus they will catch just about anything swimming. Just cast up onto the riffle and let your line drift down stream. Keep the line off the bottom by holding your tip of the pole at the 10 o'clock position. A no. 2 or 4 hook and a split shot and a nice soft shell crab hooked through the tail and your in business. When you feel that thump thump thump slowly life your line and get all the slack out of it and set the hook. For some reason the eyes will grab the bait and swim up stream with it. They will do this with a nose hooked crawler also.
The river I fish, the eyes seem to go on a feeding spree come the end of August and the first 2 weeks of September and almost everyone of them will be full of crabs. As the water cools a fast retreive using just about any lure will work. Once the water temps fall back into the low 60's or 50 degree temps a nice jig-curly tail and minnow combination will work.
^some good advice here. Gotta wait till it starts to cool again, find some spring time spawning sites. They will revisit these sites to gorge themselves in preparation for the winter freeze. The moon phase and shorter days will trigger this. This time of year (unless your in a boat) is harder to pinpoint location of suspended walleye. Dams would be a good place to start.
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Porktown
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Even with a boat, you'll likely need some electronics to pinpoint some good structure. There are some good looking humps right out side of the Jamestown launch area (watch your prop as some humps can be pretty high...).
IMO, you are probably better off focusing on other fish though and having fun, maybe get lucky with a walleye. The inlet by the launch is a pretty good holder of bait fish, so the game fish will follow. We fished this area a few years ago pretty heavily, and were rewarded with some chunky perch. When I was a kid, I ran into a school of nice smallmouth here too. Also found a nice ledge by one of the islands that gave us some nice crappie. We tried the whole sonar jigging thing, but no luck on the walleye (did get a nice crappie with one). That seems to be the go to lure for Pymie eyes, but need a boat or drop off like the spillway for those. Pymie seems to be a great place for chunky panfish, which are well worth the effort to target (hard to not target the eyes, seeing the size of some of them). Those that seem to give Pymie the name as a great walleye lake, on the most part have boats outfitted specifically for eyes, with years of trial and error. I'm sure there are some that put their time in to do just as well from shore too. Not as easy pickings as some reports make it sound. Although, during the Spring spawn, I think they are a bit easier to fill a cooler with.
Fishing behind the dam at certain times of the year, I have heard are very productive. I don't think August is one of those times though. More when the shad die off and the eyes are looking for an easy meal. Although, I doubt it would be a waste of time, and may run into some other fish willing to bite.
You can also head to the lake with a loaf of bread and have a blast with the carp.
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Nbobich
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Thanks again guys!!! It seems like canadohta is dead in august... I fished that lake all week pretty much everyday in the morning and evening/night... I almost had one musky I was catching little fish and when I caught one and was reeling it in the musky came out from the dock and missed the little fish... (it was a cool thing to see he scared the crap out of me) but thats ok I don't think id be able to land him on a trout pole with 2lbs test. My girlfriend almost had a really nice small mouth but she didn't wait long enough to set the hook... other then that I caught some small large mouth but nothing else except little fish...
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jolie
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I find it kind of curious that you don't consider river fishing.
casting a rapalla against the current is a fantastic way to catch walleye and espacially as water temperatures cool and we get towards fall fishing. If we get some rain, the walleyes will start schooling in likely eddy's while they are all scattered in the lake above.
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Nbobich
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I've only fished the rivers a few times mostly the yough and once on the mon... The thing is I have no clue on where to try
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Lundking
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Honestly this time of year is dead. If you get lucky and the weather cools off, you have a better chance for some action. The water last week was between 78-83 degrees.
Save a horse, ride a Lund Friends don't let Friends fish for Trout (Stockies that is..)
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Nbobich
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Yeah I saw that when we went out on pymatuming
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slabfinder
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With this cold front we are experiencing now, the cold weather could come sooner than later. *finger crossed. With the weather dipping in the mid 50's. Fishing all around should change for the better.
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Nbobich
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jolie
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well, you're prolly in the same spot with lakes.
River walleye are not really that hard to read. its a bigger matter of when then where.
up here they hang out near rocky runs, current seams and eddies.
stay mobile, be determined and fish your bait slowly/against the current and you'll catch them.
did I tell you that I fish 100% at night? well, being there at dawn and dusk makes it a Lot more likely your going to catch.
tight lines
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eye crosser
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With this cold front we are experiencing now, the cold weather could come sooner than later. *finger crossed. With the weather dipping in the mid 50's. Fishing all around should change for the better.
It can't get much worse. Water temp was 78 the other day, this morning it was 77 and the water green as grass, nice alge bloom. Sure doesn't take long to warm up but it seems like it takes a lot longer to cool down.
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slabfinder
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Ya, two things lead to that post, too many can sandwiches and wishful thinking. It's going to be awhile before we experience any real cool down. These cool nights help, but air cools and warms alot quicker than water!
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Porktown
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For future vacation planning purposes... When in the year do the you think is the best chance of someone catching a few eyes on Pymy? Is pre spawn the tops, or do they actively feed during the spawn? I'm guessing this is when the spillway gets pounded. I'd imagine there are other shore or "not so technical" boat friendly spots to get them at this point. Complete guess by me, about the same time as the trout opener? Is the Fall bite, like the local rivers the ticket?
Most of my trips to Pymy end up being a blast with crappie, perch and smallmouth. I'm pretty sure my timing for eyes is never the best as definitely seems to be now... I can't complain one bit though. This lake seems to be one of the best in the state for catching nice sized clean fish.
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Nbobich
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I never have luck at pymy... only with cats and carp
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beeverfishing
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I never have luck at pymy... only with cats and carp
Put away the dough balls...  I do pretty good at Pymatuning, I primarly troll using a worm harness or stick baits. Don't limit out, But more then enough for a few meals.
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Nbobich
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Anything big? I dont have a boat so where I fish is limited... What i usually do is have one pole set up with a 1oz weight and a floating jig with a worms on it... I have it tied on about a foot above the weight and I just let it sit out there far... Then with my other pole I use whatever lure i have in the box... I just picked up 2 new ones to give a try... a gold husky jerk which is a size 8 and a floater in the fire tiger color in a size 7...
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eye crosser
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If my options were limited I would pick the month of May as the best fishing and June coming in 2 nd to fish from shore or boat. Almost all the species are in close to shore spawning. Yes the walleyes do bite at spawning time. I much more prefer to fish the lake through the ice. Very seldom do I go home without fish through the ice. Last year was a banner year for crappies and gills through the ice. Many of the regulars were bring home 20+ fish a day with some days exceeding that.
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