03-11-2003, 11:15 AM
[cool]During the walleye "silly season", fishing from the bank or a tube almost works better than from a boat. Yes, they do hug the rocks, looking for willing mates and suitable spots to drop their eggs. So the most effective presentation is casting parallel to the shoreline and retrieving just above the rocks, at the right depth.
Of course, when everybody in Utah is crowding the shoreline, casting straight out...catching nothing...it makes it hard to fish properly. That's why launching your tube and getting away from the crowd is a good idea. It also makes it easier to retrieve snagged jigs...and you will snag up a lot, if you are fishing right.
Almost any color will catch fish, on occasion. The most universally successful colors and sizes are 3" plastics...in white or pearl...twisters or shad bodies. I used to doctor my plain pearl shad bodies with a dark blue line down the back, with a permanent marker. They work better than the pale blue store bought ones.
You don't have to cast far...and shouldn't. Working close means more touch, more control and fewer snags. Work short stretches of shoreline, on both sides of you, thoroughly, and then move down. If the fish are not there or not biting move until you find willing fish. If you stay in one place, and the fish are moving, sooner or later you will get a hit, but I like to chase them, as I know you do.
Making your own jigheads can really help when fishing Willard walleyes. First, you can make the colors that work best...hot red or white with a hot red eye for the white plastics. Second, you can pour smaller heads on the hooks balanced for larger plastics. I prefer 1/8 or even 1/16 ounce heads on about a size 1 or 1/0. Those hooks are large enough to get a good hookset, without snagging too much. And the light heads let you swim the plastics slow, without plummeting into the rocks like the 1/4 and 3/8 oz. heads that the "uninitialted" cast a 1/4 mile straight out.
Let the swimming action of the plastics provide the action. Reel slowly and steadily, allowing the jig to just tick the rocks once in awhile. A hit will be anything from a chomp to just a "rubber band" feel. During the brighter daylight hours you will have to fish deeper. At daybreak and dusk, the males sometimes cruise fairly shallow, and you may even see fish rolling against the rocks...where there aren't too many people. Those active ones are good targets for reaction bites. Drag a well cast jig by them and they will often chomp it in their anxiety of lust.
One of the best times to fish is after dark, on bright moonlit nights. The spawn often takes place during the full moon/ But, you can catch them in pitch black too. At night, the white still works, but you can integrate some chartreuse and even black. I have also done well on occasion with purple.
By the way, X...your jigs should work well too. Try hanging a 2" or 3" plastic trailer off a white marabou. I caught lots of wallies on big white marabou flies on a sinking line in Willard...and even more along the banks on marabou crappie jigs.
Unfortunately, the spawning fish are not available inshore much during the day. Fishing after the sun is high, or much before it drops in the west, will only leave you frustrated. The fish retreat to deeper holes in the lake during the day, and can sometimes be found stacked up and inactive. A vertical presentation, wiggled right in front of their noses is about the only way to get bit until they get restless in the late afternoon.
That's my input.
[signature]
Of course, when everybody in Utah is crowding the shoreline, casting straight out...catching nothing...it makes it hard to fish properly. That's why launching your tube and getting away from the crowd is a good idea. It also makes it easier to retrieve snagged jigs...and you will snag up a lot, if you are fishing right.
Almost any color will catch fish, on occasion. The most universally successful colors and sizes are 3" plastics...in white or pearl...twisters or shad bodies. I used to doctor my plain pearl shad bodies with a dark blue line down the back, with a permanent marker. They work better than the pale blue store bought ones.
You don't have to cast far...and shouldn't. Working close means more touch, more control and fewer snags. Work short stretches of shoreline, on both sides of you, thoroughly, and then move down. If the fish are not there or not biting move until you find willing fish. If you stay in one place, and the fish are moving, sooner or later you will get a hit, but I like to chase them, as I know you do.
Making your own jigheads can really help when fishing Willard walleyes. First, you can make the colors that work best...hot red or white with a hot red eye for the white plastics. Second, you can pour smaller heads on the hooks balanced for larger plastics. I prefer 1/8 or even 1/16 ounce heads on about a size 1 or 1/0. Those hooks are large enough to get a good hookset, without snagging too much. And the light heads let you swim the plastics slow, without plummeting into the rocks like the 1/4 and 3/8 oz. heads that the "uninitialted" cast a 1/4 mile straight out.
Let the swimming action of the plastics provide the action. Reel slowly and steadily, allowing the jig to just tick the rocks once in awhile. A hit will be anything from a chomp to just a "rubber band" feel. During the brighter daylight hours you will have to fish deeper. At daybreak and dusk, the males sometimes cruise fairly shallow, and you may even see fish rolling against the rocks...where there aren't too many people. Those active ones are good targets for reaction bites. Drag a well cast jig by them and they will often chomp it in their anxiety of lust.
One of the best times to fish is after dark, on bright moonlit nights. The spawn often takes place during the full moon/ But, you can catch them in pitch black too. At night, the white still works, but you can integrate some chartreuse and even black. I have also done well on occasion with purple.
By the way, X...your jigs should work well too. Try hanging a 2" or 3" plastic trailer off a white marabou. I caught lots of wallies on big white marabou flies on a sinking line in Willard...and even more along the banks on marabou crappie jigs.
Unfortunately, the spawning fish are not available inshore much during the day. Fishing after the sun is high, or much before it drops in the west, will only leave you frustrated. The fish retreat to deeper holes in the lake during the day, and can sometimes be found stacked up and inactive. A vertical presentation, wiggled right in front of their noses is about the only way to get bit until they get restless in the late afternoon.
That's my input.
[signature]