walleye & pickerel

[Kijo Lorica]

where these fish at? catchable on shore? or by boat only? which body of water? help?

 

[salmotrutta]

You know the wildlife that you don't normally see during the day, but are often spotted as soon as it starts getting dark? Walleye are like that...

Fish for them late or early, when the sun is below the horizon, for the best chances of hooking up.

 

[Kasim Baluch]

Everythings possible, I've only had walleye by boat, never really fished for them off a dock. Jig those worms off a break point and you'll hook onto them for sure! Just like the above said, brave the mosquitos and fish just as the sun is setting/just after it has - I find that theres a small window for optimal walleye conditions.

 

[Joel52]

Agree, very sensitive eyes. Rough water and overcast sky helps if it's during the day. Rivers present the best opportunities from shore. Fish eddys below dams or falls if you know the river has them. Those of us from the north know these two as one and the same.

 

[goodentight]

if you are on water, find some big underwater drops and bouce them, and hold on

 

[[email protected]]

drop offs are key, they sit down low and wait for the little fish to swim over the edge and strike

 

[SaugeenDrifter]

Well Kijo, where to start?
Can walleye be taken from a dock, shoreline, pier....answer is yes. Do you need a boat? No. Is a boat handy? Yes. All shore fishing areas are targeted heavier by other shore anglers as there are more of them.
Best thing I can recommend is ask around. On a river near my hometown "Saugeen River" the walleye come in late spring in low numbers and are taken from boats trolling slowly with shallow to medium divers (redfins, rapalas, storms) or drifting worms and leeches from shore off the docks or rock piles and are taken on casting spinners/spinner baits from shore. Now understand that this is one river of thousands and only a few techniques.
In waters polluted with Eyes you can catch them in many ways. Best thing to do is internet search the water body and see if you can find any magazine articles produced for the lake or ask locals.
If fishing a new area perhaps get a guide to take you out and simply mimic his/her techniques for the specific water body you are on.
Remember that each water body differs and what works on one water body may or may not work on another.

Know what you are getting in to before you arrive. Research is key, ask the questions:
- what type of forage do they eat; perch / shinners / cisco's? This will give you an idea of what type of food source to match your lures to, I would not go to a lake and troll with perch coloured baits if the forage species in the lake was smelt.
- what season is it? In the spring walleyes move in to spawn in large schools, but will feed before they start to spawn and after the spawn but are reluctant to feed heavily during the spawn. Following the spawn they go on a feeding spree to make up for the non feeding they just went thru. In the summer they seem to have all kinds of food around and if you can find food you find them. In the fall they feed heavily again and river mouths become heavily active.
- what kind of water are you fishing? Is it a clear lake, or a mud bottom lake, or a turbid lake?
- what is the hatch? if the mayflies are hatching stay home... Walleye will eat them till they cant eat any more, the fish are there but they are full of bugs and hard to convince in to a minnow bite. I have caught Eyes with mouths full of cuts because they have eaten soooo many flies.
Best is to be prepared, I have fished lakes all over Ontario and versatility is key, some lakes will turn Eyes with live bait only (minnows / leeches / worms), some crank baits only, some deep divers only, some spinners only, some will hit anything you throw, some will hit a specific type on monday and then not on tuesday.
- what is the moon dooing? Moon phases affect fish
- what is the weather doing? Cold snaps slow the fishing down, clowdy skies can pick the fishing up, clear sunny days may slow the fishing on some waters and peak them on others.
Furthermore; do your homework and spend time getting to know your waters. Also make sure to know the Regulations you are faced with, not every lake in every fishing zone carries the same limits/slot sizes. You would hate to have a great day of fishing only to find out by the CO that you are fishing illegally. (Regs can be found free online at Ontario Fishing Regs)

 

[hamtownhog]

Walleye are like women just when you think you got them figured out they change , Yearly this happens its the simple things like color presentation and right down to retrieval speed or trolling speeds ..... Good Luck on catching them Gold Bars ! Pay attention to when you DO start to catch them, record all your info on weather and water temps ( if possible ) colors of presentations and then pattern them it will really help you land your targeted species more frequently i find . Its a game of nature play it to the best of your ability .

GOOD LUCK !

 

[Kijo Lorica]

i guess its not possible to catch them from shore, i mean drop offs are far from shore. and even if there are any dropoffs near shore, how you supposed to find them. never seen any drop offs, well i dont really know what drop offs look like. went to jackson's point, had lots of fun catching gobies.. derrr! few big perch too. was aiming mainly for basss,, been casting all sorts of baits.. cranks, top water, divers, worms, my entire box! mostly weeeds and moss underwater. after a good 4 hours, switched to live worms and stay with perch, although there were perch right along the side, they dont seem to want to bite live worms, even rubber worms.. they would chase and turn around. although i caught a few perch, i felt like i got skunked.. heheh except for the 30 gobies i caught,, a fellow angler told me he likes to take them home.. if he told me earlier.. could've donated them to him.

 

[[email protected]]

i guess its not possible to catch them from shore, i mean drop offs are far from shore. and even if there are any dropoffs near shore, how you supposed to find them. never seen any drop offs, well i dont really know what drop offs look like. went to jackson's point, had lots of fun catching gobies.. derrr! few big perch too. was aiming mainly for basss,, been casting all sorts of baits.. cranks, top water, divers, worms, my entire box! mostly weeeds and moss underwater. after a good 4 hours, switched to live worms and stay with perch, although there were perch right along the side, they dont seem to want to bite live worms, even rubber worms.. they would chase and turn around. although i caught a few perch, i felt like i got skunked.. heheh except for the 30 gobies i caught,, a fellow angler told me he likes to take them home.. if he told me earlier.. could've donated them to him.

we used to catch hundreds a year from shore, on lake huron, stood out in our waders in waist deep water, tossing 3" white twisters with a 1/4oz jighead, start fishing at 930pm by 1015pm you're going home with your limit.

best way to find a drop off close to shore is to look at a topographic map of the lake

 

[MuskieBait]

From shore

Wading from shore

Spots are there...but you'll have to do some homework to find them. Sorry I can't share because there is something called trust between friends who share spots with each other, and not outside of the group.

From shore, you are more likely to find good spots along rivers than in lakes. Understanding seasonal movement is important in certain areas, and understanding time of day is important too.

 

[Kijo Lorica]

From shore

Wading from shore

Spots are there...but you'll have to do some homework to find them. Sorry I can't share because there is something called trust between friends who shares spots with each other, and not outside of the group.

From shore, you are more likely to find good spots along rivers than in lakes. Understanding seasonal movement is important in certain areas, and understanding time of day is important too.

niceeeee! well mixed info, so i think i wil try all of them some say its also patience and luck., well i think if you've found a spot, its no longer luck havent caught anything big yet, does a 6lb largemouth count? i aim for something bigger heading to scugog this weekend, test my luck there, although im not farmilliar with the place, just have to wait and see scout around.

 

[Knuguy]

From shore

Wading from shore



Spots are there...but you'll have to do some homework to find them. Sorry I can't share because there is something called trust between friends who shares spots with each other, and not outside of the group.

From shore, you are more likely to find good spots along rivers than in lakes. Understanding seasonal movement is important in certain areas, and understanding time of day is important too.

So what were you using for bait---red belly dace?? :lol:

 

[MuskieBait]

So what were you using for bait---red belly dace?? :lol:

It's going to shock you...worms! :lol:

In fact, the one in the second picture took a leftover chunk of worm no bigger than 1" long. Elephants eat peanuts. ;-)

But, in the past, I had used minnow imitating crankbaits. They look more like Common Shiners though.

 

[MuskieBait]

niceeeee! well mixed info, so i think i wil try all of them some say its also patience and luck., well i think if you've found a spot, its no longer luck havent caught anything big yet, does a 6lb largemouth count? i aim for something bigger heading to scugog this weekend, test my luck there, although im not farmilliar with the place, just have to wait and see scout around.

Patience and luck is a poor excuse for an unwillingness to spent the time to understand where to find fish and how to catch fish...unless you are after a WOW size fish that is very rare. By WOW size, I mean the top 1% of the population...the biggest individuals in that waterbody.

Otherwise, I don't believe in luck unless you are fishing side by side with someone, doing the EXACT same thing, and the other person catches a fish of the same species that are larger than you. Even so, I still believe there are slight difference that makes someone more successful than another person. Luck only occurs when all the necessary factors just happens to fall into place. Sometimes, this can be controlled, sometimes this cannot be controlled. When it cannot be controlled, then it is luck.

Ask my new friend who has caught 632 species if luck plays a big factor in success...you don't catch 632 species relying on patience and luck alone.

 

[hamtownhog]

BULLSHIT ! i called it

( the 632 part ) .......hahahahahahaha

 

[openfire]

BULLSHIT ! i called it

( the 632 part ) .......hahahahahahaha

There are an estimated 32,000 (known) species of fish in the world. Canada alone has 1100 known species of fish.

It is entirely possible for a life-long, dedicated and well traveled angler to have caught 632 species of fish (especialy if one focuses solely on catching as many species as humanly possible)!

The IGFA maintains world records for over 1500 species, and there are several species of fish I've caught that don't even appear on that list... So it stands to reason that there are many more than 1500 species, perhaps several thousand species of fish, that anglers around the world either target or catch.

Is it possible to catch 632 species of fish in a lifetime? You bet it is....Not likely for us mere mortals... But possible!

 

[OCDComputing]

Patience and luck is a poor excuse for an unwillingness to spent the time to understand where to find fish and how to catch fish...unless you are after a WOW size fish that is very rare. By WOW size, I mean the top 1% of the population...the biggest individuals in that waterbody.

Otherwise, I don't believe in luck unless you are fishing side by side with someone, doing the EXACT same thing, and the other person catches a fish of the same species that are larger than you. Even so, I still believe there are slight difference that makes someone more successful than another person. Luck only occurs when all the necessary factors just happens to fall into place. Sometimes, this can be controlled, sometimes this cannot be controlled. When it cannot be controlled, then it is luck.

Ask my new friend who has caught 632 species if luck plays a big factor in success...you don't catch 632 species relying on patience and luck alone.

I've actually been fishing with 2 friends within 100 feet...I was hammering them (even though they were just catfish!LOL!) and they weren't getting a thing (same bait....bottom bouncing worms)...we changed spots...I was still hammering them and they got very little. Although...I will say...my buddies daughter caught the fish of the day...beauty smallie! (about 3lbs)...She was SO jazzed. But it was still about 10 - 1 me to them. So luck..yep...can happen..although it may be that I could tell the bite and they were both rookies...

 

[BowSlayer]

you can get walleye off a dock, as well as in a river, in a lake, a boat is you best bet, i have caught them in above 30 with sun shining and no sign of any cloud cover, i have also caught them in pouring rain from shore. The ottawa area is a great place to fish from shore from there, ill never forget how i was getting chain pickerel and walleye non stop there, in the northern areas shore fishing is also an option but in the gta you need a boat for your best chance at them, as stated, current, drop offs and any wood cover in the water play big roles.