!@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

[crxess]

Ever had this happen?

Potomac River(Mid Maryland)
Water is bad low, but fishable with patients.
a.m. Rain - overcast skies - air temp 78
Fishing 2'-10' Clear water over rocks/Boulders

Day trip totaled 12 sub par Small mouth.

We saw at least 200 Wallweye avg 15" or better hovering and schooling over flat rock/gravel areas.
At one point I had 15 just hanging of the starboard side 5 feet off the back.

I tried for a good hour to get a bite from one of these and several others hanging nearby with No success. Threw everything I had except the anchor and they just ignored it.

Tiny spinners red - green - white, big spinners, grubs, Night crawlers, Worms in black/pink tail - coffee/green curly tail - dark green, fat baby bass cranks, narrow cranks, curly tails and more.

Nada, zip, nothing.......
I know I'm a total amateur at fresh water. 56 and my first year out, but come on Was it all me or do they some times just refuse to eat anything? If so, why were they holding in the currents?
This one of the most exciting and disappointing days I have ever had on the water.

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

That happens when walleye fishing sometimes. There's times I have marked a million fish on the sonar and got nary a bite. There's other times when I couldn't mark any fish, and never got a bite in fall when the water cools.

If I knew how that worked I would be fishing with Gary Parsons...

 

[soundman2424]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

Apparently you weren't offering them anything that they wanted to bite on. Simple as that. Next time, try a #11 Rapala floating Shad in blue or chartreuse and see what happens. Pull it about 2 MPH +/- .5. Or try pitching a minnow tipped 1/8 oz jig and bounce that around them. The 'eyes around here have been crazy all summer. We caught 17 last weekend that were hogs. I haven't seen walleye fishing this good in a very long time.

 

[crxess]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

Well, all my cranks are Rapala 11's - threw the chartreuse, silver/blue, purple/black back even the gold/ black back.

I use 4" minnows on the jig heads. Think they might be to large?

Trolling is almost impossible with all the rock out croppings sudden rises and boulders around here. We drift with outboard raised and trolling motor at a 45. Still gets hammered at times.

Talked to 2 groups of canoe fishers around lunch at the ramp. Both had worked up past a rock wall we cannot get by in our boat.
Both reported ok mornings netting 14 in one group and 13 in the other. All were Smallies.
Watched a few other fishers during the afternoon run, but still only saw Bass on the hook.

Planning a trip further down river for sunday. Looking for deeper holes as the water is still quite warm.

Tackle box is getting fat, but I'm willing to take suggestions.

 

[gonfishn]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

this time of year the fins tend to go in slow mo and means the change over is starting. In the fall when i fish for Muskies i go from a troll speed of 5mph to 0 and put the motor up an go with some six inch chubs and drift. Same with bass and walleyes. They are gettn ready to head to their winter spots. I have plucked a chub in front of a 50 plus gator and it never flinched in the fall. Jiging is my choice of fishn this time of year. The frenzie feedn is pretty much over now.

 

[4JawChuck]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

When they are picky, a custom worm harness is what I switch to.

I inflate a whole worm with a worm blower so it floats and leave enough slack in the line so the fish can take the bait and swim away with it. Seems when they are picky they will take the bait and swim away a short distance before they eat the bait...be patient before you decide to set the hook. Sometimes I follow the line around the boat until I feel him swallow the bait before setting the hook, believe it or not but it can take 10-15 seconds before they will swallow it, feeding the fish line as he needs it and holding it with your hand is the trick to knowing whats going down under the water.

Basically the rig is a light 1/8 ounce-1/4 ounce weight depending on current with a plain snelled #4 hook tied to a small swivel to prevent pulling the snell through the weight. The bait is allowed to drift free with plenty of slack, some people will leave the bail open on the reel and just watch it...I just leave 3-4 feet of slack and watch to see if the line floating on the surface pulls down when a fish takes it.

As for presentation you can pull the line and wiggle the worm but mostly they prefer to take a worm that is stationary on the line...trolling with it is mostly unproductive when its a slow bite.

The hook goes under the head of the work but does not come through the other side, the idea is to have as little junk hanging in the fishes face as possible so he will swallow it.

When they aren't biting this method always produces for me since walleye will always eat if its easy and worth it...hence the whole worm. The 22 inch walleye in my avatar was caught using this method.

Good luck.

 

[cougar1985]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

quess you cant troll right?i troll for wallys with a 90 hp evinrude and lately have been slaying them with a mepps black fury or a worm harness.i suppose it depends on where you are also as im sure some people would never dream of trolling with a ninety for wallys but where i go they dont seem to mind putting a chase on to get their meal,lol.

 

[crxess]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

Nope. I'd troll in a heartbeat but 50 yards and I'd rip the transom off on a rock strike.

 

[justchange]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

Ever had this happen?

Potomac River(Mid Maryland)
Water is bad low, but fishable with patients.
a.m. Rain - overcast skies - air temp 78
Fishing 2'-10' Clear water over rocks/Boulders

Day trip totaled 12 sub par Small mouth.

We saw at least 200 Wallweye avg 15" or better hovering and schooling over flat rock/gravel areas.
At one point I had 15 just hanging of the starboard side 5 feet off the back.

I tried for a good hour to get a bite from one of these and several others hanging nearby with No success. Threw everything I had except the anchor and they just ignored it.

Tiny spinners red - green - white, big spinners, grubs, Night crawlers, Worms in black/pink tail - coffee/green curly tail - dark green, fat baby bass cranks, narrow cranks, curly tails and more.

Nada, zip, nothing.......
I know I'm a total amateur at fresh water. 56 and my first year out, but come on Was it all me or do they some times just refuse to eat anything? If so, why were they holding in the currents?
This one of the most exciting and disappointing days I have ever had on the water.

You realize those fish were just laughin' at ya.

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

Well, all my cranks are Rapala 11's - threw the chartreuse, silver/blue, purple/black back even the gold/ black back.

I think he meant Shad Raps in 11. The sticks work at times but Shad Raps seems to be the better bait later in the season. Around here the Perch pattern works- don't know about in your section of the forest.

I use 4" minnows on the jig heads. Think they might be to large?

Nope, I don't think so, not this time of year. Smaller minnows have a lot of smaller fish hit them.

FYI: Once, I nailed an incidental 6" perch on a Rapala Shad Rap 11 !! I killed it, sliced it up the belly leaving the sides flapping, and then tied it up to a couple of big trebles and trolled it on a dead stick. Stupid me, I thought I was snagged on the bottom and lost the fish that hit it before my brain caught on to the fact that even when I stopped the boat it was still pulling unreasonable mounts of line off the reel. That was the second of only two 10-pound-class fish I have ever caught. I did not get either of them in the boat. I now play the "bottom" at least for a minute whenever I get hung up anymore! I am still not sure if it hurts less or more having gotten a fairly close look at both of them before managing to not get them in the boat.

 

[rolmops]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

There is one thing that bugs me in this post.
Walleyes like to be invisible and do not commonly school in areas free of cover.
Suckers on the other hand are often quite visible and no matter what you throw at them,they often will not react.

 

[Cofe]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

Apparently you weren't offering them anything that they wanted to bite on. Simple as that. Next time, try a #11 Rapala floating Shad in blue or chartreuse and see what happens. Pull it about 2 MPH +/- .5. Or try pitching a minnow tipped 1/8 oz jig and bounce that around them. The 'eyes around here have been crazy all summer. We caught 17 last weekend that were hogs. I haven't seen walleye fishing this good in a very long time.

Hey Soundman that works for me too. Those gold Rapala's work good for trolling, and 1/8-1/4 lead head jig in green or chartreuse tipped with a minnow/sometimes worm, are killers when retrieved slow and jerky.

Think I will thaw some out for supper,,,,made me hungry...

 

[crxess]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

There is one thing that bugs me in this post.
Walleyes like to be invisible and do not commonly school in areas free of cover.
Suckers on the other hand are often quite visible and no matter what you throw at them,they often will not react.

Nope, all walleye. Could see many bass(some we caught) and even huge carp showing off occasionally.
This particular stretch of water is incredibly fast moving with only rock/boulders and a few grass patches. Some good ledges and walls creating slack water areas. But boy is it loaded with fish. Considered one of, if not the best area on the non-tidal Potomac.

Went out of Williamsport Md. this evening. Grass was impassable. Stalled the boat very few hundred feet. After about 1.5 miles we pulled the motor and trolling motor up and started drifting back toward the ramp.
Got several short strikes each.(Wife and I) and caught a few10-12" Smallies.
Pitching light brown 6" worms w/green curly tails.

 

[cougar1985]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

There is one thing that bugs me in this post.
Walleyes like to be invisible and do not commonly school in areas free of cover.
Suckers on the other hand are often quite visible and no matter what you throw at them,they often will not react.

also see several large wallys on top of the boulders by a bridge up here every year,odd but not unheard of.got some of my best fishing this year at 2 in the afternoon also ,which is also not on most wally fishermans time tables ,but ive always said that ive yet to bring a fish up that was wearing a watch.

 

[bigskiohio]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

i have same problem ,need to get some kind of trolling motor setup. gas or electric 24v.

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

also see several large wallys on top of the boulders by a bridge up here every year,odd but not unheard of.got some of my best fishing this year at 2 in the afternoon also ,which is also not on most wally fishermans time tables ,but ive always said that ive yet to bring a fish up that was wearing a watch.

I actually have had poor results fishing for Walleye at night- never got the hang of it. However, I troll and catch them in midday often. Usually have found that 10:30AM-ish to 2pm-ish there are few if any walleye caught, but before and after the midday period have been great. And once last year we boated 30+ fish between 4:30pm and 8pm-ish which was a stellar day in my book!

Solunar tables can indicate good fishing times, but they don't guarentee it. But often, our best fishing times have coincided with the tables, sometimes have had great fishing on "bad" days, like the 30+ fish day I mentioned.

If fishing was not challenging, I'd probably find golf appealing. (not intending to offend anyone who likes golf; just ain't aggressive enough for me)

 

[pecheux]

Re: !@#$ Impossible Walleye - Maryland

If golf was an easy game nobody would play it ... I guess the same applies to fishing ... end of similarities ... LOL