Tim Luhrs Outdoors LLC
Tim Luhrs Outdoors LLC
| Walleye Fishing, the Metro Way |
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| Tim Luhrs Outdoors - www.timluhrsoutdoors.com - 2008-2009 |
By: Tim Luhrs
For those of you who primarily fish our metro lakes, this tactic is a multi seasonal
approach to successfully searching for and catching those walleyes that our MN.
DNR stocks regularly into so many of our local lakes. Not only will you improve your
walleye fishing skills, both summer and winter, but as a side light to this method you
will experience a significant uptick in your bass catching opportunities, like it or not.
My first step to finding metro lakes with stocked populations of walleye is to go to the
MN.DNR LAKE FINDER, search for your lake of choice, and review all facts about the
lake, paying particular attention to the walleye stocking information. If the information
on hand is favorable, and I mean all of the lake information, I will consider this lake as
potential challenge.
One must understand that our local lakes are far from what would be considered
classic walleye type lakes. Our local lakes are mostly small, featureless lakes,
lacking the elements typical of the natural reproducing walleye factories found more
to our immediate north. So what is the element most of our local walleyes relate to?
WEEDS
In particular the outside edges of the weed line, in most cases the deep outside edge.
I believe the reason for fish relating so much to the weeds is that these walleyes,
young stocked walleyes, initially seek out the weeds for cover and safety but also find
that they have food sources readily available to them, which in turn provides them
with a habitat that they find acceptable to stay in. That’s not to say that some won’t
stray to an isolated feature outside the weeds, but I do believe the bulk of the fish stay
weed oriented, summer and winter, and can be harvested with fair results. Keep in
my mind, these are metro lakes and any harvested walleyes should be considered a
bonus. They are “put & take” fish, provided by the DNR for our fishing enjoyment. Few,
if any of these fish possess the ability to reproduce naturally.
My method to find these walleyes during the open water season is quite simple. I
prefer to use a 6’3” to 6’10” high modulus graphite spinning rod, fast tip, coupled with
a quality spinning reel. The reel will be spooled with 6 lb. – 8 lb. hi viz monofilament or
braid line. Hi viz line will help you detect the light biting fish, you’ll see the slight tick or
jump in the line as the fish picks up the jig. It’s easy to miss that action with clear or
other colored line. I tie on a 1/8 – 3/16 oz. jig head, one with a hook long enough to
secure a 4” plastic worm. My preferred bait is a 4” ring worm (purples, blues, black,
chartreuses) on a plain or colored jig head. It’s been my experience that typical
stocked walleyes, usually on the smaller side of the scale, prefer baits of 4” or
smaller. Larger baits don’t seem to have much appeal to them.
I start my search in the early am or early/late pm hours, as you increase your
chances of locating active fish during these more typical peak times. The outside
edge of the weed line is where I’ll concentrate the bulk of my efforts. The best
presentation seems to be a slow (think slow x 2) stop and start with your electric
trolling motor working perpendicular to weed line. Toss your jig out, allow it to sink to
bottom and begin your retrieve with moderate hops back to boat. Most of your hits
will happen as the jig falls, as it sits on the bottom, or as you jerk it free from a weed
you’ve snagged along the way. If the walleyes are really turned on they will smack
your bait, if they are finicky, they will grab your bait and just mouth it. Pay particular
attention to this kind of bite, as you will want to drop your rod tip towards the fish and
give it an additional second or two to grab your bait more securely at which time you
then want to pull back and set the hook. As indicated earlier many of those fish will
be largemouth bass as they also love the 4” ringworms. Enjoy the battle, get a picture
if it’s a monster, and release back into lake.
If it’s a walleye, quickly remove your jig, place fish into live well or stringer it if you’re
keeping fish. Return your jig to the same spot in hopes of pulling another quick fish
from the group. Stocked walleyes in small metro lakes don’t roam the waters in large
schools. If you act quickly, you may secure 1 or 2 more fish from the group. More
often than not it’s just one fish at a time. Don’t be disappointed if it’s the only one you
catch, you’ve done well to catch it. If you have a gps system, immediately punch in a
way point at the location you hooked your fish. If not, make a good mental image of
location and remember depth of water. Manually mark the spot on a lake map, note
any shoreline objects you can reference for returning to same spot. This is absolutely
critical to the process as these marks, gps points, will be the spots that help you
relocate your winter walleyes. Pay attention to areas on the map that have
accumulated multiple marks in close relation to each other, most often there is a
reason why that spot is concentrating fish.
The spots that I find holding most fish are usually weed edges with deeper water
nearby, inside turns of weed lines and weed points. If you’re to find concentrations of
walleyes, these spots seem to be a bit more accommodating. Look hard for these
spots, fish these spots diligently and make note of their location as these will be your
key spots to return to at ice time.
Ice time begins when you have safe passage to the spots you located and fished
successfully during open water. It seems like most of the deep weed lines I fish are
at depths of 8-15 ft. If you have 4” of good ice and shore access to your spot it’s
usually a short walk to fishing. Early ice represents your best chance at producing
fish, as they have not been harassed by anyone for weeks. Walk with caution;
approach your spot as quiet as possible.
Arrive at your starting spot a good hour or so before sunset. Your starting spot should
be one of the spots you marked earlier this summer. Most important is to be sure
you are within 2-4 feet of the weed line. Verify the weed line by searching through the
ice with your locator or drill holes in approximate area until you find weeds, green
weeds most preferable. I like to drill one hole only at any of the spots I’ve mapped out
to fish. It’s much easier to move about your holes with one rod in hand and any other
gear you need to move with you. Spend 15 -20 minutes at each location. If you pull
one or two fish from that hole and things begin to slow down, move on to your next
spot. Remember, this is prime time and these are active fish on the outside of the
weed line in search of their evening meal. In due time you’ll recognize certain spots
out produce others. These spots may also be providing you with some crappies or
sunfish. If you’d like to capitalize on these spots, drill a second hole along side of the
first and fish it with a dead pole or a bobber pole. If you have your portable in tow, it
can be quite relaxing and enjoyable to just set up and take advantage of the bite.
I like to keep things fairly simple out on the ice when it comes to the tackle I use and
the baits I prefer. My favorite bait is a 1/16 or 1/8 oz. round jig head dressed up with a
twister tail ( white, chartreuse, yellow ) and tipped with a 1 ½” or 2” fat head minnow.
I’m looking for fish that won’t hesitate to attack a larger minnow, like 14” and above
walleyes and if they are present, 12” or larger crappies. Pulling a large crappie from
a metro lake is one of the most exciting and rewarding fish to catch. If you get into a
bunch of them remember to release some of them back into the lake. Another
favorite bait to use is one of the many jigging spoons available. I prefer to use 1-2 inch
spoons ( Kastmaster, Jig A Whopper, Walleye Hawger, Swedish Pimple, etc. ) tipped
with a minnow head. Sometimes I’ll use the whole minnow, nicked just behind the
head with your hook. This imparts a nice action to the minnow, kind of a dazed,
struggling look that the walleyes really love to smash.
I don’t get real concerned about colors, the basic favored walleye colors do fine. I
think it’s more the action of the spoon that provokes these active fish into inhaling
your bait. Recently I’ve had great success with a lure made by Salmo Baits called a
Chubby Darter. It’s fished much like a Jigging Rap, except I don’t use the aggressive
jigging that is usually associated with the jigging rap. I slow my rate of jigging way
down, sometimes barely raising or lowering the lure but a few inches at a time. Lift
and drop slowly. Just twitching the lure often elicits some powerful strikes from both
walleyes and large crappies. For metro lakes I like the 1¾” size, the walleyes and
larger crappies won’t hesitate to smack this bait. Fish it on 4-6 lb. fluorocarbon tied
directly to bait, a Palomar knot works nicely. Experiment some with this guy, it’s a
great bait.
There is a host of other lures and baits available to use. I’ve only mentioned the few I
prefer to use the most, that’s mostly because I believe strongly in the KISS theory,
keep it simple stupid, especially out on the ice. Conversely, don’t be shy about
experimenting with new lures and baits. You’ll most certainly find some that will
become your favorites; they will become your confidence lures that pull many
numbers of fish thru the hole for you and your fishing friends.
My thought process for this article was to share with you with a brief, some what
detailed approach to help you on your way to more successful walleye fishing on our
local metro lakes. I’ve stayed very much to the basics here as there are many and
varied details that could be talked about. Start out your search for local walleyes with
some of the ideas above. For most parts of the seasons, fish will be located in the
areas described. Fish slowly, diligently and with great patience. Eventually you’ll
figure it out and you’ll be amazed at what’s truly available to you right here in our own
metro area.
Good luck and great fishing!!
For those of you who primarily fish our metro lakes, this tactic is a multi seasonal
approach to successfully searching for and catching those walleyes that our MN.
DNR stocks regularly into so many of our local lakes. Not only will you improve your
walleye fishing skills, both summer and winter, but as a side light to this method you
will experience a significant uptick in your bass catching opportunities, like it or not.
My first step to finding metro lakes with stocked populations of walleye is to go to the
MN.DNR LAKE FINDER, search for your lake of choice, and review all facts about the
lake, paying particular attention to the walleye stocking information. If the information
on hand is favorable, and I mean all of the lake information, I will consider this lake as
potential challenge.
One must understand that our local lakes are far from what would be considered
classic walleye type lakes. Our local lakes are mostly small, featureless lakes,
lacking the elements typical of the natural reproducing walleye factories found more
to our immediate north. So what is the element most of our local walleyes relate to?
WEEDS
In particular the outside edges of the weed line, in most cases the deep outside edge.
I believe the reason for fish relating so much to the weeds is that these walleyes,
young stocked walleyes, initially seek out the weeds for cover and safety but also find
that they have food sources readily available to them, which in turn provides them
with a habitat that they find acceptable to stay in. That’s not to say that some won’t
stray to an isolated feature outside the weeds, but I do believe the bulk of the fish stay
weed oriented, summer and winter, and can be harvested with fair results. Keep in
my mind, these are metro lakes and any harvested walleyes should be considered a
bonus. They are “put & take” fish, provided by the DNR for our fishing enjoyment. Few,
if any of these fish possess the ability to reproduce naturally.
My method to find these walleyes during the open water season is quite simple. I
prefer to use a 6’3” to 6’10” high modulus graphite spinning rod, fast tip, coupled with
a quality spinning reel. The reel will be spooled with 6 lb. – 8 lb. hi viz monofilament or
braid line. Hi viz line will help you detect the light biting fish, you’ll see the slight tick or
jump in the line as the fish picks up the jig. It’s easy to miss that action with clear or
other colored line. I tie on a 1/8 – 3/16 oz. jig head, one with a hook long enough to
secure a 4” plastic worm. My preferred bait is a 4” ring worm (purples, blues, black,
chartreuses) on a plain or colored jig head. It’s been my experience that typical
stocked walleyes, usually on the smaller side of the scale, prefer baits of 4” or
smaller. Larger baits don’t seem to have much appeal to them.
I start my search in the early am or early/late pm hours, as you increase your
chances of locating active fish during these more typical peak times. The outside
edge of the weed line is where I’ll concentrate the bulk of my efforts. The best
presentation seems to be a slow (think slow x 2) stop and start with your electric
trolling motor working perpendicular to weed line. Toss your jig out, allow it to sink to
bottom and begin your retrieve with moderate hops back to boat. Most of your hits
will happen as the jig falls, as it sits on the bottom, or as you jerk it free from a weed
you’ve snagged along the way. If the walleyes are really turned on they will smack
your bait, if they are finicky, they will grab your bait and just mouth it. Pay particular
attention to this kind of bite, as you will want to drop your rod tip towards the fish and
give it an additional second or two to grab your bait more securely at which time you
then want to pull back and set the hook. As indicated earlier many of those fish will
be largemouth bass as they also love the 4” ringworms. Enjoy the battle, get a picture
if it’s a monster, and release back into lake.
If it’s a walleye, quickly remove your jig, place fish into live well or stringer it if you’re
keeping fish. Return your jig to the same spot in hopes of pulling another quick fish
from the group. Stocked walleyes in small metro lakes don’t roam the waters in large
schools. If you act quickly, you may secure 1 or 2 more fish from the group. More
often than not it’s just one fish at a time. Don’t be disappointed if it’s the only one you
catch, you’ve done well to catch it. If you have a gps system, immediately punch in a
way point at the location you hooked your fish. If not, make a good mental image of
location and remember depth of water. Manually mark the spot on a lake map, note
any shoreline objects you can reference for returning to same spot. This is absolutely
critical to the process as these marks, gps points, will be the spots that help you
relocate your winter walleyes. Pay attention to areas on the map that have
accumulated multiple marks in close relation to each other, most often there is a
reason why that spot is concentrating fish.
The spots that I find holding most fish are usually weed edges with deeper water
nearby, inside turns of weed lines and weed points. If you’re to find concentrations of
walleyes, these spots seem to be a bit more accommodating. Look hard for these
spots, fish these spots diligently and make note of their location as these will be your
key spots to return to at ice time.
Ice time begins when you have safe passage to the spots you located and fished
successfully during open water. It seems like most of the deep weed lines I fish are
at depths of 8-15 ft. If you have 4” of good ice and shore access to your spot it’s
usually a short walk to fishing. Early ice represents your best chance at producing
fish, as they have not been harassed by anyone for weeks. Walk with caution;
approach your spot as quiet as possible.
Arrive at your starting spot a good hour or so before sunset. Your starting spot should
be one of the spots you marked earlier this summer. Most important is to be sure
you are within 2-4 feet of the weed line. Verify the weed line by searching through the
ice with your locator or drill holes in approximate area until you find weeds, green
weeds most preferable. I like to drill one hole only at any of the spots I’ve mapped out
to fish. It’s much easier to move about your holes with one rod in hand and any other
gear you need to move with you. Spend 15 -20 minutes at each location. If you pull
one or two fish from that hole and things begin to slow down, move on to your next
spot. Remember, this is prime time and these are active fish on the outside of the
weed line in search of their evening meal. In due time you’ll recognize certain spots
out produce others. These spots may also be providing you with some crappies or
sunfish. If you’d like to capitalize on these spots, drill a second hole along side of the
first and fish it with a dead pole or a bobber pole. If you have your portable in tow, it
can be quite relaxing and enjoyable to just set up and take advantage of the bite.
I like to keep things fairly simple out on the ice when it comes to the tackle I use and
the baits I prefer. My favorite bait is a 1/16 or 1/8 oz. round jig head dressed up with a
twister tail ( white, chartreuse, yellow ) and tipped with a 1 ½” or 2” fat head minnow.
I’m looking for fish that won’t hesitate to attack a larger minnow, like 14” and above
walleyes and if they are present, 12” or larger crappies. Pulling a large crappie from
a metro lake is one of the most exciting and rewarding fish to catch. If you get into a
bunch of them remember to release some of them back into the lake. Another
favorite bait to use is one of the many jigging spoons available. I prefer to use 1-2 inch
spoons ( Kastmaster, Jig A Whopper, Walleye Hawger, Swedish Pimple, etc. ) tipped
with a minnow head. Sometimes I’ll use the whole minnow, nicked just behind the
head with your hook. This imparts a nice action to the minnow, kind of a dazed,
struggling look that the walleyes really love to smash.
I don’t get real concerned about colors, the basic favored walleye colors do fine. I
think it’s more the action of the spoon that provokes these active fish into inhaling
your bait. Recently I’ve had great success with a lure made by Salmo Baits called a
Chubby Darter. It’s fished much like a Jigging Rap, except I don’t use the aggressive
jigging that is usually associated with the jigging rap. I slow my rate of jigging way
down, sometimes barely raising or lowering the lure but a few inches at a time. Lift
and drop slowly. Just twitching the lure often elicits some powerful strikes from both
walleyes and large crappies. For metro lakes I like the 1¾” size, the walleyes and
larger crappies won’t hesitate to smack this bait. Fish it on 4-6 lb. fluorocarbon tied
directly to bait, a Palomar knot works nicely. Experiment some with this guy, it’s a
great bait.
There is a host of other lures and baits available to use. I’ve only mentioned the few I
prefer to use the most, that’s mostly because I believe strongly in the KISS theory,
keep it simple stupid, especially out on the ice. Conversely, don’t be shy about
experimenting with new lures and baits. You’ll most certainly find some that will
become your favorites; they will become your confidence lures that pull many
numbers of fish thru the hole for you and your fishing friends.
My thought process for this article was to share with you with a brief, some what
detailed approach to help you on your way to more successful walleye fishing on our
local metro lakes. I’ve stayed very much to the basics here as there are many and
varied details that could be talked about. Start out your search for local walleyes with
some of the ideas above. For most parts of the seasons, fish will be located in the
areas described. Fish slowly, diligently and with great patience. Eventually you’ll
figure it out and you’ll be amazed at what’s truly available to you right here in our own
metro area.
Good luck and great fishing!!