Walleye on artificial bait ?

[fish4ever]

Hey folks,
While I'm a rookie firsherman, I've hooked up into many species ( Bass, pike, perch, sun,...etc) but I have yet to hook into a walleye. There is an ottawa river shoreline spot which I got to which has walleyes, my friends get them up with live minnows. I mainly fish with artificial bait, I tried bucktails, grubs, fake minnows, nothing seems to work or so I think. I don't throw spinnerbaits at all. Is there ,a proven bait that you folks can kindly share, or could it be the fisherman skills that need polishing ?

Thanks in advance,

[Leechman]

Don't know if it's a proven lure but try medium size white or chartreuse Big 'O'. Works for me when going to Lac Poisson Blanc and casting for eyes.

The other one would be a silver / blue Thunderstick. My brother in law uses that one all the time a catches them.

Good luck on your hunt for eyes.

Fish Finder

[Wallyboss]

Multiple crankbaits like the wallydiver by Cotton Cordell, or husky jerk by Rapala and deep husky Jerk. I like casting the Mann's 20+ also But you need to know the depth. A walleye will pick up plastic grubs but it will be a subtle bite and if you are not quick you'll miss it. But you can also try the new Gulp Alive by Berkley.

[GrandRiverReaper]

Interesting post.

I find that Walleye or Pickerel as they are affectionately and erroneously refered to as around these parts, are difficult to catch. This is especially noticed in rivers that I fish on a regular basis. Throwing a whole assorment of bait at them is not necessarily the best solution for these finicking fish. At least that's what I find. I personally, have had the best success with jig and grub right at sunset or when there is overcast skies. This has brought the best results to my walleye hunts.

As for minnows, they catch just about anything, but the sporting part of it is in getting them on artificial bait. Also, there's a new Rapala (I think it's an X-RAP) perch pattern that the big goofball (and annoying) Dave Mercer was raving about on WFN the other day. I noticed that he was fishing at dusk.

Location is key too, like Mercer (and he forgot to mention this as he was too busy laughing at his own corny jokes and rubbing in that he gets to fish in really good locations for a living), if you're on a spot that has several thousand walleye in the area, expect to catch 18 fish on 39 cast like him. It's a numbers game. Good luck.


GRR

[Todd B.]

Unless you are familiar with the water depth and structure, I would be hesitant to use deep diving crankbaits. At ~$5 a pop, losing hard baits is not very fun. Hog's Back is a fine example. It may look deep but in reality there are only a few spots with any depth. You're better off fishing shallow running baits or light jigs/lindy rigs with power minnows, etc.

[Leechman]

Multiple crankbaits like the wallydiver by Cotton Cordell, or husky jerk by Rapala and deep husky Jerk. I like casting the Mann's 20+ also. A walleye will pick up plastic grubs but it will be a subtle bite and if you are not quick you'll miss it. But you can also try the new Gulp Alive by Berkley.

Wallyboss,

I've tried the Gulp alive 3" chartreuse minnow grubs and works great. Once you get a hit, they don't let go..... But I use them in combination with live leeches on a 1/4 once jig.

Fish Finder

[fish4ever]

Thank you all a bunch for the swift and fruiteful responses. I see that I've got many options to try out. It looks like I should try some crankbaits then . I will let you know if positives results are achieved.
I usually fish early mornings , when it is very quite to enjoy the water and calmness of mother nature. Haven't tried fishing at sunset

Have a wonderful day,

Cheers
Fish4ever

[Salar]

Caught most of my walleye on Bomber A's and Walleye Divers.

[Bass Addict]

Ahhhhhhhh,,,,,,,,, the good old chartruese jig and a worm

Sometimes when jigging you have to bounce it right off the bottom or
they won't take it


Just my in-experienced opinion

[katch moore]

try casting out a jointed rapala Gold Fluorescent Red size 11. it's a sweet casting/trolling bait for walleye on the ottawa. (near orleans_) the water is stained so the orange really sticks out !! good luck!

[Jimmy_1]

I too was in this predicament a week ago!

#1 things that'll catch Walleyes is patience and persistence!

If you know of a good holding place fish it at dusk! I like using X-raps in the red-head/chartreuse color. I like white YUM! grubs. They seem to work better than the gulps for me! So far Gulp has really disappointed me....but that may easily change I am sure!

I hadn't caught any Walleye in my life except for last year on the Ottawa trolling for Muskies. then in 2 weeks I have boated 4. Not alot, but a heck of a good start! They really are subtle when they take grubs. So alow a little extra when setting the hook. Apart from that it really is being in the right place at the right time. One of the places I am lucky with em is from shore. The seem to bite tackle running toward shore but WILL NOT bite tackle running out from shore. So best thing is to beach the boat and fish the shore.

They really are finnicky! But fun as hell to catch.....but not as fun as Muskies!

[wolfe]

Small, round jighead tipped with a Power Minnow or a similar soft plastic trailer retrieved in a slow jig, glancing off the bottom, works better for me and my family than any other presentation on Wolfe Lake.

It's a fun way to fish, too, and you've got such a close contact with the bait that you can feel even a tap.

W.

[Sniper]

Ive had good luck with rapala shad-raps and fat -raps

[curls]

Having grown up in Thunder Bay and fishing a LOT while living there for my first 22 years, I can say that without a doubt the best presentation we used was a very small 3/32oz jig (usually chartreuse, orange, black, or white) tipped with a leech. If fishing winter or spring, use a minnow.

Now with plastics, try to find something that imitates those. I've yet to hear of anyone fishing with leeches or artificial leeches in eastern Ontario, so I'd stay away from those. A 2-4" grub (in pumpkinseed, black, white, or chartreuse) will do a good job of imitating a minnow.

Bounce them SLOWLY with subtle twitches of the rod tip, in rocky areas. You will often barely feel the bite, but when you twitch the rod slightly, you'll notice a bit of weight that wasn't there before. Set the hook HARD - the walleye has a fairly hard mouth. Also ensure your hooks are sharp and especially when working rocky bottoms, sharpen them often as the rocks can dull 'em in a hurry, causing you to miss bites.

In open water, not from shore, lindy rigs and little joes (spinners) work well with a jumbo nightcrawler. I like to use a bottom bouncer setup with about 4' of line between the bottom bouncer weight and the hook, and I also prefer to inflate the worm with air using a worm blower. This keeps the bait slightly off bottom, which works well considering walleye can't often see below them, so you want to keep the presentation slightly above them. The main reason jigging ON bottom works is twofold: The noise/vibration sent off from the jighead hitting the rock/bottom, and secondly, the walleyes that are hitting jigs are usually actively feeding and are more likely to pick up a piece of food from the bottom itself.

[DropShotr]

Out on the St. Lawrence a silver & black X-Rap gets the job done for me.
Then there is the jig & grub. This combination has caught more walleye for me than anything else, and is usually my first choice if conditions and location permit. Grub size...3-4in. is perfect. Yellow, white, orange charetruse, pink........even pumpkin & black have been good colors (leech imitation?). I would stick with scent inhanced grubs, fish do hang ont them longer. For jig-head colors.....match the hatch or mix it up.
For the shallower rivers that you may be fishing I'd consider trying a light jighead & grub fished on a slip-bobber to control the depth and lessen the chance of hang-ups.

Hope this helps,
DropShot'r