Vertical Limit

[mike rousseau]

So far this year has been interesting to say the least... The walleye are behaving way different then past years... So I had to step out of my comfort zone of flatline structure trolling and go vertical... I was marking lots of fish on the sonar but wasn't getting many takers on cranks... So after dropping some waypoints on larger schools of walleye I went back over them and got vertical... It was instant success... Literally first lift of the jig and I had a fish on... Over the next few trips I really dialed in on areas holding big numbers... As well as what baits worked best in what conditions...

 

It seams when the bite was on they liked lots of movement... Flash and/or color... So jigging spoons were the ticket...

 

On slow days they wanted small natural presentations... So natural colored soft plastics did the trick...

 

But either way they wanted vertical...

 

In the last 2 trips out (around 8 hours total) during mid day... We boated 50+ walleye... Lots of small 16-18 inches... And our better fish were only about 22 inchers... But they made for really good eating and fast action....

 

And we got our "vertical limit" in the boat in under an hour each trip....

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2013 by Mike Rousseau

[fishindevil]

Nice !!!!!!

[Old Ironmaker]

Good report and good for you for breaking tradition and boating some beauty eaters. Jigging spoons for Walleye, yes thanks for the reminder, it works. We also jig spoons deep in the fall on Big E for big Moma smallies. A few years back went up to Clear lake with a group of guys and my goomba from the main office from work. I had never fished with but had tried to for many years, these are all great guys just not fishermen. Troll, troll, troll, and troll somemore. Perch colour Shadrap, 8 hours and 1 fish latter the answer to putting fish in the boat is troll some more with the same Perch Shadraps only this time take off the swivel, only a bit faster or, oops too fast slow down, but keep trolling guys, we'll get em. I urged them for 5 hrs that night to switch up, deaf ears. After I had about enough the next morning I suggested to my fishing partner, his boat his truch, lets jig for these fish that are all over the screen on this deep water point. What's a jig? 2 drifts and 3 fish later guess what? Back to trolling. When we get back to the " cottage " with the 2500 ftsq boathouse, man what a shack, wink, wink, I say Show them your fish Joe, to everyones amazement Joe landed his first fish in 5 years of trolling.

 

Sometimes we need to change to get results. Thanks for reminding me about jigging spoons for those picky pics.

 

[outllaw]

good stuff. its been a mainstay here on detroit river. jiggin walters finnesse minnows..never need live bait

[mike rousseau]

Good report and good for you for breaking tradition and boating some beauty eaters. Jigging spoons for Walleye, yes thanks for the reminder, it works. We also jig spoons deep in the fall on Big E for big Moma smallies. A few years back went up to Clear lake with a group of guys and my goomba from the main office from work. I had never fished with but had tried to for many years, these are all great guys just not fishermen. Troll, troll, troll, and troll somemore. Perch colour Shadrap, 8 hours and 1 fish latter the answer to putting fish in the boat is troll some more with the same Perch Shadraps only this time take off the swivel, only a bit faster or, oops too fast slow down, but keep trolling guys, we'll get em. I urged them for 5 hrs that night to switch up, deaf ears. After I had about enough the next morning I suggested to my fishing partner, his boat his truch, lets jig for these fish that are all over the screen on this deep water point. What's a jig? 2 drifts and 3 fish later guess what? Back to trolling. When we get back to the " cottage " with the 2500 ftsq boathouse, man what a shack, wink, wink, I say Show them your fish Joe, to everyones amazement Joe landed his first fish in 5 years of trolling.

 

Sometimes we need to change to get results. Thanks for reminding me about jigging spoons for those picky pics.

 

You should check out "fergie" spoons...

 

They did the trick... They look funny but they do work...

[Rod Caster]

nice mess in the sink. I bet you were scratching your head quite a bit when they weren't hitting cranks.

[Sinker]

Sort of thing happening around here. What's your water temp like there? I usually like 63-68 for active eyes. They will attack anything when its like that.

 

Surface is hovering around 60 here. Slow, and in their face is getting them for us.

 

Sm

[Jigs]

I've been getting fish on jigs too Mike. Up on the big lake. Not anywhere near those numbers, but a bit better size. Averaging 2-4lbs. A fish here and there type-thing. After having my butt handed to me in that tournament I went out the very next day and fished hard and tried everything I could think of and I came across a pretty good jig bite. After digging into it more the next weekend I was able to duplicate it in 3-4 spots up there. I am finding no fish in spots where they usually are this time of year and finding some where I wouldn't even normally try to fish. Live and learn eh.

This type of fish. Not huge, but lots of fun on a jig and I have to say a very pleasant and needed (for my wrist) break from trolling. Because I have a console my wrist isn't in a natural position when trolling so I have to be careful not to develop carpel tunnel or something. I did start catching fish on the horizontal too, but had to go a bit deeper and fish peak hours.

 

Mind you, I had to skip last weekend because of the weather so this was two weekends ago. Might be different now and there's heat on its way so...

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2013 by Jigs

[mike rousseau]

Sort of thing happening around here. What's your water temp like there? I usually like 63-68 for active eyes. They will attack anything when its like that.

 

Surface is hovering around 60 here. Slow, and in their face is getting them for us.

 

Sm

52

[mike rousseau]

nice mess in the sink. I bet you were scratching your head quite a bit when they weren't hitting cranks.

Yup... Never seen it this bad... Normally I can grind enough fish trolling to keep me happy... But not this spring... Even at night it's been tougher then previous years...

 

Only problem with these jigging fish is size... I usually get fish 22"+ trolling... And I am lucky to get anything over 22" jigging... But the numbers of fish kinda make up for that