Walleye help

[Goodsen]

Ty,

I am heading up to the Chip in mid May for a little walleye fishing. I have not fished at that time in many years so I was looking thru old post and know you throw a lot of husky jerks. Is there a specific color or size you would recommend? Also you state to use a fluorocarbon leader to prevent bite offs. What size fluorocarbon leader do you suggest and how long? Do you notice a big difference in using a Fluorocarbon leader compared to just super line? I appreciate your help.

Joel

[Mark Benson]

Goodsen:

I am a big fan of 10/2 Power Pro and for a fair amount of time used Berkley Vanish in the 10# weight. Caught lots of fish that way, but always had problems at the knot to knot with snags.

Having a little 20# Seaguar left from redfishing in FL, I tried that on a very clear lake over here in the Minocqua area and was still catching fish equal to partners in the boat that are good enough sticks to show the difference. Still caught my share of fish and solved the problem of the knot breakage. Would think floro would help in any water situation including the dark-watered Chip, but I would still defer to Ty's experience on the flowage.

Mark

[Ty Sennett]

As far as color for the Husky Jerks, that varies year to year and with cloud and sun conditions but for the most part all of them work with the exception of the clown pattern. That one has never been good for me. You will catch a lot of pike with that color though.

For the fluoro leader, the main reason I use the leader is to stop the pike bite off so I go a little heavier duty than Mark said (thanks for the info by the way Mark). Mark was right on for most walleye waters without pike. For pike waters also try 40 to 60 pound flouoro but make sure it doesn't inhibit the action of the bait as walleye can be very stingy in what they eat and don't eat when it comes to lure action. I usually use Berkley's Fluorocarbon to make the leaders but I don't know a whole lot about fluorocarbon so I just go with a good name brand.

[Goodsen]

Thanks Ty and Mark for your help.

[Mark Benson]

Goodsen and Ty:

My bad, didn't see the questions about floro relating to bite-offs and missed the boat completely. By the time I reread my post, I realized that I was talking about floro/break-offs more-so relating to jig fishing. I do use the same setup for my crank fishing, although in more cases I prefer the 10# Berkeley Vanish as I am not messing around with snags near as much. Luckily, I haven't had to be concerned with many bite-offs or I would probably be starting to use heavier floros or monos.

I do have to remind myself that I need to fish heavier line when I am fishing the Flowages (Turtle Flambeau/Willow/Rainbow, I wish the Chip) or I get broken off. Most of my fishing is on natural lakes and it is a lot easier to get away with the lighter lines.

During the ice season, if I am fishing pikey waters I am usually using the 20# Seaguar or 30# Stren Magnathin (left over from the pre-braid musky days).

Mark

[walleyemaxx]

I hope Ty doesn't mind me giving my 2 cents worth. For throwing cranks for Walleyes, I like to use a 14-6 super braid. Fire line is limp, and casts well. Of course I use spinning equiupment. Not level wind reels. The fire line also resists the bite offs.

I personally am not a fan of florocarbon because it is so stiff, that it affects the action of the crank bait.

This year you'll also have a good option to jig deeper structure and cover. With the super early spring, the Walleyes will be in many different patterns.

Another bait to consider is throwing inline spinners. Tip them with live bait and work them thru and over the weeds. Very effective. You can also tip with a artificial minnow and work it just like a swim bait.

Hope this helps.

Walleyemaxx
Respect-Earned not given

[Ty Sennett]

Thanks for the input Tom. The more thoughts the better on tips and tactics. Everybody does things a little different. I actually use a baitcasting reel for most of my walleye fishing so that's why I don't use much fireline. I do use mono for livebait jigging though. I have fireline on all my client spinning reels with the exception of the Cortland mono on the live bait jig rods. I really like that line for live bait applications.

[Mark Benson]

Cortland mono... very good stuff!!!

Mark

[figr8girl]

We mostly jig for eyes with spinning tackle, 6# clear line. I like the sensation by Trilene? 1/8 oz. jig tipped with minnow working it through the rubble and weeds and humps.

At night in the shorelines (or day) we work a rapala (whatever kind you have confidence in) with a small leader. I'll make my own leaders with 15# coated sevenstrand, no snaps or swivels. It doesn't seem to hinder the action at all and has saved us many $ in bite-offs as Ty has mentioned.