Primary Strategies For Fishing Rivers In Summer

When he started fishing the In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail (PWT) seven years ago, Tommy Skarlis discovered an upside to his inexperience. His knowledge of lakes was nonexistent, but his forte was the Mississippi and Cedar rivers in Iowa. There he had spent formative years deciphering current, targeting aggressive walleyes, pitching jigs, and trolling crankbaits.

“That background has helped immensely,” says Skarlis, who won the 2001 PWT tournament on the Detroit River and the 2002 event on Lake Erie. “Lakes sometimes have wind-driven current. Reservoirs have fish of original river stock now living in lakes. It’s a lot easier to take a river angler and put him on a lake, than to take a lake angler and put him on a river.”

While Skarlis expresses an angling truism, his knowledge of current and the corresponding conduct of walleyes goes beyond a pithy little statement. He targets areas where walleyes feed instead of resting. He adjusts to rising and falling water. He fishes jigs in precise spots or over concentrations of walleyes. He trolls crankbaits on long passes when walleyes are scattered. The key is to identify the right water for conditions and to approach it in the most efficient manner.

Above all else, Skarlis focuses on aggressive walleyes that are positioned with food foremost on their minds. Active fish want a flow that drives food to them, not one that affords them repose. A perfect example is a wing dam. “You can mark and see all kinds of fish on the back of a wing dam, but that’s a rest stop,” Skarlis says. “When you have walleyes on the front of the wing dam, they’re not there to rest; they’re there to eat.”

Skarlis seeks out other spots with the twin priorities of flow and food. A good spot is the front of an island. Skarlis likes it even better if the upstream side has been reinforced with riprap and the current has scoured out a hole in front of the rocks. Another is the back side of the island, where the current curls back around. Further enhancing such spots, Skarlis says, is proximity to deep water, also hard bottom, since sand and rock are signs of current; mud never has the chance to collect.

That same hard bottom close to a food source also grabs Skarlis’ attention. Creeks, incoming rivers, and harbors—places where shad and minnows pile up near the main channel—keep walleyes in the area. “It’s like the coyote sitting outside a hole in the henhouse, waiting for a chicken to slip out,” Skarlis says.

Fluctuations in river flow are additional factors to consider. Prevailing wisdom says that rising water drives walleyes shallow, away from the current; and falling water sends them to the safety of the deep. One exception: Walleyes still move up to feed despite dropping water, Skarlis says. And no matter what the water is doing, Skarlis always concentrates on the seam between current and slower water. In summertime, shade also is a top priority, particularly where cottonwoods and willows growing on shore indicate hard bottom.

Skarlis’ top presentation for targeting aggressive walleyes holding in current is jigging. His first choices are jigs without bait—a plain Fuzz-E-Grub or a jighead with a Berkley Power Minnow—to match the aggressive mood of the fish. For colors, Skarlis’ favorites move away from traditional chartreuse and orange to white, black, and blue. He complements them with a tough, highly visible line like Berkley Iron Silk Solar Mint. To work the jig, in summer, Skarlis casts with a lift followed by a glide, so the current coasts the bait into a walleye’s face. Another option is a three-way rig with a heavy jig on the bottom and a top leader with an Aberdeen hook and a plastic tail tipped with a leech or a minnow. When cold fronts hamper walleye aggressiveness, Skarlis changes little the first day, but the second day after the front, he switches to a big 5/8- to 1-ounce jig to pound bottom and trigger strikes.

The same thing happens when he’s trolling crankbaits for scattered fish. With leadcore line and a leader of Berkley FireLine as long as his rod, Skarlis pounds bottom with a true-running crank at speeds of up to 3 mph, which is fast, considering the additional pressure of the current. Skarlis’ tack is to motor aggressively 20 yards upstream, then stall in the current, holding the boat to let the bait work. Banging bottom with his lures, he also pulls cranks up and down the channel breaks. “River fish really seem to get aggressive when something’s moving up and down the breaks,” Skarlis says.

Aggressive behavior is precisely the temperament to play upon. Combine that penchant with a focus on feeding lanes, current seams, and hard bottom to crack the code of river walleyes. Skarlis’ angling acumen, no longer lacking in any area, helps him identify the right water and approach it in the most efficient manner—a solid strategy in or out of current.

*Dave Scroppo, a freelance writer from Traverse City, Michigan, often covers In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail tournaments for Walleye In-Sider.