Reservoirs pose a unique challenge for anglers who come from a natural lake background. They’re used to fishing smaller bodies of water, often with weedcover, which combine to reduce seasonal walleye migration. Walleyes in natural lakes may reside in certain areas for long periods of time. At most, seasonal movements generally are measured in a handful of miles, rather than by distant GPS coordinates. Seldom is trailering your boat up or down the lake necessary to remain on the bulk of the fish.
Reservoirs display a different mode of walleye movement and behavior. First, many reservoirs are huge by natural lake standards, measured in miles rather than acres. Second, most large reservoirs experience significant water fluctuation, minimizing or eliminating rooted weedgrowth, though flooded timber, stumps, or brush may play a key role in walleye location. Third, long-distance seasonal migrations may draw walleyes 30 to 100 miles or more as they move from deep wintering areas toward shallow upstream spawning spots.
Once spawning concludes, they begin dispersing back into the lake again, following warming water and migrating baitfish. As the environment moves toward summer patterns, walleyes move, move, move.
Like Canadian geese making vast seasonal migrations, walleyes in reservoirs often travel great distances during the year. In doing so, they briefly encounter structures poking out into the lake, intercepting and holding them for a short period until it’s time to move again. You may catch fish on a point today and find it void of walleyes for the next week.
Then again, fish might still be there tomorrow. The walleyes you catch tomorrow, however, may be from a totally different school. The others may have hightailed it for greener pastures—even without green weeds at their destination. If they even have a destination. Fact is, for most reservoir walleyes, life is one big cross-country journey that never ends—a non-stop whirlwind voyage on the walleye-go-’round.
The migratory nature of reservoir walleyes is almost universally underestimated and misunderstood. Unless weed or wood cover attracts and holds fish in defined areas for long periods of time, chances are the fish are merely passing through when your paths cross. Here today, gone tomorrow. It’s necessary to move, hunt, look, check, and fish a variety of spots to intercept them.
Scouting
The first key to locating reservoir walleyes is to do lots of looking with electronics before putting a line in the water. This is particularly true on big western plateau reservoirs where hundreds of points offer potential walleye action. Hop from point to point, running the primary drop-off, examining the top of the adjacent flat, scouting off the sides for semi-suspended fish lying just off the edge. No fish—move on. Unless you suspect fish are shallow, as in mudlines or cover, don’t stop ‘til you see the whites of their ‘eyes.
When you detect fish—baitfish or walleyes—note their orientation to the structure. Are they up on the top lip of the drop-off? Along the edge? Suspended off the edge? At the base of the drop-off? Suspended outside? Or up along the shoreline? Fish position dictates your choice of approach.
Spring—Spring presentations are dictated by walleye location. We can loosely classify two forms of spring walleye behavior, depending on where the fish spawn. In general, fish in big, deep, clear bodies of water run far up feeder rivers to spawn on hard-bottomed shoals swept by current, with perhaps some secondary spawning on rock points or reefs in the main lake.
Walleyes inhabiting smaller, soft-bottomed, darker-water impoundments, by comparison, lack such spawning sites. Feeder rivers tend to be silted in. Fish adapt by spawning along rock causeways and the boulder face of the dam. Such behavior typically concentrates walleyes at the lower ends of soft-bottomed impoundments in spring, while those in hard-bottomed lakes tend to run to upstream fringes.
As walleyes disperse back into the lake after spawning, fish in large clear lakes drift downstream, dispersing back into the upper third of the impoundment. Postspawn walleyes in soft-bottomed lakes, in contrast, spread back into the lower third of the reservoir. Eventually they distribute to many areas, but initially they’re somewhat localized.
Reservoir fishing in spring requires shallow tactics, in and around rock or hard-bottomed structures. Where walleyes spawn in shallow upriver sections, key in on 2- to 3-foot-deep spawning shoals or shallow shoreline rocks swept by current. Fish adjacent deep pools and holes during the day, using vertical tactics like jigs or three-way rigs. At night, cast or longline troll diving minnow imitators across the tops of shallow rocks. Big walleyes love big crankbaits at night.
Along the faces of dams and causeways, longline troll diving cranks to cover water; fish may not be concentrated in a distinct section, so check as much water as possible. Select lures that dive to different depths, and stagger your lures from shallow to deep. Troll the shallowest lures on inside lines near the rocks. On outside lines, position crankbaits deeper, following the downward slope of the rocks. If fish appear concentrated in distinct sections, consider casting crankbaits, either from a boat or shorecasting from the rocks.
Transition from Spring to Summer—As walleyes disperse from spawning sites, they quickly spread back into the lake. They may move miles per day, following baitfish or moving to areas with prime feeding conditions. Chances are they’ll remain fairly shallow at first; 10 to 20 feet isn’t unusual, compared to their use of deeper water in summer and fall.
Secondary points lying partially within warmer bays may hold fish during postspawn and presummer; baitfish may be spawning there, or relating to the warmer water. Later, as the main lake warms, both walleyes and baitfish tend to be on primary points at the mouths of coves or over structure in the main lake. Fish are moving almost constantly, which probably explains why long points extending into the lake consistently intercept and hold the most walleyes. Select tactics that cover lots of water
Summer—Summer becomes a game of hide-and-seek. With many potential spots to check, eliminate unproductive areas with electronics, focusing on areas where you see fish. Once walleyes are located, select a presentation method that matches their orientation to the structure.
Are they schooled on the deep tip of a long point? Holding on the edge of an offshore hump? At the top of the drop-off? Or down near the base where it meets the surrounding basin? Classic livebait rigging between 20 and 35 feet deep should work. Hover over the fish, dangling a leech, minnow, or crawler in front of their noses. Precision fishing for concentrated fish should nail a few before they spook and scatter.
Do they appear to be spread across the top of a point or along a large shoreline flat? This is a great time to drift or troll bottom bouncers-spinners-nightcrawlers. The flashing, wobbling blade attracts and triggers walleyes. The wire leg of the bouncer minimizes snags, yet follows contour changes as the bouncer alternately crawls up one side of a slope and skips down the other. More reservoir fish have probably been caught on this single mode of presentation than on all other methods combined. It works best in less than 15 feet of water, though a bouncer can also be vertically fished in deeper water, much like a livebait rig.
Are walleyes tucked tight to shore, as under a wind-generated mudline, along flooded shoreline cover, or simply up so shallow that you’d spook them by trolling over their heads? Try casting a jig, crankbait, or jigging spoon right up to the bank, skipping or swimming it back. Shallow walleyes often are tiger-aggressive, slashing anything that comes near.
Casting’s the way to go when they’re concentrated in limited areas, such as on the downwind side of a point where a mudline wraps around the tip, concentrating baitfish in a prime feeding location. Where extremely shallow fish are spread out along a shoreline, however, consider drifting with bouncers, or using planer boards to troll shallow minnow imitators or shad lures right up along the bank.
Are walleyes suspended off the tip? Might be better to troll a crankbait through them, at or just above their depth level. Select a deep diver that will reach the fish on a long line, and troll between 1 and 2 mph. If they’re too deep to reach with unweighted lines, add a snap weight, or switch to leadcore line. Experiment with different combinations of lures, weights, and line length until you achieve a productive combination. When fish are on the move and scattered, miles of potential shoreline can be covered quickly with a crankbait trolling approach.
A variety of tactics catch reservoir walleyes. Think efficiency. The general rule is to use drifting or trolling tactics until you locate walleyes. At that point, switch to precision tactics like jigging or livebait rigging if that’s what it takes to catch the most fish. Keep moving, noting productive combinations, finding and catching more fish in similar locations. That’s pattern fishing. Tomorrow, or the whole next week, today’s wonder spots may be a big empty nothin’, requiring different locations and tactics to stay on the fish.
Exceptions
Every rule has exceptions, and reservoir walleyes certainly are no exception. In shallow reservoirs with little water level fluctuation, such as lowland and flatland impoundments, walleyes may take up residence on the flats, in weed or wood cover, for much of summer. In essence, large portions of these reservoirs function as natural lakes. Approach them as such, focusing on the outer edges of cover. If that doesn’t produce, move up inside.
Edge tactics like livebait rigging, vertical jigging jigs or spoons, bottom bouncer-spinner-crawler rigs, or crankbait trolling excel along timber edges, particularly where they meet a distinct drop-off formed by a river or creek channel. Probe the edges, particularly at channel bends and intersections. If fish are in or along the channel edge, they’re catchable.
When walleyes are up inside cover, they present a more time-consuming challenge. It’s necessary to locate fish you can’t see on your electronics, chiefly by fishing different areas until you get a response. Initially, try coverage tactics like longline trolling crankbaits over the tops of cover. Or use planer boards to spread your lures to the sides of the boat, covering more water while minimizing spooking. If potential areas are small, try fancasting to establish depth and types of cover that concentrate walleyes.
If coverage tactics don’t produce, it’s necessary to probe for walleyes. Switch to weedless jigs, perhaps tipped with a minnow or half-crawler, and begin pitching up into the weeds or wood, slithering the jig back over branches or stalks, down into pockets, and along edges. If you think walleyes are in an area but not responding, switch to a slip-bobber rig and dangle a leech or minnow on their noses, above, through or on the edges of cover, depending on conditions. It’s slow going, but ultra-effective.
Reservoirs with dark water and cover mean shallow walleyes. These types of impoundments, often called flowages in northern states, are known for producing fish in the 2- to 6-foot zone, on timber or stump flats, along shoreline weed clumps or floating bogs, or atop shallow rock structure. Behavior of walleyes in flowages contrasts with their behavior in big, deep, clear impoundments, but it’s merely a local adaptation to the environment, based on what it offers walleyes and how they function best. Thus, all reservoirs aren’t equal; each has its own charm and challenge.
Want to tackle walleyes in manmade lakes? Bring all your usual walleye gear, but be prepared to apply it a bit differently. Do lots of lookin’, be versatile, and adapt to conditions. Walleyes do. So should you.
| PRINTED FROM IN-FISHERMAN.COM | COPYRIGHT © 2012 INTERMEDIA OUTDOORS |