Walleyes transitioning this week

Walleyes appear to be transitioning this week here on Rainy Lake. Water temps were reading anywhere from 58-63 degrees. Our wind was simply not what we’d prefer with a 5mph NNE shot. Still yesterday I enjoyed a beautiful day chasing big walleyes with Keith and Matt who had a bumpy fly up to their cabin in Ely, and then drove to Rainy Lake for a couple days to uncover big walleye patterns in the month of June. After having a nice breakfast at Thunderbird Lodge we loaded up and headed out. We found high quality fish in small pods. We concentrated our efforts on small pockets of scattered boulders adjacent to deep water access as it appears the Walleyes are looking to move deep with the next warm spell. Long casting without spooking the fish was critical to our success. We started the day with a ridiculous amount of short hits, and ALMOSTS on minnow baits before finally putting the hooks to great Rainy Lake Walleyes. Many anglers overlook what I like to refer to as these “pocket walleyes” which are only accessible by the cast and retrieve method. Trolling simply will not work as these big fish are on the prowl for fat perch in tight structure. The perch are often entangled in tough cover looking to AVOID being a snack for big pike and walleyes. Trolling often will either spook the good fish or have you constantly hung up with your presentation. Keep in mind BIG WALLEYES most often are looking for BIG EASY MEALS, and RARELY will we move off that pattern. Too often I hear fisherman talk about downsizing baits when fish don’t seem to be cracking their presentation or when fishing cooler water conditions. On the contrary our belief is BIG FISH want a bait matched to the size forage fish they prey upon plain and simple. If your fishing walleyes keying on 6 inch perch…… LACE UP THE BIG BAITS!! We Spent our day hand delivering a precise match to the forage base in our fishing areas and pulled numerous pocket fish out for a quick photo opp here on IDO!! All but one of our fish were “SLOT” fish. Keith had both a MONSTER Smallmouth and Pike break our hearts, but still a great day on the water. Great guys, Great fish and Great company!!

Nice load of 20-23 inch fish with a nice 25 with our biggest Walleye taping 26 inches on the Beans.

So what was the presentation bait-wise Chris??? Were you using cranks or did you have to utilize the precision jigs with a plastic orrrr… was there another one that these transitioning fish were after???

I was on a two day hot streak with cranks in ten foot of water or less, but am always interested to hear new techniques that might be applicable in my lakes here!!!

Mark

Good slashing minnow baits like the bigger X-raps!! Absolutely smoked the big fish today in flat calm blue skies!!