Help with navionics contours for walleye

Hey folks!

This is my first post here, glad I found this forum!

So im trying to get started in walleye fishing, I fish a lake with a good population of walleye! There’s this one spot that I know is loaded with walleye in the evening. I’m fishing this weedy bay that slowly tapers off into deeper water. From my understanding the walleye move up from the deep water (about 20ft in this situation) and into the weed edge to feed on minnows and perch. My question to you guys is how do I know where to position just outside the bay to cut off the walleye on there way to the shallows? I know that this will come with practice and trying out different spots etc… But is there a spot that you guys think I should start by looking at this contour map I will attach??? There is a good drop off in the bottom left corner, I’ve heard of walleyes running along breaks, would that be good or a no go?? Basically in the simplest words… where would you start fishing for walleyes in this map?

P.S The dots and pins on the map is where I’ve fished previously with only a bit of luck.

Thanks!

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Like reverse engineering. Do you know for a fact they are coming up from deep? Maybe – maybe not. Make Swiss cheese and hole hop. If you know they’re show up at a weed edge – say at 4ish pm, fish 3 – to 4ish out and around the area.

One of the lakes I like has plenty of deep water. I scratch eyes out daytime in the deepest weeds around 12-14feet. At sunset they are in 6 to 8 fow

Yeah I know they come up to the weeds at dusk. Had other experienced people out there tell me that and it matches everything I’ve read and watched. Just trying to figure out where the majority of them are entering the bay so I can get on multiple fish back to back instead of just catching the odd one passing by. I’ll drill a series of holes along 12 ft of water and hole hop and see if I can learn anything.

I don’t see a bay…looks like a long shoreline with a distinct break. The walleyes likely cruise that edge in the early and late day.

If they really are in deeper water during the day it’s likely close to where they are in the evening. Look for the easiest path to get to the weeds from deeper water. Think about how you would walk from a valley up a hill to higher ground. You’re not going straight up the steepest section. You likely find the easiest path and make your way. Fish are no different.

I’d draw a line from the “pickerel” spot on the south to the “sm bass” spot on the north and connect each to your marks up shallow. That gives you a big pie shape section to work.

@mdmoen Your in my spot

Wherever you can find the best bottom transition along that corner at the bottom of the break. Tipup goes a bit shallower along that break to cover a different depth.

When a school transitions up I find it easier to catch one fish in the shack and when they hit the tip up youll have time to get to that as well. Have another rod at primetime ready to go in the shack to drop down quick before going to the tipup fish, hopefully come back to the shack for the pickerel trifecta

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I like setting up on steep breaks where they start to turn into a more gradual break. Fish follow those steep breaks and use the easiest path to move up shallow. I’m certainly not a great walleye angler but I’ve had daily good success on these types of transitions on multiple lakes.

Matt Moen wrote:

I don’t see a bay…looks like a long shoreline with a distinct break. The <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleyes likely cruise that edge in the early and late day.

If they really are in deeper water during the day it’s likely close to where they are in the evening. Look for the easiest path to get to the weeds from deeper water. Think about how you would walk from a valley up a hill to higher ground. You’re not going straight up the steepest section. You likely find the easiest path and make your way. Fish are no different.

I’d draw a line from the “pickerel” spot on the south to the “sm bass” spot on the north and connect each to your marks up shallow. That gives you a big pie shape section to work.

Sorry, I should have made the original picture bigger. I drew a yellow circle that shows the bay I was talking about (but i mean maybe “bay” wasn’t the correct word for it) its probably better to call it a weed flat to be honest… but you get the point. I also drew a green line to roughly show where the weedline is from my experience out there.

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I’d fish the weedline….run tip ups along it with 4-6″ sucker minnows about 2ft off the bottom while jigging near by

SoDak Fisher Guy wrote:

I’d fish the weedline….run tip ups along it with 4-6″ sucker minnows about 2ft off the bottom while jigging near by

That’s what I have been doing, I’m only allowed 2 lines, I use one tip-up and jig in the shack. I feel like I’m only getting the walleye as they pass through. The bite seems to shut off shortly after dark, I think at that point they have passed me and are in the weeds, am I right to be thinking this?

Justin Cammidge wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>SoDak Fisher Guy wrote:</div>
I’d fish the weedline….run tip ups along it with 4-6″ sucker minnows about 2ft off the bottom while jigging near by

That’s what I have been doing, I’m only allowed 2 lines, I use one tip-up and jig in the shack. I feel like I’m only getting the walleye as they pass through. The bite seems to shut off shortly after dark, I think at that point they have passed me and are in the weeds, am I right to be thinking this?

Yep. A lot of weed line lakes with walleyes can have a short bite window during ice season. It gets shorter the deeper into the season, too. It’s usually right at dark and might last an hour…you’ll get a few fish roaming through and hunting. Pick a few up and then it’s over.

In my experience they slide back out deep and you probably ain’t gonna catch ‘em there. Likely another bite window at first light.

You need to brings some friends out so you can cover the top of the flat and work the edges. Sometimes the walleye bite only last 1 hour or so. But I would find a opening in the weeds and set up there for the night.

So.

Find the edge of weeds near/where the steepest break is at. Now, sometimes this time of year good luck finding them lol.

Matt Moen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Justin Wayne Cammidge wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>SoDak Fisher Guy wrote:</div>
I’d fish the weedline….run tip ups along it with 4-6″ sucker minnows about 2ft off the bottom while jigging near by

That’s what I have been doing, I’m only allowed 2 lines, I use one tip-up and jig in the shack. I feel like I’m only getting the walleye as they pass through. The bite seems to shut off shortly after dark, I think at that point they have passed me and are in the weeds, am I right to be thinking this?

Yep. A lot of weed line lakes with walleyes can have a short bite window during ice season. It gets shorter the deeper into the season, too. It’s usually right at dark and might last an hour…you’ll get a few fish roaming through and hunting. Pick a few up and then it’s over.

In my experience they slide back out deep and you probably ain’t gonna catch ‘em there. Likely another bite window at first light.

^^^^ Right on ^^^^^

my other guess is it has a moderate walleye population and they feed through similar to what I experience on a few lakes here that mirror your example. They feed their way as a school through the weeds. They could be coming in just above that steep back where it flattens out some, hit the weed line and the school feeds it way up through the weedbed. Other factors of weather, moonlight and so on will significantly influence how long and heavy they feed in the weeds before sliding back out to deep. On the lakes I hit similar to this, I see guys set up early in the weeds and not hit their first fish until I’m heading out

Justin Cammidge wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>SoDak Fisher Guy wrote:</div>
I’d fish the weedline….run tip ups along it with 4-6″ sucker minnows about 2ft off the bottom while jigging near by

That’s what I have been doing, I’m only allowed 2 lines, I use one tip-up and jig in the shack. I feel like I’m only getting the walleye as they pass through. The bite seems to shut off shortly after dark, I think at that point they have passed me and are in the weeds, am I right to be thinking this?

What I have found on these typical metro walleye lakes or really any lake that is not a huge walleye factory, like Mille lacs or LOTW etc is that the more clear the water the smaller the bite window is. For example a very clear lake I fish with 13-foot clarity the bite window has started at exactly 4:35 each night I have fished it. Another lake 5 miles down the road with 6-foot clarity, the bite window starts late afternoon at about 3:40. One of my new favorite types of structure to fish walleye is a tapered drop-off coming off a mid-lake hump with a steep drop-off on both sides. It almost seems to act as a funnel for these fish that are moving up and following perch. What I have found is once the perch stop biting and move up shallow the walleye are usually not far behind them. Looking at this map I would set up near the end of the arrow where that edge/dropoff becomes more gradual. Also by doing this you will intercept any fish cruising that edge. Just my two cents.

Hey folks! Thanks for all the awesome replys and help! It’s actually really helping! So I fished this evening where the fish icon is circled. I caught 4 Walleye and 2 perch, which is better then before! I caught my first eye at 2:30 pm and the bite was steady till 5:00 pm which is exactly when it got dark. The bite shut off completely at that time, i wasn’t even marking anything, I truly believe it’s because they simply weren’t passing through there anymore. I think they went shallower like you guys have said. So what I want to do tomorrow is set up in about 8 ft of water on the weed flat and see if I can catch any eyes after 5pm. I might not get my first fish as early as if I was set up in 12ft of water but I don’t care I’m curious if they are moving up into those weeds at that time. I want to figure out where they go late at night… I’m talking like 10pm- 3am. I will be fishing a small tournament on this lake for walleye in February and I plan to stay the night, if I can be on top of fish most of the night that would be ideal… any suggestions?

Thanks guys!

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