Skinny cold river walleye.. what would you do?

Hoping to gain a little knowledge on how to the chase the elusive walter. So my buddy and I are planning on hitting a smaller river North of the metro saturday. We primarily chase big fat river smallmouth from a jet boat and are looking to attempt some walters. Now do any of you guys chase walleye in the rivers this time of the year? If so what should we be looking for? Bends, current seams, eddies/slack water? What style of bait? I’m assuming a jig and a minnow/plastic and fishing real SLOW, maybe slip bobbers, or a flaoting jig head, any cranks. My question is what would you do if you were to go out this Saturday?

I don’t chase them in real skinny water in the winter but do pretty well in pool 2 and 4 in real cold water.

I’d look for deeper stretches. When the water is clear and cold they’ll move deeper during the day, especially with clear skies. If you have deeper water next to natural ambush points for bait fish that’s where I would start.

I’d go with live bait….something held vertical near the current seams. Natural colored plastics could also be the ticket. Slow, slow, slow.

My guess is most of smb tactics would work, too.

Thanks for the input! We have a basic idea on what to “look for” but I think where we’re going to struggle is slowing down. Leave the bait casters at home lol

Matt’s advice is spot on. I primarily fish the rivers north of metro and this time of year with clearer water the eyes go nocturnal. I primarily shorefish tho so obviously the best time for me to hit them is at night when they are shallow and aggressive.

Cloudy skies will help in them moving shallower during the day. Shiners on spinners in the bends can be quite productive.

If you plan on running up or down river plan on dealing with floating ice for awhile. The rain last night might of took care of the shore ice though. The landing close to my place on the rum was froze up pretty bad the other night when I checked.

We had mini ice bergs floating last week on the ole miss. I may be bring my spud bar with me. Again thanks for all input!

paddletails

Well we launched on the Rum between Princeton and Cambridge no action. Donated quite a bit of tackle to the river gods. In the end any day on the water is a success in my mind. Can’t believe how secluded that section of the river is really felt like I was stepping back in time. Oh and a jet is definitely required if you don’t want to bring a chainsaw with timber eveyrwhere.

Big willow leaf spinner baits are hard to beat on the rum. Anything that resembles gray or white. And yes they catch walleyes.

Can slow roll them in deeper stuff and pick up the speed in shallower. They can be fished around cover easily with minimal snags. But minimal is a relative term. The rum is a snag filled jungle, and lots of fish hang out in the snags. Mobility and not staying in a spot to long can help on the rum. There’s holes and spots that hold decent numbers of fish, but once you catch a few, the rest know the jig is up, no pun intended.

I’d steer away from live bait till you learn the river. Lots of suckers, small pike and small smb in the deeper holes that will drive you batty.

A lot of fish eat shallow. The fish will want to slash and grab, so missing fish is typical.

Brother caught his pb smallie out of the rum at like 21 1/2″, thing was gigantic.

There’s big pike in there too and even a few lmb in that stretch in the oxbows and back waters.

Good luck with it and it’s an enjoyable stretch to be left alone on. Not many people tube that in the summer months, so that’s a huge plus.

That must of been your Ford at the landing Saturday when I stopped by to see if any opened up the landing. I got side tracked and never made it out.

Yep that was us! And spinners is on my list next year after my buddy whopped on me a few times this summer with them. The Rum is definitely a jungle, in fact I think you just gave it a new nickname for me The Jungle