Summer highway traffic

This global warming that everyone has tried to push down my throat has really turned into a spectacular pattern this summer. The logical thought process would say that water temps should be 80+ degrees with many days in the low 90’s. I’m finding 74 to 79 on most clear water lakes, and the walleyes are not hesitating in traveling like bumper to bumper traffic on the interstate.

Too often we are stuck on traditional summer patterns – deep weeds or deep rock structure extending from 20 to 40 or more fow. For me, this summer’s night action has been very consistent in the 5 to 16 fow finding walleyes cruising from one feeding area to another. Of the half dozen clear water lakes i fish regularly, I’m finding the same type of “highways” are producing like 5pm traffic on I494 around Minneapolis.

Similar to post spawn, I’m finding sections of deep green healthy weeds in the 12 to 20 fow. Once located, I’m looking for a moderate drop off or contour lines that extend from the weeds out to shallow rock bars or flats. These flats have had a variety of mud, rubble rock, or shale rock. The only thing that hasn’t done well for me has been sand. Probably the single most important piece of structure has been an isolated small rocky point or bar that protrudes out into the contour line. Very much like hunting, if your looking for the best vantage point, take a high bluff where your prey must go around you.

Boat positioning has varied with conditions for each night. Some nights have been sitting deeper casting to the shallowest, some nights are shallow casting deep, and others haven’t made a bit of difference as the fish seem to be everywhere. Like clockwork, everything has been dead until the sun sinks below the treeline. As the orange glow begins to fade and the cringing sound of mosquitoes fill the air, the walleyes suddenly appear with quite an appetite. Rather than anchoring, I’ve been staying mobile to ease around between different depths to see where they are appearing first.

My theory is that different age class fish are arriving from different locations. Younger age classes I think are coming out of the weeds and the larger fish are arriving from deeper water. Again, that is just a theory. But, they all seem to be merging at the same place. Along the median contour line from the weeds to the first bar has been the first congested area to fire up. Sometimes a little shallower or some nights deeper – regardless this is the first hot spot. From there, they have been migrating across the flats and devouring cranks.

Like any pattern, sometimes they are there to eat and others they seem to be looking for a snack. Presentations have been quite simple and tailored to my style of fishing. CRANKS – CRANKS – and a few more CRANKS.
Here is a short list of what I have on the deck:
7′ medium spinning / 15# braid + 7′ Med Lt casting 10# Cajun mono
* Live Target lipless Gizzard shad 1/2oz
* Rapala lipless firetiger Rattlin Rap
* Live Target Gizzard shad lipped crank (dives 7-8feet)
* Rapala Jointed shad raps
* Rapala Shad raps #7
* Live Target Baitball = Yearling Jerkbait for shallow bites on top of the rocks

For me, fast and hard = spinning gear. When they are crushing baits, I like to be super fast on hook sets so they aren’t hooked down to their gut. On the soft nights, I switch over to softer gear and mono. Specifically for two reasons. 1. I don’t want to set the hook on the first flare of their gills (refer to how a walleye feeds). I want them to have the bait in their mouth. On soft nights, they are mostly hooked only by the rear treb and usually barely hooked. The softer line and rod allows more give so I am not ripping the hooks free. (A huge suggestion for soft biting fish – replace the rear treble hook of all your cranks with a Gamakatsu EWG treble. They take a lot less effort on hooksets and I’ve had a huge success with keeping barely hooked fish stuck.)

So, this has been a summary of my summer walleye fishing. Enjoy and hopefully the skeeters don’t drain you dry in one night. I took a snapshot of one of the lake maps. A lot of info on it, but it illustrates how I pick apart these areas. Also, the black arrows represents what my tracking lines look like from my locator

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BTW – these areas have also been producing some awesome smallie fishing

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Randy, if you’re sitting in 12-20 feet of water, how do you know what the bottom is like or if there are some rocks down there? Are you seeing this with electronics or feeling it with your baits? Seems like I get into more than 8 or 10 feet of water and the bottom could be linoleum and I wouldn’t know the difference.

Great post, thanks for writing this up!

SR

Wondful intel. Would really like to put together a couple trips yet this summer and try this out locally.

Steve – I guess first of all, I’ll state the obvious. Good electronics don’t lie. I’ve checked these spots out in daytime well in advance of anticipated night bites. If there is natural rock on top of a rock bar, there is a deposit of rocks somewhere. The “transition” snap shot shows the hard bottom (yellow) dissipating beneath the mud (red/orange). In 2D, if you move around, you’ll see the bottom source change as illustrated.

Next is the time tested “cast up there and find out”. I have a few cranks that are reserved for bottom testing. I always carry a few Norman deep divers that run 16-18 feet down…more when they are trolled. On a high end carbon/graphite rod with braid, you’ll know what your bouncing off of. That steady smooth plow into the bottom will often be sand or mud.

Open image 537A below and look at the area I marked in red and then look at the 2D sonar. As I said, the rock will go somewhere….99% of people that look at a spot like the rock bar or the rocky point in shallow water. For summer, key in on areas that continue off of the rock bar. After I set this waypoint, I circled around and followed up the rock ridge all the way up to the bar. The best part in this area is that THIS bar is the only one that extends out deep like this before a transition – walleye and smallie magnet!!

583A = This is one of my MOST productive spots on a favorite lake, so I’m sure you understand erasing the name – LOL. Red – this is where granite rock continues from the the shallow bar out into deeper water. Yellow is softer bottom. When the walleyes are cruising into these rock “fingers”, I don’t care what type of bottom they are swimming over. They maybe cruising over sand or muck to get to these rocky areas. The yellow line down the contour line follows their average path they follow when coming in at night.

Make sense?

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Great info, Randy. Thanks.

Thanks Randy. I haven’t spent as much time as I should with my electronics. I look at it to see weeds and depth and that’s about it. Like you, I like to use baits to find out what’s underneath me, for example where the weedline actually is. The bonus of course is that sometimes I catch fish doing that too. Great info, again thanks for writing this up.

SR