Tactics for Walleye's in the Weeds?

Like Randy said, just pick apart the weed bed. I fish heavy weeds all of the time but you have to look for open spots. The walleye love sand and rock under them. If I see a fish on my locator that is sitting on top of short grass they are generally bass or panfish. I think finding these open spots is more important than technique. I could throw a jig/minnow, a leech, a plastic, a rippin rap, a drop shot rig anything that walleye normally bite and I could make an infomercial for it.

Fish hold tight to cover when they are in a negative mood so you have to be within inches of the tall stuff but not in it or you snag weeds, that is the key in a nutshell. The pic below took us two hours last night. An hour of searching for the right spot full of fish and an hour to catch over 25 walleye 15″-20″. We used minnows, leeches and just to prove it to myself a couple on a rippin rap and a jig and plastic.

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Lots of great info on a great subject!

That varies. I usually start at about a foot and adjust from there. Sometimes as little as 6 inches and have gone up to 2 ft.

I’ve have pulled many walleyes out of the weeds buy casting or trolling safety pin spinners with a jig and plastics.
Same rig as a beetle spin,you can run over the top with 1/8 oz jigs of you choice,or if you want run deeper change up with heavier jigs. An 1/8 jig 3″gulp and safety pin spinner will pull through the weeds quit well and effectively.

Jig worm!
BB1

@Travis did you read through the previous 36 posts, as well as the link Randy posted? Sorry for not replying, but I thought the previous posts gave plenty of tactics for someone to try. Also, without additional info about the lake you were on, I wouldn’t have any idea on what to recommend. Other than to look elsewhere as I’m guessing the walleye’s weren’t on the one flat you spent your entire weekend on.

Clear water can be tough when it’s calm. I’d find the break line edge where that 12′ drops off and work that. Or the thicker weeds that provide shade. And target edges of daylight hours like dawn and dusk. They are probably a bit more boat shy so getting any presentation away from the boat is pretty important if the weeds are sparse. Find food sources, shade, current, any kind of structure be it wood, rocks or thicker weeds. Weed walleye can be stacked in certain areas, but they can also be spread out. Either way staying mobile till you find them is key. Or timing it to fit the water clarity, weather conditions and time of day. Most weed fish aren’t ubber concerned about time of day other than just odd ball bite windows. Minnetonka is prone to odd ball bite windows, be it turned on or off by cloud pockets and bright sunshine conditions changing throughout the day. One seemingly constant with weed fish is them moving sporadically. It resembles river fishing and dealing with current levels to me. Add in color and little tactical changes can help drastically. It’s different than classic walleye tactics like lindy rigs, jigs and corking classic walleye structure where there’s certain givens. Weed walleyes do have certain preferences, but adapting is way more important to being successful vs classic sand/rock structure fishing.

“…and just to prove it to myself a couple on a rippin rap…”

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess it was a silver/blue Rippin’ Rap

carver wrote:

Here is what I am wondering specially the metro lakes using the above techniques, mainly pulling spinners over weed beds and the inside weed edge.

I’m sure I’m not he only one experiencing this but I can’t seem to keep the metro sized sunnies and crappies off. Lip-less cranks as well long lining and going fast produce the same results.

Any tips to this or is this the way it’s going to be.

We had success yesterday using this technique. We were working cabbage weeds over the tops and through them. We were using 1/4oz slip sinkers and longer the spinner rig the better, 5ft plus, and leeches. You don’t want a to heavy of a weight otherwise you will get too far down into weeds and snagged up all the time. We were working these rigs around 1.3 mph in 7-10ft of water. Have also used bullet type weights in past in weeds with success. The lake we were fishing has low visibility too so I think this helps some when targeting walleye in mid day on sunny days

A guy can never go wrong bass fishing for walleye in the weeds. A 4″ bass tube Carolina rigged with a tungsten bullet weight is tough to beat.

I usually don’t fish the weeds, but if it comes to it or if there’s a good bite, I,ll troll right over the edge of them. Troll deeper diving lures on the edge and shallow diving lures over the top of the weeds. Another tactic would be pitching jigs into some clearings or “holes” and tight up to the edge of the weeds. Throw on a curly tail soft plastic minnow or whatever you find works and you should do pretty good. Just experiment and ask others what they’ve been doing. Most of the time you’ll come across some great information!

I’ve had good luck in the past Texas rigging ribbon worms and power worms for walleye in heavy cover.

Bobber up with light jigs (1/8 oz) with big leeches on shallow weedlines has worked well for me on many occasions.

I like to pull husky jerks and bombers over the top, and since we have alewife in my lake, I drop live ones down beside the weeds on a slip bobber.