II also know about your frustration! This fall I set out to concur my inability to catch more then one walleye per Pool 2 trip! I did it; I caught two- once! Each trip I would go out more prepared and ready then the last, equipped with all the right lures, line, etc. But, most of the time I get it handed to me, while fellow anglers seem to have a magic I don’t!
This past spring, I started out the same way. I was prepared, ready and confident. While other anglers reports great fishing, I just couldn’t put it together. However, after several trips I added one missing variable, when I changed this one little thing I really had some great fishing. What I did was changing how I view the walleye, instead of concentrating on the bottom parts of the wing dams, I fished over the wing dam bringing my lure to the top then working it down. When I added this my catch rate went up by easily 60 %. I now know my problem was being stuck in an old model and I had to change my assumptions that fish would not be up this high in the water column.
I think this is what I am missing on Pool Two this fall. I bet by adapting and changing just a few little things I would be more successful. The problem is of course, which one! But I think this is what is so much fun, but frustrating!
On thing I am doing as I work to learn about fishing plastics, etc is going down to Pool 4. Between Everts and the dam I know there are lots of fish. What I can do is practice learning different methods and techniques and have a good chance of being successful. This template has help me transfer these learning’s to Pool 2. Nothing bets success!
Another piece is that I know that Pool 2 is a different and demanding fishery. Big walleyes behave in different ways then smaller fish which does place a different set of demands on the angler. Your more then likely not going to get bit as often, but when you do it’s worth it. So understanding that I am working for few but bigger fish helps settle me down.
Confidence is such a key to Pool 2. What I am learning is that lure fall rate and location are really really important on this fishery. Each trip I mess around and little more, I try to remain flexible, adaptive and try (which is really hard) to suspend previous ideas about how to fish walleyes. Eventually this will pay off, at least I hope! But hope is not a strategy.
The cool thing about IDA is we can all learn together, sometimes the success you don’t have is a more valuable learning tool then we might think. Make it fun.
