Walleye Etiquette

I had a not-so-nice experience fishing walleyes up on pool 9 this past Saturday. I was working a very short wingdam with my trolling motor and we were the only boat on the dam. My buddy hooks into a 22″ walleye and I net it for him. I work the boat back above the dam intending on continuing fishing said dam when a boat with 3 men who had obviously watched us net the fish pulled in and threw out their anchor in the middle of the short dam we were working. They anchored right above the spot that we had just caught the fish off of. I at first thought I’d be nice and tell them that I was working the dam which is less than say 60 yards long. None of the 3 guys said a word. One guy flipped me off and another showed me a cocky grin. They refused to move and did catch a nice walleye as soon as they threw in. I continued trying to work the dam even going right over their lines but they moved their boat closer to the dam so I was no longer able to fish more than 40′ of the dam. Finally I gave up and went elsewhere. I am about as easy going of a man as you can find and I don’t have much of a temper but these guys brought out the worst in me that day. This was not isolated on Saturday as we had 2 other boats come and anchor on dams we were working but at least they stayed out on the ends of the dams. I know it isn’t my river but when you see a boat working back and forth on a wingdam do not throw an anchor out in the middle of that dam unless the boat working the dam says it is OK. Certainly don’t anchor right in the exact spot where a boat working the dam just caught a fish. Use a little common courtesy on the water.

Eyehunter

yeah i agree with you that was rude them guys shouldn’t be allowed on the water

Happened to me as well! Nothing worse than catching a nice fish trolling only to have a guy sneak in behind you and anchor!

Its pretty pathetic when you have miles of river to fish and the only way you can catch somrthing is to pull in on someone that catches a fish. People that fish the river regularly don’t do that, if someone is on a dam that I planned to fish I just go down to the next likely candidate and fish it.These fish turn on and off all day, I could stop back later when nobody is on that spot and fish it. After the opener you shouldn’t have to much trouble with that happening when the lakes can be fished. P.S. let your buddy land the fish and you hold your boat on the spot so they can’t get in.

wow sorry to hear about the hotholers. i can not stand when “so called” fisherman do that to a fellow Fisherman. We all have a unique bond between a fisherman. there is no need to do that to someone. i am very hard to get a rise out of but when that happens i have smoke coming out my ears. Do not mess with a mans fishing hole. but anyways Tight Lines Guys

I’ve had that happen to me too. There was a nice drift bite over a dam and then a boat throws an anchor on it. I just moved on to another spot. No sense in getting myself worked up and getting in an argument.

You did the right thing in politely saying something to them. Too bad they had to be jerks and give you the bird. Hopefully some river karma will get ’em. Lose a prop, snap a rod, etc.

A certain guide which I`ll name James taught me a long time a go. When I catch a fish and other boats are around keep my rod low and just get it over the gunnel into the boat or over the low part of the transom. And don`t run my livewell pump unless absolutely nesasary.

That is really LOW!
I hope the rest of your trip went better.

Normally when there are other boats in the immediate area I keep the net as out of site as possible but this was a 4Lb plus fish and my fishing partner doesn’t do much walleye fishing. As a matter of fact it was the second largest walleye he has ever caught. He was excited and called for me to net the fish. We actually never really drifted below the dam when netting the fish. The boat that anchored on the dam had been anchored downstream a ways right up until we netted the fish. I fish several of the pools every year and I know that in many pools the locals do not work wingdams like most people do down this way but instead they throw out the anchor. I have no problem with this and I expect it as normal in some pools but to do it when a boat is working a certain dam is just wrong. I have occasionally thrown out the anchor on a dam myself but usually it is so I can retie or eat a sandwich or something. I have also anchored above dams when fishing with my daughters as running the trolling motor and helping kids fish is almost impossible to do at the same time.

The main reason I normally do not anchor on wingdams is that walleyes can usually be caught all along the front of a dam and I dramatically increase my chances of getting more fish by working the entire dam especially this time of the year. I have a friend that always wants to throw out the anchor in front of a spot on a dam where we have picked up a fish or two. To me this is a no no. As I said before many dams will hold fish in several areas plus when you anchor on a spot you are putting pressure on the fish holding in that particular area of the dam and believe it or not you can spook these fish by staying in one spot for too-long. Instead I work back and forth above the dam usually finding fish in more than the one location. Walleyes tend to feed on the shallower insides of the dams early in the morning and again in the evenings but they generally will move out further onto the dam as the sun gets higher in the sky so that spot that was so hot at 7am might not have any feeding fish on it at say noon. I fish walleyes all sorts of ways but my absolute favorite way to fish them is working wingdams either with a 3-way DBQ rig or casting cranks or jigs.

Eyehunter

Obviously a miserable lot. Take comfort in the fact they probably have a crummy life with little joy. Why else would they steal yours.

Happened to me a couple of yr’s ago on pool 8, found a nice school of stripers with the feedbag on along a current bank, drift by the school pitching a jig catch one fight it and troll.motor back above it, again and again, fish on every pass, catch and release. broke one off and drifted maybe 10 ft farther while tying up and trolling back above the scool, two a-hole’s pull up drop anchor right in front of me and start pulling them in and keeping everything. I asked them if they brought a lunch seeing they were sharing my fishing spot they could share their lunch, all I got was growl look. So I drifted pretty close to them and started up the engine and took of full throttle with the prop wash straight at their boat, Don’t know if they caught anymore but I had a smile on my face when I was leaving. (last laugh )