Green Bay (Door County) – Walleyes

Growing up Door County meant two things in my family. Mom was going shopping and Dad went fishing. My Dad would go fishing off the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula targeting salmon and trout. When my Wife said she wanted to visit Door County, I didn’t have visions of watching the goats graze on the grass roof of Al Johnson’s, but rather big walleyes coming boat side.

Logistics didn’t allow me to tow my boat, so I hired Paul Delaney from Late Eyes Sport Fishing to get me out on the water. Paul has spent summers in Door County for most of his life and has been a full time resident for the last 17 years. As the name of his service implies he specializes in fishing both late into the calendar year and at times late into the night.

Our approach was to do trolling passes of ¾ a mile parallel to mid-lake reefs that looked like the back of a camel. The optimal trolling speed was right around 2 MPH. The lines running closest to the reef were targeting fish that were hanging on the break line of the reefs. The lines we ran on the deep side of the boat were targeting suspend fish and fish orienting to closer to the bottom. Paul said the primary forage base walleyes in the lower bay are alewives, perch, and gobies.

We had wind that was approaching 20 MPH, so we had some nice wave action. Paul has been running a spinner blade and crank bait program recently for his clients. He likes to run a crank bait program when it gets rough.

Paul chose to run shad profile baits closest to the reefs and banana bait profiles on the rest of the lines. In terms of colors, Paul likes to “match the hatch”. The best bait was a banana bait that mimics goby coloration.

Paul put a little different twist on the depths he likes to run his baits. They were staggered in depth from the shallowest running baits closest to the reef and the deepest being the furthest from the reef. For obvious reasons the baits following the contour of the reef needed to be shallower. The lines on the boards running over 60’ of water were still in the staggered pattern with the bait closest to the boat running more shallow than the lines further from the boat. This goes against the text book scheme of having your deepest lines closer to the boat. Paul was more concerned about intercepting fish that were sliding off the reef and suspended than the spook of the boat. That is the nice thing about fishing in conditions with good wave action. You downplay the spook factor and employ other tactics.

Next time you are in Door County treat yourself to the great fishing the area has to offer.

Sully