So my soon to be wife and I are headed to the Adirondacks and staying at a private waterfront cabin for a week after the wedding. The lake we are staying on (Tupper Lake) is well known for their walleyes, pike, perch, and bass. I know how to catch pike, perch, and bass.......done lots of that over the years. I've never fished for walleyes though and have only accidentally caught them while perch fishing. I'll be fishing from a 14' canoe rigged with an anchor and electric trolling motor. No rod holders, so trolling is probably not an option. I also don't have a fish finder, so that isn't an option either. Tupper lake is your classic Adirondack lake, roughly 4000 acres in size, lots of grass flats in the shallow sections, average depth between 30-40 feet. How are you guys catching walleye, and on what.........during mid summer? We will be there the 3rd week in July. Any tips?
If you are in a Canoe it would be easiest to jig for them. You can tip the jig with a minnow and find submerged structure. If you can get a map of the lake with depth info look for the areas off of points where there is a drastic drop into deeper water. Haven't fished for them in years but we always looked for 15-20 foot points that had drop offs and worked the jigs along the points. You can also use suspending Rapala's but that would be a pain compared to jigs.
Casting crankbaits along deeper weed edges will keep you busy catchin' eyes most of the day ... they HATE sunlight ..also, jig n worm or worm harness in the same areas..... rocky outcroppings are killer as well .....
Depending on the wind, and availability of "drift socks" Slowly drift over some mud/sand flats with lindy rigs. Or...fish them Like you were fishing perch?? Don't ever under estimate the power of the bobber. Corking up for walleyes is great fun!
I can't remember how to spell or pronounce this but they work very well. Lazeri or yazeri. My brother uses these for walleyes and does excellent with them. Its a Rapala of some sort I believe.
Like he said...a bit of a chop on the water and some wind will do wonders, fish the areas that the wind is blowing into. Calm glassy water not so good!
Get just outside of weed beds late in the eve.. depending on the water.. like the 10-20 foot range and jig GIANT leeches. They won't resist.
What's the water clarity like? Clear? Stained? Up here in mid-Summer we fish them in the cabbage weeds from 6-9' deep and on reefs. They are usually on the the edge of the reefs near the deeper water during the day and slide up to the top in the evening. Reef fishing will be tough for you, without a depth finder. The reason they are in the cabbage in shallower water here is to feed on perch fry. We generally use smaller baits for this type of fishing because its about the same size as their prey. Our go to is a a simple 1/16 to 1/8 oz jig head tipped with a smaller minnow.
Not much really....I'm just one of those guys that talks big on the internet that Buckeye was eluding to.
Come on now.. it's FRENCH FRIES and VINEGAR... get it right you guys! And just for the record, and to get the thread back on track.... I agree with Kyle. From a canoe, I'd say try using a slip bobber setup. You can set your depth to be down near the bottom, or to float just above the tops of weeds, if they are there. Either that or tip a jig with minnows, and drift some reefs, humps, etc. anywhere you can find some structure that will hold walleyes. If the water temps are up around the mid 70's, try half a crawler on a Lindy rig or live bait spinner rig. I've had pretty good success with those methods in mid summer.
whenwe would ice fish for them up on Lake Of The Woods. we would obviously just jig for them and that works great.
Drift Rigs baited with a night crawler, Vertical Jig with plastic's,leeches or shinners. Morning work the shallows out and in the afternoon work the deeper water back in as it gets darker. GOOD LUCK!!!!!
Rookies. It's all about water temperature, time of day/year and presentation and all that crap. All waters are not created equal. All things are not equal. I just came off a week in Canada. My biggest walleye I picked off the bottom at 40 feet. I also caught some in 4 or 5 feet. Someone mentioned jig heads and minnows. Great bait anytime. SMALL jigs...like 1/16 or 1/8th are best. This time of year... slow and small. Next best medicine are leeches and or a nightcrawler on a bare hook. At 40 feet you need weight. I rig a slip sinker with about an 18 inch leader. Slip sinker size depends on wind drift. Gets some nasty weather and a blow you can move up into the wind blown shallows just before dark and have fun. P.S. Tupper Lake is NOT what I would call a good walleye lake. Lots better places to go.
