Down Deep for Summer Walleyes

Down Deep For Summer Walleyes

By Gary Parson & Keith Kavajecz

Some wise and worldly individual once said, “In order to expand one’s horizons, one needs to break down the wall that separates them from where they are and where they wish to be.” In a weird way, this philosophy lends itself very appropriately to walleye fishing. Think, for a moment, about all the walleyes you’ve caught over the years and then think back; what was the deepest you’ve ever caught a walleye? While there are sure to be exceptions, it’s pretty safe to say that the vast majority of you have never caught a walleye in water deeper than about thirty-five feet. We believe this to be true because for most of you there’s a psychological barrier; a wall, if you will, beyond which you lose confidence in the fact that you’ll catch walleyes.
This mental barrier really does exist, and because of it we didn’t fish deep water for years. We remember instances when we would mark fish in fifty, sixty, even seventy feet of water or more and totally ignore what our eyes were telling us, simply because we could not convince ourselves that the fish we were marking were, in fact, walleyes. Oh, maybe catfish, or possibly trout, depending on the body of water … but certainly not walleyes. And even if we allowed ourselves to think they might be walleyes, we figured they’d be uncatchable. Wow, what a mistake!
It’s tough to say just what built “the wall” in anglers’ minds. Maybe it was the fact that so many walleyes are caught during the dusk and dawn time frames as they move into the shallows to feed. Maybe it was the limitation of the equipment that was available in the early years of walleye fishing. Whatever the case, fishermen are, as a group, prone to “traditions,” and once a “tradition” is set in place, it may take years or even decades to change their way of thinking. We like breaking traditions, especially since we saw the light as it relates to deepwater walleyes. It’s a move we’ll never regret.
Like so much of our “home-grown walleye theology,” competitive angling inspired us to begin looking for fish that other anglers were ignoring. We knew there were pockets of fishermen around the country scoring on walleyes in deep water. These were primarily western and mid-south reservoir anglers (bass guys) that were fishing jigging spoons on deep structure in the winter months for spotted bass and catching walleyes. That, along with the fact that our minds kept going back to all those times we’d seen really good “arcs” in the depths of lakes like South Dakota’s Lake Oahe and North Dakota’s Lake Sakakawea, got us thinking. These were big “walleye factory” -type bodies of water, loaded with smelt and other deepwater forage. “Why wouldn’t those deep marks be walleyes?” we thought. “And if they ARE walleyes, we know we can get them to bite.”
It was about this time, early in our tournament angling careers, that we met and became good friends with walleye legend Bob Probst. There are a thousand stories told amongst walleye anglers about Bob, but the incident that stands out in our minds was a tournament on Lake Oahe many years ago. The bite was tough, but if you worked hard, you could scratch out five or six small weight fish a day. In that particular tournament, Bob caught three fish in two days of competition, and almost won the whole ball-of-wax because those few fish he brought in dwarfed anything the rest of us were catching: fish in the eight- to ten-pound range. When it was all over, we walked up and asked him, “Bob, how do you do it? How do you catch these huge fish when everyone else is busting their buns for dinks?” Bob, being the eloquent and elaborate individual that he is, said, “Look deeper.” That’s all he told us, “Look deeper.”
Well, we began experimenting, working deeper and deeper structure, in reservoirs and in natural lakes. Innovations in equipment like powerful sonar fish finders, from Lowrance’s 350A in the old days to today’s “super” units like the LCX-111C HD, made finding these fish easier. Improved tackle introductions like sensitive graphite rods, no-stretch fishing lines and the ever-popular bottom bouncer made fishing deep water more effective. And as we look back, much of our success has come by fishing deeper than average and deeper than the majority of the anglers we compete against.
Fishing deepwater structure for walleyes has taught us some key things: 1) These deep fish tend to key on forage like smelt or other deep water bait fish, 2) They are often relating to the thermocline, 3) They’re suckers for a slow presentation; if they’re tight on structure, a bottom bouncer rig tipped with a plain hook and big minnow (Creek Chubs are by far our top choice) is tough to beat … if they’re scattered along expansive break lines, then slow trolling with crankbaits on lead core line can be a good option, 4) These tend to be the biggest walleyes in the system, at least bigger on average than fish being caught in shallow waters, and 5) Fishing these deep water walleyes can be a gamble. You’re typically fishing for fewer bites, and some days you’ll come up empty-handed. But, on those days that you tap into the “mother lode,” it can be the most exciting fishing of your life.
We must stress here, however, that fishing for deepwater walleyes (or most any fish in deep water for that matter), requires some responsibility. If you don’t do things right, you’ll kill many, if not most, of these fish. You need to fight the fish in slowly… really slowly. Jerking a walleye up quickly from these depths will blow up its air bladder and make the fish un-releasable. While there are various methods of combating the effects on fish brought up from deep water, it would take more than a short article to explain the details of doing them correctly. Suffice to say that unless you’re keeping a few “eaters,” fish caught from deep water should be released immediately. Even taking a minute or two to snap a quick “trophy photo” is not recommended. As mentioned before, these can be some of the largest walleyes in a lake and you can do long-term damage to a fishery if you’re not angling responsibly.
If you’re a walleye angler suffering from the dreaded “Where did they go?” syndrome so many fishermen run into every summer, break down that “wall” and follow the advice of one of walleye fishing’s greatest legends … “Look deeper.”

Editor’s Note: If you have questions or comments on this or other articles of ours you may have read, contact us through our website at www.thenextbite.com.