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This
is a simple walleye rig. See the bait line? Real good idea
to use mono right here. It's less visible, and because you
will likely be using less than three feet of it, you can go
with eight or 10 lb test and not worry about losing a big
walleye.
For the main line, there isn't nothing like 10 or 14 lb test Fire line.
I'm sure Fire line is much stronger than its ratings, and I
never worry about it snapping. Its thin diameter also helps
keep the bait on the bottom when drifting or trolling, and
its sensitivity will transmit every bit of bottom structure
data into your hands, up your arms and into your head. For
walleye, that's important because you love to find the
changes in structure.
For anglers, this means a change in tactics, which is difficult for many
who are comfortable with their summer go-to presentations
and don't want to shift gears. The fact is that it's not up
to the angler to dictate an approach. It's up to the
conditions they face and the necessary steps required to get
a walleye to see their bait and potentially eat it. Anglers
who stick to their tried-and-true summer techniques often
have a difficult time finding and catching fish.
In reservoirs, those deep mid lake humps and reefs that were
loaded with walleyes in the summer are not very productive
in the fall. The forage has moved. The same can be said for
those big suspended schools of walleyes that were chasing
shad out in open water. They're gone. Now the shoreline
points and inside turns where there is some boulder cover or
still-standing vegetation is pulling in the small fish and
minnows, and you can bet those walleyes are right in there
with them.
Current often dictates river walleye location, but now that
the water is cool and the backwater oxygen levels have
risen, those slack water shorelines strewn with downed
timber are places that can't be overlooked.
Description
This fish has a dark green back, golden yellow sides and a white belly.
The lower tip of the caudal fin is white, and there is a
large black blotch at the rear base of the first dorsal fin.
Young walleye usually have dark blotches across their backs
and down their sides, patterns which usually are absent in
the adults. The color of the walleye is highly variable,
depending on habitat, with golden color characteristics in
many populations. Usually they are paler with less obvious
black markings in turbid waters and more strikingly marked
in clear waters. Adult fish average about l kg but the
record is in the vicinity of 11 kg.
Food
The diet of walleye shifts very rapidly, from invertebrates
to fishes, as the walleye increase in size. This is partly a
reflection of their change in habitat from surface to bottom
waters. During the first six weeks of life their diet
consists mostly of copepods, crustaceans, and very small
fish. They can be cannibalistic, especially if small yellow
perch or other forage fish are not readily available. Some
populations, even as adults, feed almost exclusively on
emerging larval or adult mayflies for part of the year. The
relative amounts of the various species of fish that walleye
feed on apparently is determined by their availability.
Yellow perch and cyprinids are particularly favored when
these species are present. Other food such as crayfish,
snails, frogs, mudpuppies, and rarely small mammals may be
taken, but usually only when forage fish and insects are
scarce.
The Bait - What do you want to use at the end of the bait line? You can
put just about anything you like back there. I'm partial to
live bait for walleye, and for that reason, my favorite
baits for 3-way rigging are spinner minnow rigs and spinner
crawler harnesses. I'll usually go with the minnow early in
the season, and when June rolls around begin trying the
worm. You know how deadly a floating rapala is when trolled?
Well, when the sun gets a little higher and the walleye go
deeper, they will thank you for presenting them with a
floating rapala served up on the bottom. |
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