When I think of shallow I usually think of
shallow water in close to a shoreline.
These are good areas to search for walleyes on any given
body of water. Walleyes
are shallow for one reason... to feed. They are generally easy to
catch when this happens. When walleyes are in very shallow water it is very important
to be quiet with your approach and on calm days make long casts to
shore. If the wind is
crashing into the shoreline it's not as important to be quiet as
on calm days. The walleyes are definitely more aggressive in this scenario.
What
happens when we have searched the usual haunts to no avail and the
walleyes we see on the electronics down deep do not seem to want
to cooperate? Start
searching the shallow over deep water.
When the baitfish go and suspend over deep water the
walleyes will follow right behind them and at times they will be
just as shallow as if we were in close to shore.
This is especially true on windy days.
I have had times when I have watched walleyes right inside
of the waves chasing baitfish that have got caught in the
turbulence created by the waves.
When the walleyes suspend they are shallow over deep water
for the same reason they are shallow in close to shore, to feed.
Whether it’s calm or windy this is a good time to use
planer boards to spread the lines out.
This also enhances our chances of catching walleyes spooked
by the boat. Even in
deep water the walleyes can be so shallow that the boat will spook
them and our electronics won’t mark the fish so we are on a
search mission for walleyes.
Start out by varying the lengths out to the baits behind
the boards. This is
very important when using spinner rigs and it can also be
accomplished by varying the weight used.
In the case of crankbaits try different sizes such as a
number 5 shadrap and a number 7 shadrap or the same size
crankbaits with different lengths of line to each one.
In either case once the depth has been determined then
adjust all the baits to be the same. On windy days always follow the wind. Boat control is easier and when using boards they will track
better going with the waves.
The surges that the waves give the board also give the bait
a stop and go action which walleyes find irresistible.
When the fish are caught always place an icon on the GPS. Swing back around and continue to make passes over and around
those icons placed on the GPS.
An active school of walleyes may have been located but the
actual size of that school might not be much bigger than the size
of the school of walleyes that were active in close to shore.
Without land marks in the middle of the lake the GPS
becomes our best electronic tool on board.
The Bottomline 5300 GPS/Sonar combo serves the purpose well
for finding the way back to the spot.
Without a GPS to tell us where to go back to we are just
out covering water and counting on finding active fish scattered
here and there. With
the GPS we can go back to an active school and put more walleyes
in the boat.
Shallow
can be in close to shore or out over 100 foot of water like some
of the reservoirs that we have out west and one great thing about
suspended walleyes is, we often don't have such a crowd to contend
with. Start catching
walleyes in close to shore and soon there will be a crowd around
but start fishing out in the middle of a reservoir or lake and
there generally will not be many others come and join the fun.
Shallow can be shallow anytime and anywhere on a body of
water. When nothing
else is working then it is time to try shallow over deep water.
Good luck and enjoy the search.
Terry Wilson
