Top 10 trips

[Tonyf]

Ok I searched for a post like this but didn't find one. What are your top 10 walleye have to go to before you die places? I am not looking to start a dispute just get some other ideas. Mine are, in no particular order:
1. Erie
2. Bays de Noc
3. Green Bay
4. Winnipeg river
5. Devils Lake
6. Mississippi river northern pools
7. Oahe
8. Mille Lacs
9. Winnebago chain
10. ??? To many to pick

[Sunshine]

1. Erie
2. Lac Seul
3. Green Bay
4. Winnipeg river
5. Devils Lake
6. Tobin
7. Oahe
8. Mille Lacs
9. Bay of Quinte
10. Columbia River

[Buckeye]

I have never been to any of the other lakes or rivers on the lists, mostly because it is so difficult to leave Lake Erie. The rest of the world is judged by a different standard of what a "good day" of walleye fishing is.

I know there are lots of other places that hold larger walleye than we typically see here, but noplace can combine the numbers with the seasonal pigs that Lake Erie western and central basin consistently offers.

I could give you my top 10 favorite locations on Lake Erie....

[Chad]

One to add to the list I would like to go to is Fort Peck, MT.

My top ten in no particular order as it depends on the year and time of year you go.

Top ten I have been to:
Lake Erie
Winnipeg River
Red River, MB
Devils Lake
Mississippi River (Red Wing)
Mille Lacs

Ones I need to get to yet:
Tobin
Ft Peck
Green Bay
Bay de Noc


ChadM

[bdirks]

My top ten, no order...

1. Tobin
2. Lake Winnipeg/Winnipeg River
3. Lac Seul
4. Devil's Lake
5. Bay of Quinte
6. Bays de Noc
7. Green Bay
8. Pools #2 and #4 of the Mississippi River
9. Fort Peck Res.
10. Rainy River

Oh, to dream,
Brian

[Thomas O]

Bay of Quinte, mid October to freeze up. Best place for 12lb or better. Numbers can be good too if you hit it right. Tom O

[Unlogged T-Mac]

So much depends on timing.
The key thing is to hit these awesome places when they are "hot".
Now, that may mean hitting it during a great year or two..or at a specific time of the year. OR BOTH.

I have been lucky enough to hit some places before anybody knew about them. I have also been lucky enough to hit some places that were known and hit them at their peak. But... I still intend to hit Erie...and someday, I will

Here's my list of places I have been that were amazing (at times).
In no particular order:
-Ft. Peck
-Columbia River
-Tobin L.
-Dieffenbaker L.
-Sakakawea
-Potholes Reservoir
-Banks L
-LOW
-Last Mountain L.
-Winnibigoshish

2) Places I want to go:
-Erie
-And...oh, about 150 Lakes in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba

...And I sure wouldn't pass up an opportunity to hit Bay of Quinte, Detroit River, Devils Lake, Saginaw Bay, Bays de Noc, Green Bay, Bull Shoals, or...anyplace "new" or "hot".
:)

[bob oh]

1 - 10 -- Anywhere there are a lot of eyes and someone who wants to take me fishing


rod bender bob

[dp]

Hard to believe nobody has listed any of the extremely good waters down in Arkansas. They have two world records from the same watershed, the Walleye of course, and a Brown Trout from the Little Red River below. If you've never been down in that area, you should put in on your list. I'd love very much to return there for Eyes, trout, stripers, bass, you name it.

[Tonyf]

Ahhhh so many places i need to go. I forgot about Bay of Quinte. The southern waters also crossed my mind but I couldn't bring myself to actually list one, yet. ;-) I am hoping to hit Little Bay de Noc in early November with some guys in a club i belong to here in IL. Thanks for the ideas.

[WalleyeHawk]

Mine and my wife's favorite place would be Lake Tetu below the Caribou Falls dam NW of Kenora, Ont. plenty of trophy walleyes and northern pike in the 15 to 25lb+ range. Excellent place in the fall of the year around Labor Day weekend. My wife outfished me on the walleyes, but I did have a 25# northern pike.

The Walleyehawk

P. S. A bad day of fishing is better than being in the office!!

[hgmeyer]

Tony,

Greg Meyer from NIWC "here".... We are going to be discussing the two dates at the October meeting... See you then.

[coach 76]

I put Erie at the top, but refused to go this year with the price of gas. I am not into fishing with heavy gear and weight, rather target the smallmouth bass. My other pick is Fort Myers Beach, and fishing the flats and shallow waters of sanibel Island, Estero Bay, and Pine Island. Its like I am in heaven the months of March and April.

[vetspet.ind]

1. lake michigan 2.lake erie 3. crooked lake mn 4.willow slough ind. 5.lake michigan 6.lake michigan 7.lake michigan 8. lake michigan 9. lake michigan 10. lake michigan....i never get to go anyplace nicer because i work too much and like where i fish now...steve

[warrior]

I HAVE FISHED OAHE AND SAKA. ALOT. THERE IS ALOT OF VARIETY AND CONDITIONS WHICH MAKE IT FUN . I HAVE BEEN TO ERIE ONCE WITH NOT MUCH LUCK BECAUSE OF WEATHER. THE PEOPLE OF PORT CLINTON ARE AWESOME! WENT TO TOBIN LAKE AND CAUGHT A 30 INCHER IN THE FIRST HOUR. TOBIN IS A GREAT PLACE WITH INTERESTING PEOPLE WITH A VARIETY OF FISHING FROM RIVER TO LAKE, NIGHT TO DAY AND ARTIFICIAL TO LIVE BAIT. I HOPE I CAN VISIT ALL THE PLACES ON THIS POST!

[jimmy4218 unlogged]

1. Saganaga lake in the boundary waters
2. Any lake in boundary waters
3. Lake Superior when I can
4. love to try Tobin, Lac Seul among others
5. Columbia river
6. Russian River in Alaska for king salmon
7. too many others to try...

[Sunshine]

I agree that "ALL" of the places mentioned should also be defined as to "when" a person should go. As an example, if a person is looking for very large fish Bay de Noc, Bay of Quinte or Vermillion would be better in the fall period. If a person was interested in numbers, a place like Bay de Noc could be better in the spring.

This brings up another interesting question. How do you define a dream trip or dream location? Is it a chance for a 10, 11, 12, 13 or 14 pound walleye? Is it the natural beauty of the area? Is it the great people at that location? Is it pure numbers of fish caught? Or is it a combination of all of these things?

For me, my number one pick would be Bay de Noc in the fall. We are almost always assured of catching fish over ten pounds. We love the people that we meet there. Most of the scenery is great and as a general rule, you can always find a place to fish when the weather gets nasty (not 100% of the time but I’d say 85%). I love the Vermillion area for all the same reasons except for weather. I’ve spent too many days on shore there when I had a 3-4 day window of opportunity to fish it.

Bottom-line question……… what criteria do you use to put a location on your top ten list?

[Johnnie Candle]

Any time I can fish with Sunshine, it is in my top ten!!!!

As my fishing life develops, I find myself more interested in the chance for some bigger fish. The quest for multiple fish over 5 pounds in one day is the one I look for more and more. If I can catch a ten pounder in the process, that is great.

I have had plenty of opportunity to cash in on 50 plus fish days, but they are all eaters. That is fun, but would rather catch 5 five pounders than 20 fourteen inchers.

That being said, this only holds true for my dream trip. I have enjoyed very much and will continue to enjoy my trips to places where 100 fish days can happen and who cares how big they are.

My top ten looks like this:
Tobin
Erie
Bay De Noc
Devils Lake
Ft Peck
Mille Lacs
Sakakawea
Green Bay
Saginaw Bay
Lake Ontario

These are in no particular order.

[New One]

Not trying to be an a$$, but how can you say that no other body of water can be as good as Erie if you haven't been to any of the others? I would like to go fish all of these waters, just for the chance to fish for different fish in different enviroments. All of these spots would be challenging and rewarding, or else they wouldn't make the list.

[laker taker2]

Lots of the same lakes seem to appear more than once. Being a Canadian I find it interesting how many people would like to try Tobin, and mostly the Nipawin river leading into it and the Winnipeg River system. Great places! The place that gets so overlooked is Last Mountain in Saskatchewan. Oh what a lake to fish in the fall. It has so much structure and lots of fish. A 10lber doesn't even seem big anymore there in the fall. There is also some great resevoir fishing to be had in southern Alberta but it wouldn't ever register on anyones radar. I am just starting to figure them out after 5 years!

[orchard frank]

When my wife and I retired, we moved to the Bays de Noc area, so I guess my first choice is easy. Lac Suel is great, spent 2-3 weeks a season there for about 14 years. Quinte, Red River,Tobin, Erie all sound great. Maybe another outpost trip or two. Definitely going to get out to Devils Lake and get Johnnie to show me some secret spots. I like familiarity, love the area I'm in. Incredible salmon fishing this year. By the way, the Bays are cooling down fast, upper bay was 58' yesterday, at least 2-3 weeks ahead of last year, cold weather predicted. Already have put the leadcore and T-stick juniors to use.

[Erieguy]

Since I live 10 minutes frome lake erie I would have to say Bay of Quinte in Oct. or Nov.

[bluegill 1]

^What are our top 10 walleye have to go to before you die places?^


Since i live 20 min from Lake Erie, I guess I'll just stay here and die.

David

[bob oh]

Dennis, for me it would be a combo of things. Since I prefer to cast or jig for eyes the chance at big, big fish using that method would be a plus, so would areas where I could go catch a bunch of fish if I wanted. Scenery would also play a part (most on Erie isn't the greatest except for hot days on Put-In-Bay :-) Being away from people would also be a plus (you said dream trip)and some big, big pike :-)
I love Erie and it ranks right at the top for lots of fish and lots of big fish, but I know there are a lot of other great places to fish.

rod bender bob

[Eye Finder]

There are some good posts with great bodies of water listed for catching a lot of walleye in addition to large walleyes. I agree it is difficult to have a consensus on an exact order for the top 10 trips. As mentioned previously, this can vary by ones opinion on the amount of walleye, large walleye, scenery, ramp facilities, helpful people, weather, etc.. In addition, if somebody has only fished a body of water a few times, they may have had difficult weather conditions that played a role in lower success rates. However, if you go by a majority of picks on this post in addition to past PWT records it is hard to pass up Lake Erie as a premium all around destination. Many of the PWT records have been set and shattered on Lake Erie. There have been more ten pound "plus" walleye caught during PWT tournaments held on Lake Erie then any other body of water that has been on the tour. I am not saying that other major walleye waters are not worth fishing and the experience they provide but I certainaly would make Lake Erie a must on any ones fishing destination.

Walleye Hunter

[jimmy4218 unlogged]

Bob oh...
You just described Saganaga Lake in the boundary waters. I have never seen more than three other boats at a time (the lake is huge with alot of islands) and I was catching some monster smallies there a couple of years ago and a 25+ pound northern pike (the locals call the big ones there "gators") hit the side of the smallie I had caught. He let go after a minute but the eyes looked as big as pie plates (figuratively speaking) and got my adrenaline pumping bigtime.

Walleyes are caught in the ten plus pound range on a regular basis and if you're up to it you can catch some big Lake Trout there (Hard fightin machines!) and to top it all of, it is truly hard to beat the scenery and the people. I could send you some pics so you could get an idea. This lake is literally heaven on earth for me and I highgly recommend it.

[daveddd]

Living in Belle river,Ont why go anywhere else when lake st clair,Detroit river & lake Erie are all 15 minutes away.But the Detroit river is so underfished & overlooked i am amazed.I have 10lbs rainbows,11lbs walleye,40lbs musky, 7lbs smallies,5lbs largemouths,20lbs northerns,2lbs crappies all caught in this river.2 weeks ago i fished about an hour for walleye & had 15,went to Erie for 40 smallies then on the way back stopped & caught 6 largemouths & 2 25lbs muskies on spinnerbaits in 4ft of water.I might see a couple boats all day.Why go anywhere else.

[DP]

I know I said Arkansas before but Dave's post on the Dtroit River reminds me of the time I spent in Arkansas, except for the views I'm sure. Substitute stripers for musky and pike, increase the size of the largemouth and you've got it all. Plus, it's one of the most beautiful states I've ever been in. Backwards in many ways, but just as pretty as it gets in most places. The Columbia River would be another for it's diversity of fish, including trophy Eye's, Sturgeon, Salmon, Steelhead and the scenery again, tops. Take a littlr side trip to the really big pond and tangle with a Tuna, Halibut, Ling Cod, watch a whale. Might not ever come back east for those out this way.