Walleye flies

[Woolly bugger]

Anyone out there use flies to catch walleye? If so how do you rig them up to fish with, trolling, rigging or jigging? What kind of flies do you use? What size hooks?

I tie my own flies for those water slappers and was thinking about using a few streamer patterns or crayfish patterns to target walleye.

[Phil T]

Clouser minnows or leach patterns catch any game fish. I used to catch the occasional walleye while "cheating" for white bass. My "fly" for whites is the smallest Daredevle made. It can be cast with a 7wt fly rod if the leader is short and stiff.

[Mattman]

My father-in-law took me to his secret spot a few years ago. I brought my 6wt along for fun. A Clouser Minnow out caught his countdown Rapala about 3 to 1. Until the sun went down. Was fun puttin' a whoopin' on him until that point.

Leech patterns also work well for me. As do crayfish when they are on that bite.



Matt Davis

Better to have and not need than to need and not have!

[ms]

A sinking line with a floating fly and you have a lindy rig :)

[Phil T]

A Clouser minnow or any other beaded wet fly or nymph is a jig, a strike indicator is a bobber, according to Tony Dean. He's right.

[Wolly Bogger]

Excellent, I'll try that Clowser minnow out.

I would think now that the fish are deep in the lake (30fow where I'm fishing)that a crawdad pattern would work on a lindy rig system. If there's a little wave action, the rocking of the boat would make it scoot accross the bottom and mimic a fleeing crawdad.

Do you guys use any extra attractor up front when fishing these flys? Or just fish them plain?

[karpbuster]

Add a night crawler to that clouser and viola'...that attracts em.

LOL

karpbuster

P.S. I just started to try flies, I have a new piece of property that I am going to try on, it is on a bass lake. You just look at the spinners for attractors and the colors, vibration you can get something going for sure. Kinda fun.

[no1son]

We have caught a lot of fish using a bucktail streamer in place of a plain hook on a spinner harness. Normally tipped with a minnow, usually a fathead, but small shiners or suckers also work, or a leech, It should also work with a Gulp 2 or 3 inch minnow or minnow grub. It would probably also work with a pork chunk, rind or half a nightcrawler, although the nightcrawler will attract more panfish. Troll slow, just fast enough to spin a Colorado blade. The streamer is pretty simple: yellow bucktail over a yellow chenille body with a red chenille head and a couple of thin white hackles for a tail. Hook size about 1/0 with a 2x or 3X shank, no offset and an oversized eye if you can find it. The chenille body covered only about half the shank, stopping well above the bend. A lot of fish were caught after a pike tooth cut the chenille and it had unraveled and was removed. This will also take a lot of smaller pike, largemouths, some dandy crappies and occasional large bluegills and perch besides walleyes. This pattern was normally matched with a gold hammered Colorado blade on the smallish side. With changeable clevises one can experiment with blade types, finishes and sizes. It was tied with black thread with a plain head.

A second pattern is white bucktail streamer with a white chenille body and a tail of soft blue hackles tied with red thread and used with a hammered silver blade. Usually the yellow pattern worked best, but sometimes the white was magic. The preference varied. Sometimes fish taste seemed to prefer a softer brown like natural deer hair rather than either white or yellow.

Cap Kennedy of Arnold's Park, Iowa, used to sell this as his "Killer Rig". There have been others around, but the longer shanked hook and these particular color patterns always worked best for us. He's long gone now but I still have and make copies for myself and my relatives. He was very specific not to use too much bucktail. Too much bucktail is less productive. If you use wire shafted spinners with split rings or snaps, the hooks with the oversized eyes trail best. Plain squirrel tail also works in place of bucktail. Sometimes a soft brown or a dull "crayfish" green hair will, too. One of our old fishing companions used brown hair from his collie to good effect at one point.

Gapen used to sell a crayfish jig with a muddler type body. That sort of brown/green can sometimes be effective. A muddler without the body, only the trimmed head and its bucktail skirt behind a spinner also makes a good "bait fly" for slow trolling with minnows or leeches. Larger sizes of true muddler streamers should also work, but will cost you a bunch when compared with tying your own. Commercial flies are often over dressed, too. Less is more in this case.

These will twist your line; so use a good swivel and enough weight to to get to the appropriate depth. A keeled sinker ahead of the leader helps prevent line twist. They are very good for trolling shallow in and around weed bed openings. The original used a metal shank spinner and a split ring to connect the streamer. There is no reason the spinner cannot be tied on a regular worm harness leader, directly to the hook and with changeable spinner clevis. Or for a little more action and a readily changeable streamer use a small lure snap to attach the streamer. Occasionally one gets a pike cutoff, probably more with a normal harness leader than with the original wire shaft spinner.

I suppose that is not a "real" fly, probably more of a bait harness presentation, but the bucktail on the hook makes a difference. A bigger size might also be a better hawg bait like they use for muskies and pike, but the smaller size with even a small fathead is often as effective as anything else. Dead minnows often work as well as live ones, too. This can also be cast if the leader is not tied too long. Normally the take is pretty positive, as is the case in most trolling, but depends on the size of the bait. A trailer hook can be added if needed.

I suppose that a variety of streamer flies can be trolled with a bait tip behind the standard spinner harness. It will probably pay to use a snap so one can change colors, styles and sizes, just like one changes spinner blades. If there is some play at the connection to the streamer eye this sort of presentation seems to be more productive.

[kliph]

We have been doing that for years on the eastern end of lake Erie
and the Niagara river. We call it "yellow sally, spinner and a worm".
We run it on a three way rig. The spinner varies, but I use a #4 colorado, hammered.
I think the yellow sally(fly) just adds color to the rig.
http://www.outdoorsniagara.com/yellowsally.htm

[mudpuppy]

I tie up alot of the muddler jigs on stand-up heads, like no1son mentioned. What I like about them is it's kind of a generic pattern that immitates mud minnows, sculpin, crayfish etc... Some local lakes have alot of sandgrass (Chara) in them & when you open up a fish you caught on one 9 times out of 10 their belly is full of crayfish. Green, black & orange heads & hackle are my favorites.

And also, your (screen) namesake, wolly buggers are hard to beat in the rivers. Mostly natural colors (& purple?) for me on 3 way rigs.

[manitobawalleye]

leech variation dropshotted above a jig

manitoba .... a 100,000 lakes
how many walleyes ????
i will never have enough time....