Shallow River Walleye

[Kamala]

:Hi,
::This is the best walleye message board I`ve ever come across.Great posts and information.
::I fish the Kankakee River 60 miles south of Chicago,Il.It is a smaller,shallow river system with a limestone bed,chunk rock,gravel,sand,with shell and clam bars.It is a very fertile and healthy fishery for bass,walleye,pike,catfish.It still holds the state record walleye at 14lbs.
::I had some moderate success this spring fishing at dusk for walleye.Every year numerous walleye are taken over 7lbs.Water clarity and the shallowness, make it a tough bite all year long,with the summer being the worst.
::The stretch I fish has numerous holes ranging from 7ft to 17ft,with small to large islands,rapids,ledge dropoffs,gravel and shell bars,some eddys and wood blow downs.I would guess the average depth under normal water levels to be less than 4ft.
::I`m looking to put some locations and patterns together for late summer,fall and early winter.I wade and boat fish the river.All fish this spring were caught on rapalas and rouges,at dusk or night in less than 3ft of water.
::Sorry about the long post,thanks,Mark J.

[Starfish]

I seem to catch most of my river walleyes in 10-20 feet of water during the daytime--surprisingly many in the 10-12 foot range. It helps if there's some wind chop on the water when fishing shallow. I look for back eddies and current breaks alongside weedbeds. In the summer bouncers and crawlers have been best; jigs have been best in winter and early spring.
Good luck!

[cranker']

Nice to see someone fishes some familar waters... Your on the right track with the rapalas and the rogues. I have also seen the best success with similar presentations in the shallow water over the various rip-rap sections throughout the river. What section do you the fish most? I frequent the area from state line to Momence the most. There isn't a lot of shore opportunities but if you have a boat I've done well in this stretch. My fav's have been perch jointed rapalas and firetiger/pearl rogues in the shallow stuff. I've also had some good catches on 1/16 oz. jigs and fat shiners or roaches in the real early spring/late winter (if you can keep the pike off!). I duck hunt quite a bit at LaSalle F&W on the Indiana side and I know how many little 5-7ft pockets there are very near shore, many behind the dead-falls. With the sand bottoms in this stretch and the following 2 miles downstream it makes it reasonably easy to fish these areas w/ the light jigs w/o too much problem as long as the logs cooperate! If you can handle the cold early-on there are some river-rats who pull some hogs out of the shallows late at night all throughout the river. Same presentations - shallow cranks or light jigs w/ live bait. The water is relatively clear over the winter in this section. If you can fish it before it turns muddy it seems to increase my chances quite a bit. Same goes for farther down river, it just turns to more rock than sand so snags become more of an issue and the current is decreased slightly. Drop me an e-mail and we'll give it a shot this fall once the water cools down. I've tried during the summer but the mosqitoes get quite unbareable! Good luck!

[Dylan]

Can i get some help on my river to? I'm 16 and have been fishingin it for about 4 years now and not caught a single walleye. people have caught them before though. I live in the country on the middle raccoon river. Shallow, rocky, clear(sometimes), and many rapids. But i live right on a big creek that feeds into the river (panther creek), I'm stumped on what to do. Please help.

[Backwater Eddy]

Hiya fellow river rat!

I live on this type of river day and night, and can say you are very, very, close to having the big picture on smalle rivers!

Your choice of cranks is telling me that you key in on ambush walleye and it has paid off well for you! Profile is key along with action in relation to water temp and seasonal preferences of your area walleye.

Cranker is a top gun on shallow Walleye hunting and he may know of me as well?

I missed the ND state record by 3 oz in 97 with a 15.09 ,at night, on a crank, in 2 foot of water, sound familiar? I have released over 100 10+ from night fishing the same style waters, that is in 5 years! You are on it, just fine tune it now!!

Give me a buzz, we will chat this up a bit.


"Backwater Eddy"
Backwater Guiding Service
#310 SE College Complex
Wahpeton ND 58075
1-701-671-3079

#####://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/ResortRd/backwtr1/home.html

[Backwater Eddy]

Hiya fellow river rat!

I live on this type of river day and night, and can say you are very, very, close to having the big picture on smalle rivers!

Your choice of cranks is telling me that you key in on ambush walleye and it has paid off well for you! Profile is key along with action in relation to water temp and seasonal preferences of your area walleye.

Cranker is a top gun on shallow Walleye hunting and he may know of me as well?

I missed the ND state record by 3 oz in 97 with a 15.09 ,at night, on a crank, in 2 foot of water, sound familiar? I have released over 100 10+ from night fishing the same style waters, that is in 5 years! You are on it, just fine tune it now!!

Give me a buzz, we will chat this up a bit.


"Backwater Eddy"
Backwater Guiding Service
#310 SE College Complex
Wahpeton ND 58075
1-701-671-3079

#####://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/ResortRd/backwtr1/home.html

[Kamala]

:Thanks for all the responses.
::I fish the area from the Kankakee Dam thru area 10 in the Kankakee State Park.
::I have mainly fished for smallmouth on the river until this spring,when I met a local fisherman and fished for walleyes,starting at the end of Feb.thru mid April.
::Walleye between 2 1/2 to 9lbs were caught and released in this stretch of the Kankakee this spring.
::I know the walleye are there.They just need to be targeted.Fish in the cold and fish at night.Learn their water temp. patterns and habits.
::Feel free to email me also.Mark J.

[oddball]

used to fish the strech from 41bridge east to the 1st bend and west to momence in the late 70s alot of pike and smallies and the ocassional(spelling?) nice eye when fishing for cat at night .just drove over the 41 bridge sunday i was at willow slough shooting clays seen a few boats on the river .its weird talkin about the kank this board you know eire eire eire