Wader fishing lakes

[Steve (IA)]

Would any of you care to share your "go to" techniques/baits when you wader/shore fish lakes in the fall? I'd like to expand my repertoire beyond grubs on ballheads and 4" husky jerks. Steve (IA)

[scottcny]

Steve,
We do a lot of that type of fishing here in Central NY in the fall. It is my favorite way to take walleyes. We usally through all stick baits in the fall, the grubs don't work too well for us. The husky jerk is a great choice but there are many others you should try. I have my best luck with the Rattlin' Rouge by Smithwick. floating raps, T-sticks ect are alos good. here's a trick you can try. take a old floating rap., about a size nine or eleven, spray paint it all flat black, hooks and all. pull that one out some night when it's real dark, no moon. It drives the walleyes crazy because they can't see it but they can feel it through there lateral line!! It works well for us, give it a try.

[Chris Koester]

Steve:

My favorite technique for shorefishing walleyes in fall (esp below dams and tailraces) is to go with a crappie-sized tube jig (1/32 or 1/16 oz). They are easy to fish with the low flows we have, and they seem to work especially well in heavily pressured areas where every single walleye there has seen at least 1,000 white or chartreuse curly-tail grubs in their lifetime. I have caught numerous very nice walleyes on many occasions with anglers getting skunked on all sides of me. The only downfall is, after I land the 3rd or 4th one I look around and all of a sudden everyone there is tying on a tube jig! :)
Also, as you know, down here in IA you can fish 2 jigs at once, which seems to help your odds and doesn't affect the action of this type of jig.
I don't know how effective this presentation would be in a lake, but it would be worth a try. :)

BTW in the interest of modesty and full disclosure, I didn't discover this pattern myself....I had someone do it next to ME once, and it's been one of my favorite patterns ever since. A nice bonus is that you have no idea how many nice crappies make their home below dams until you try this technique. :) My favorite colors for this technique are black/silver, silver flake, white, and red/white.


Chris

[winnerz880]

What size tube jig, the little 1" or 1 1/2 " ones?
Thanks

[WAeyes]

Steve, my go to baits are similar to what you are using with minor changes. I like 4" curly tails on light mushroom head jigs to produce a slow fall. My favorite fall crank is the #12 and #14 Husky Jerk, 4 3/4" to 5 1/2". I always try the cranks first and then go to the jigs after it slows down. I dont like to change things that produce fish just for the sake of change.

[Chris Koester]

I've used both. Size doesn't seem to matter that much, although color certainly seems to. I've always had much better luck with the more subdued, natural colors like blk/silver, silver, pearl or white, smoke, etc. I catch a few on red/wht as well. However this is based almost entirely on fishing below 2 different dams on the same river, I'm sure other areas or bodies of water may be different. The real point, I believe, is showing fish a small, subtle presentation that they haven't seen a thousand times before. :) I've been using this pattern for several years now, and I'm still amazed every time that it works. :)


Chris

[Fin Addict]

I do almost all of my shore fishing on rivers and streams and for those, a Roadrunner Jig with a fathead works well along the riprap. I would imagine they would be good for shallow lake fishing too. The spinner blade adds flash and slows the fall of the jig so you can use a heaviear jig and get longer casts. Flies are also a good option - bead head wooly buggers, streamer patterns and frog patterns are excellent on an 8 wt. (my favorite way to catch any type of fish!)

[Steve (IA)]

Has anyone fished a weightless, weedless rigged plastic such as a fluke in a manner such as would be rigged for bass fishing? I'm not sure if a walleye would take this bait as agressively as a bass allowing for a solid hook-up with a single wide-gap hook tex-posed. Steve (IA)

[Backwater Eddy]

Try a 4"or even 5"Beckley-Power Shad rigged on a stand-up jig or the mushroom head with a wire weed guard. (5"shad's add stinger high on back)

Douche with Dr.Juice and let it fly, good rig! Nice vibes and good bulk and profile for steady or pumping style retrieves. Works well in dead water and current, versatile rig, day or night!


"Backwater Eddy"...............><,,>