Need help with Clear water weed walleye

[CNY Lee]

I'm fishing in 8'-10' of clear water with weeds (starting to get thick), on calm days I can see the walleye just sitting there and cruizing. I tried a slip bobber with a jig head / leech, I also tried it with a worm. I had 3 or 4 come up and nose it but most weren't interested. Plus it seemed the boat was spooking them some also. It was so fustrating and just wondering if anyone else has had this happen and if you came up with an answer.

Thanks
Lee

[1625rebel]

What time of the day are you fishing? I would guess sunrise/sunset will be your best bet with a slip bobber. That's how it works for me unless its cloudy out. Then I get a bonus 2 hours of decent fishing for both periods.

[thump55]

Cast further away (use braid for the main line so you still get a good hookset). You won't be able to sight fish them, but the boat won't spook them.

When fish won't eat a bait (but they do stop to look at it), I believe it is because there is something they don't like. Maybe you had some gas or sunblock residue on your hand that got on the bait, or they can see the line too easily, or they don't like the color jig you have, or the bait isn't moving, etc.

Sometimes, they just aren't going to eat it, and as mentioned, in clear water it is especially tough during daylight hours. If they are stopping and thinking about it, however, that is a good sign and those fish should be catchable.

[Burr]

Pitch jig/plastics with a paddle tail into the weeds, rigged weedless.

There are a few ways to rig a pitching jig weedless, just use the method that works the best. The Bass fishing crowd is a good place to look at weedless rigging options.

If they are up shallow, they'll bite. I do agree, you will have to get the boat away from the fish to get interest. Make sure to experiment with different speeds. If you get follows, but no strikes, downsize and slow down.

Pause your retrieves when it gets close to the boat so if you have a follow, there's the chance to create a hookup. Watch your bait when you take it out of the water, there's no other feeling like seeing the open mouth of an eye as you pull your jig up for another pitch. Just make sure it doesn't startle you overboard!

[Little buddy]

Get out away from the weeds and send planer boards with Salmo Hornets #4 over the tops of them. Figure your dive chart on the hornets and get them just skimming the top of the cabbage. Your going for a reaction bite and those little hornets piss em off for sure. In 10 ft of water try 20ft of line off your board and see how that works. Another thing you could do, try a three ounce bottom bouncer with a Wally pop and rip that bouncer right through the cabbage clearing the way for your harness which will rise up slightly above the weed mess and they will come out and put a smack down on it. This method is busy with clearing weeds from your stuff but it works. Remember to leave your harness in the water for a little while even when you think you have weeds on it. The bouncer will often times be the only thing catching the weeds because your Wally pop is going to ride up a little and clear a lot of the mess leaving it in the strike zone. You could also send out Slow Death with inline weights ( 1/4 ounce) on Planer boards over the tops of the weeds and slow it right down and see if that works. Good luck..

[eriksat1]

Try a slip bobber rig with 4 lb. flourocarbon leader about 18" long with a leech and a #8 short shank hook.

[Bill Krejca]

The further you can be from where you are casting to, the better your chances. I discourage those fishing with me from wearing yellow, orange, fluorescent anything, etc. The so-called small funnel window of sight sometimes shown in charts for various fish at various depths has not appeared to be accurate for me; they appear to have ability to catch movement of bright objects much further away than normally depicted.

Bill Krejca

[fishing life]

I use a bass method with those conditions, spinner bait and cast over and past the fish and retrieve through them just like I would for bass. This has worked for me in clear water, weeds and shallow, spinner baits are pretty much weedless. Don't give the walleye to much time, keep your retrieve fast. Not too fast, you'll find the right speed.

[Karas3434]

Originally Posted by CNY Lee

I'm fishing in 8'-10' of clear water with weeds (starting to get thick), on calm days I can see the walleye just sitting there and cruizing. I tried a slip bobber with a jig head / leech, I also tried it with a worm. I had 3 or 4 come up and nose it but most weren't interested. Plus it seemed the boat was spooking them some also. It was so fustrating and just wondering if anyone else has had this happen and if you came up with an answer.

Thanks
Lee

Good ole CNY clearwater lakes! Gotta thank those zebra muscles for that! What lake you fishing? I have been having good luck lately on Oneida and Delta with live minnows (med size shiners to be exact). Could try planer boards with shallow divers also to keep the baits away from the boat.