walleye have little fight right now ?

[fatboy]

fella's seems to me that the walleye have little fight in them right now(at least here in the lower det.)After reading another post here just thought that I would post to see if everyone feels the same.Trolling slow seems to work right now as they do not seem to want to make much effort to chase down a fast moving bait.They hit and it seems that you just winch them in with not much fight until they see the boat.And then after afew head shakes they seem to be spent.

Those Fall Detriot Walleyes are to fat to fight!

[Walleye Express]

[b] Fatboy.

It's really no big secret that walleye lac the (cold water) stamina and jumping abilities of the more (bragged about) species such as Steelheads and King Salmon. But even these species get sluggish in the very colder waters during the winter months. And to a degree walleyes are not the toughest warm water tough guys either, as compared to Small Mouth, Large Mouth and other frisky warm water species. I think this in large part is due to their bodies muscular make-up. Walleye retain their body fat in their stomachs, much like I do. :D

But other cold water species like the steelhead and salmon, retains theirs in between their muscle layers. I cannot scientifically state how this makes a difference, but am sure it does. But I have ran into some pretty good fighting walleyes both on the Bay and in the rivers at certain times of years.

[Tom O]

Fatboy,
I agree that at times walleyes aren't great fighters, but while night fishing last Tues. evening, you could have fooled me. My son and I caught ten walleyes up to 9.5lbs and all fought real well. We use 7ft spinning rods with 8lb test silver thread. I think with the cold water temps the walleyes metabolism slows down so with lighter lines and rods, they are a lot more fun to catch. Some of the walleyes we have caught in the last couple of weeks put on real good fights and we had to play them carefully to get them into shore without losing them. Horsing them on light tackle results in a lost fish. So try scaling down your tackle and I'm sure you will see the difference.
Good Luck and good fishing
Tom O

[WAeyes]

I agree. 3 weeks ago the walleyes were really fighting hard and even after you land them they would shake and shake and shake and shake....

Now, after the recent cold spell, and lake turning over, they are much less aggresive after being hooked and are much more cooperative when being unhooked. I don't mind this too much...less cuts on my hands ;-)

[jake]

i'd have to agree. the last time out most of my fish were picked up at only .6 to .7 mph. one did hit hard but they all came to the boat pretty calm.


"ya' don't need a weathervane to know which way the wind blows"