Need some walleye and crappie advice

[mdeerjunkie]

Due to the lockdown I was looking to do some fishing for those critters. I’ve never done much fishing besides fly fishing, and I here it’s almost a different sport. I’ve been reading some articles trying to learn about it. I have a boat, and I’ve read that sonar/fish finders are critical for success, is that true? Any tips/tactics you all would recommend?

 

[brownbear932008]

Boy I need some lessons myself. Both of these have always skunked me pretty much. Especially walleye!

 

[Gellar]

Walleye usually spawn when the water is in the 45 degree range. Look for them in shallow rocky bays with a feeder creek in the back. After the spawn they will lay low for a week or two then put the feed bag on. Find a wind swept shore adjacent to a drop off where the baitfish are stacked up and pitch as small of a jighead as you can. Or a slip bobber with a leach or minnow under it works good too. Fish in low light, overcast or the late afternoon is best.

 

[Bulldog0156]

Tough to answer without knowing anything about the body of water you will be targeting them on. In western reservoirs walleyes can be pretty shallow for extended periods of time when water levels are rising and there is good cover for baitfish being flooded. In general this time of year shallow is going to be better. Find the food source, you'll find the fish.

 

[wistowy]

Walleye usually spawn when the water is in the 45 degree range. Look for them in shallow rocky bays with a feeder creek in the back. After the spawn they will lay low for a week or two then put the feed bag on. Find a wind swept shore adjacent to a drop off where the baitfish are stacked up and pitch as small of a jighead as you can. Or a slip bobber with a leach or minnow under it works good too. Fish in low light, overcast or the late afternoon is best.

SHHHHHH..lol
+1

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Crappies are about to be extremely easy to catch. They spawn about this time. Because of this, they are extremely shallow. I use a bobber with a jighead and a minnow. I fell in love with bobber fishing when I was a kid. It is still an extremely effective method to fish.

Best of luck!

 

[Muskeez]

Great advice above. There's a ton to learn but that's the fun part. Yes sonar/depth finder on your boat will be VERY beneficial. If you spend BIG bucks you can get one with side imaging and even "livescope" now where you can literally see the fish. You can see fish on regular sonar as well, but it only shoots straight down below the boat and if you are in shallow water the fish are spooked by the boat anyway. Regular sonar will give you depth and tell you bottom density. Spring, it's shallow spawning areas like mentioned. Many rocky shorelines can be good. After the spawn, classic spots are underwater points, humps, weedline edges, points within the weedline, and in the summer even the midlake mud flats are good. When that time comes you will want to cover water to find them. Pull bottom bouncers and spinners with Nightcrawlers, or troll crankbaits like MANY different rapala sizes. You can spend a ton of dough on tackle, I sure have, but you can also get by on some basics just fine. Honestly 90% of the tackle in boat never gets wet in a given year. Tell us about the waters you are wanting to target and we can maybe help more. Now, crappies, nope, I don't know squat other than fishing around docks and piers and submerged trees/crates.

 

[thusby]

Pull bottom bouncers and spinners with Nightcrawlers, or troll crankbaits like MANY different rapala sizes.

This is where I would start if I really wanted to catch a few walleye, about mid-may through mid-june.

Crappies in April, you need to find a flat with 2-4 foot deep water and mix of weeds/sand. Usually this is a hidden back bay off the main lake. Tiny tube jigs with a minnow under a cork. They'll be done spawing by first week or so in May and then they head back out into the big lake where you will need a sonar to find suspending fish.

 

[Bigjay73]

I've had a ton of luck on crappie by fishing submerged trees in 10-15 ft of water. Mini tube jigs, or jig heads tipped with minnow jigged vertically have produced several 50 fish days for me when the time is right.

 

[Sask hunter]

A good sonar is worth the $$$. Can never go wrong with jig and minnow or leach for eyes. So versatile can vertical jig it over deeper water pitch it in shallower. It’s what I mainly use

 

[Gut Shot]

My dad and his friends pulled many tons (no exaggeration) of crappie into boats without the aid of electronics. Check to see if there is a fishing report online for the water you are fishing. These will often tell you whether the fish are deep or shallow and what people are catching. Outside of spawning crappie relate to structure and food, and the two often go hand-in-hand.

 

[thusby]

Every lake has crappie. Only a few lakes are prime crappie lakes. Its probably most important to dig around and find a lake with a really nice population of them. That is information that people don't give up too easy, so mostly its trial and error.

 

[mdeerjunkie]

Great advice above. There's a ton to learn but that's the fun part. Yes sonar/depth finder on your boat will be VERY beneficial. If you spend BIG bucks you can get one with side imaging and even "livescope" now where you can literally see the fish. You can see fish on regular sonar as well, but it only shoots straight down below the boat and if you are in shallow water the fish are spooked by the boat anyway. Regular sonar will give you depth and tell you bottom density. Spring, it's shallow spawning areas like mentioned. Many rocky shorelines can be good. After the spawn, classic spots are underwater points, humps, weedline edges, points within the weedline, and in the summer even the midlake mud flats are good. When that time comes you will want to cover water to find them. Pull bottom bouncers and spinners with Nightcrawlers, or troll crankbaits like MANY different rapala sizes. You can spend a ton of dough on tackle, I sure have, but you can also get by on some basics just fine. Honestly 90% of the tackle in boat never gets wet in a given year. Tell us about the waters you are wanting to target and we can maybe help more. Now, crappies, nope, I don't know squat other than fishing around docks and piers and submerged trees/crates.

I live in the Denver area, so I was looking at targeting mainly reservoirs. Chat field, cherry creek....I’ve done some trout fishing at those but nothing more. There are some pretty rocky spots, so I’ll be sure to give those a shot. Are there any sonars you recommend, without cashing out all my dough

 

[Bob-WY]

I couldn't care less about crappie, but Walleye interest me! New to WY and never seen a Walleye. Sounds like my standard bass lures (rapalla and/or rubber worms), then toss them towards a rocky shore line in a mountain resevoir?

What size am I shooting for to eat best?

 

[Bigjay73]

I live in the Denver area, so I was looking at targeting mainly reservoirs. Chat field, cherry creek....I’ve done some trout fishing at those but nothing more. There are some pretty rocky spots, so I’ll be sure to give those a shot. Are there any sonars you recommend, without cashing out all my dough

I'd skip cherry creek and hit Aurora

 

[mdeerjunkie]

I'd skip cherry creek and hit Aurora

Good to know.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

Local info will be much more helpful. Tackle shops,marinas,fish and game can give specific info to a body of water. If you see someone fishing stop and talk. A basic 2d color display sonar unit will do the job. I like Hummingbird.

 

[MNElkNut]

I couldn't care less about crappie, but Walleye interest me! New to WY and never seen a Walleye. Sounds like my standard bass lures (rapalla and/or rubber worms), then toss them towards a rocky shore line in a mountain resevoir?

What size am I shooting for to eat best?

Bob, include lead head jigs ( like 1/4 or 3/16 oz) tipped with minnows in your arsenal. I don't hear of too many people using rubber worms up here and we are in major walleye country in MN. Eaters are about 16" up to about 19" for most and some will go a little bigger or smaller depending on personal preference. They will hit crankbaits as well!

 

[Muskeez]

Sonar units are like trucks, some like chevys, some like Fords. Lowrance and Humminbird or the 2 biggest players. I'm a HB guy myself. If you get one with Si that means side imaging. It is amazing and will really help you see structure and sometimes fish. Just this week I went out and scanned some points before the weeds start growing. I was able to move the cursor on the screen and mark all the sweet spots with waypoints where there were rocks on big points and flats. We use it to find fish in SD reservoirs as well. 1/8 - 3/8 oz jigs have probably caught more walleyes than anything, rapala lures are probably second. Jigs can be tipped with plastics like paddle tail swim baits, or 3" curly tail grubs. We catch a lot of walleyes on plastics without meat, some guys add minnows to them or just fish a minnow or crawler on a bare jig head. They feed along the bottom MOST of the time so you need to try to be in that bottom 2' if you can most of the time. Suspended big open water fish are a different story.

 

[Muskeez]

Side imaging with Humminbird. Fish are white spots that were only on the left side of the boat, no reason to cast out the right side. This picture is taken while the boat was moving 3.9 mph searching sand flats for walleyes. It’s like cheating when you find them !