Catching walleye daily can be difficult at any time of year. But in early spring, I often wait until a little later in the morning, after the sun has gotten up there in the sky and has begun warming the water back up.
I also fish smaller, shallower, more dirty water lakes that warm sooner and quicker…often times these lakes are 400ac or less and bottom out at 10ft to 15ft deep. Less area to fish, less depth for fish to run to; you can kind of pin them down.
Many people will fish the “typical” walleye locations such as points, bars, and even mid-lake humps. I tend to do just the opposite. I’ll look to shallow bays and long stretches of shoreline early spring. And when I say shallow, we’re talking 3ft to 5ft deep. Pitching jigs & minnows or perhaps leeches to new weed growth has worked well over the years. More often than not, I’m finding those males in the 13″ – 17″ range, but occassionally a female that pushes past the 20″ mark shows up.
Sometimes jig color makes a difference, sometimes it’s the jigging cadence. Sometimes they hit far from the boat where the jig is swimming more horizontally, sometimes right below the boat where you’re popping it nearly vertical (and even in 3ft of water). Paying attention to the finer details has importance. Was I pitching into the wind or with the wind? Was I popping it, dragging it, swimming it or hopping the jig back? And the list goes on.
So it takes a lot of experimenting, changing and moving until you find that “aha” moment where you catch a fish or two. Once that happens, you can generally dial in on them.
I usually only fish weekends, so if I can hit on one of the two days, I’m feeling pretty good about myself. Lol. And if I can scratch up a meal for the family, all the better. Now days the electronics can give you everything up to stock market reports it seems. But I’ve found that time on the water gaining that experience and knowledge is your most powerful and useful asset.
