Quest for Walleye

Hello all,

I know this has been said a million times, but I just wanted to try my luck here…

I grew up in the south. Texas and Oklahoma to be exact. Bass fishing is a second religion down there. That being said, I’m no beginner to fishing but I am a beginner to a certain species. Walleye! They exist in the south, but are hard to come by where I’m from and I’ve never really targeted them. I moved to Shakopee, MN about a year ago and I’ve done my research on lures, bait’s, tackle, rods, and gear. I’m set on that matter. I’ve slayed bass, pike, and even a few ski’s this year! I just haven’t had any luck with walleye. My concern is the local waters and as we are in the fall season, I hear the bite is phenomenal. I have a 14 foot aluminum boat, a Minkota trolling motor 35# thrust, and a 9.9 HP Evanrude. Rivers are also new to me. I know walleye are known to be biting on the Mississippi, the Minnesota, and the St. Croix, but I’m just not 100% comfortable going on the river with the water levels so high, the currents so strong, and my boat being a little- little. Especially alone…. lol

That being said, I’m interested in any local lakes in the south metro, and or the southern region. Like I said, I’m located in Shakopee. I’ve heard Prior Lake, Faribault, Farmington… etc, are good for eyes. Just wanting some insight or some exact lake names. Not really looking to drive more than 45 to an hour. Thanks in advance and I’ll take any advice with an open mind!

-Dan

Dan
Coming from a guy that chased the tournament trails for many years, forget everything you know about green carp. Think about deep structure smallmouth fishing. Most guys that started in the bass ideology tend to relate to shoreline and visual structure. Gotta re-train the brain to think about how fish move and relate to terrain and depths. For me, it was adjusting to how a coyote or other predator would stalk prey and how they use vantage points – then relate that to what I found on the lake structure maps.

I can tell you once I got addicted to walleyes, my smallmouth fishing advanced by 500% and then some

Don’t be afraid to do some shore fishing on the rivers.

As the water falls you’ll be ok with that boat on the river. You can launch at hidden falls and work from the dam to the confluence of the Minnesota. Plenty of great walleye water in the stretch and it’s pretty tame. Jig and minnow, plastics, cranks will all catch fish this time of year. Look for current seams and just work them and move. Shorefishing as mentioned along that stretch is good, too.

I don’t hit the lakes around here often because the river is a great fishery. I here of a decent walleye bite on prior lake but have never fished it. Recreational traffic there is done so it’s worth a shot. Tons of structure in that lake so I’ll bet if you look at a map you’ll find some places to try. When the water is cold and fish lakes for walleyes I think deep during the day and shallow at night. Trolling shorelines at night can be deadly especially if you can find transitions fro hard to soft bottom or green weeds and work the weed lines.