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Night
Hawk Stories...
Entry 15
More Tips for Catching Summertime Walleye
EDITOR'S
NOTE: Keith Kavajecz of Kaukauna, Wisconsin, a pro walleye fisherman,
specializes in tournament fishing and walleye-fishing promotions. Kavajecz,
who has fished in walleye tournaments since 1986, won the 1994 and 1998
North American Walleye Anglers Angler-of-the-Year award. He and his son,
Tommy, won the 1998 North American Walleye Anglers Team of the Year. Kavajecz
and his business partner, Gary Parsons, won the Masters Walleye Circuit
Team of the Year and World Championship in 1988. Keith and Gary co-host
"Bass Pro Shop's Outdoor World," which airs on TNN.
QUESTION: Can you give us more tips for catching walleye
in the summer? ANSWER:
TIP 6: No matter which crankbait you pick, they all have a depth they
can run to based on their build, body shape and other characteristics.
Every crankbait can reach a maximum depth. If you want to fish a particular
bait deeper than it normally can run by itself, you can put a weight in
front of the bait, whether it's a split shot, a snap weight, a lead-core
sinker or something else like that. All those things can pull that bait
down to a different depth. Switching lines provides an easy solution to
get a bait to dive deeper than it can on its own. Typically most fishermen
use 10-pound test line for fishing their crankbaits. I like to use Berkley
Pro Select or XT 10-pound test. You can switch from 10-pound monofilament
to FireLine or Berkley's new Whiplash. Instead of having a 10-pound test
diameter, you can go all the way down to a 4-pound test diameter with
FireLine. It still has the 10-pound test strength, but it's 10-4 FireLine.
On most diving baits, the 4-pound diameter will add about 30 percent to
the depth the baits can run. So, a bait that normally will run 24 feet
down may run 32 or 33 feet down. Just switching line expands the range
of depths you can fish with the same old crankbaits you have in your box.
TIP
7: Here's another tip for using Berkley FireLine. When fishing crankbaits
in the summer, many times you'll fish around weeds. Obviously one of the
biggest problems is picking up small strands of weeds or small debris
that will stop your crankbait from running right in the water. Very rarely,
if ever, have I caught walleye that when I reel them up they have weeds
on their lips. That information tells me that walleye don't bite weeds
and probably not because they see the weeds. Any small weeds on the crankbait
will throw off its action, making it run sideways or wobble the wrong
way or throw off the wrong vibrations. Not only is FireLine thin, but
it also doesn't stretch. In a weedy situation, you can sweep your rod
forward and feel the vibration of the bait. If it comes smoothly when
you sweep it forward, typically you have some garbage on your line. FireLine
means you can monitor what your lure does without having to reel it up
every time to check it.
TIP 8: If you fish on a small natural lake without many
walleye, then go after walleye early in the morning or late at night.
Remember that because walleye have extremely good eyesight, they want
to use that eyesight to help them. In a small natural lake that homes
fairly clear water, the walleye only have an advantage over other fish
when the night's too dark for the other fish to see, because the walleye
can still see. Typically walleye will eat in low-light conditions in those
types of bodies of water.
TIP 9: In summer when the water warms up, the walleye's
metabolism speeds up. They eat much more in the summer than they do in
the spring. They also continue to eat early and late on the structure.
They'll come in to the shallow structure in low-light conditions to ambush
their food. A lot of times, a walleye angler will keep fishing the same
area. However, many times during the day, the fish will go off that structure
and out into the open water and start looking for baitfish that randomly
swim around. Now instead of looking for one or two minnows, they'll look
for big schools of minnows that they can swim into and find crippled or
weak ones to eat. You have to switch your tactics now.
When walleye come in to shallow structure early and
late, you may want to fish a finesse rig, like a Roach or Lindy rig, a
real simple live-bait tactic or maybe just a jig and a minnow. During
the day, since you have to find these roving fish, you have to use something
like a crankbait. If you can't seem to locate fish during the day in the
summer, get off the structure and the morning- and night-bite areas. Go
out into the middle of the lake to see if you can't find these fish roving
around.
TIP
10: You should use one of the most recent things to come out -- fluorocarbon
line. My partners and I have used fluorocarbon often for leaders, including
spinnerbaits, live-bait rigs or the D-rig I mentioned earlier. The Berkley
Vanish fluorocarbon line is an excellent line to use for two reasons.
First of all, it's very clear. It has a similar light index to water,
which means it reflects or shows light the same way, making it nearly
as invisible as water. In other words, the fish can't see the line holding
the bait. The second important thing about Vanish is it's much more abrasion-resistant
than other lines. When an angler pulls around some kind of live-bait rig,
he commonly will drag it through rocks, sticks or snaggy-type stuff where
even a little nick on the line will reduce its strength a lot. Vanish
is such a good leader line because of its clarity and abrasion-resistance.
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