There are many times when mother nature seems to fight our best laid plans with cold temperatures, high and muddy water, overflowed river banks and a variety of other curses better fitting for a convicted axe murderer. These are not the times to let frustration foul up our plans however since we worked too hard at getting all of our "honey do's" and superfelous chores out of the way to make this day possible. Rather, now is the time to put our brains to work and reap the rewards that we deserve. To many fishermen, walleyes can be very elusive fish but in reality, they're very predictable as to their choice of locations and habits. River eyes are even more predictable since they have less area to roam around in than their big water relatives. However, it will be necessary to refine our tactics to take advantage of this predictable nature.
When cold, murky water conditions arrive,walleyes gravitate towards timber, brush, bridge abutments or any other natural or man made structure that provides shelter from the main current flow and something solid to snuggle up to.
These fish can be best caught by pitching small jig and minnow combinations tight to cover where the walleyes will be holding. Where patches of brush are found, a slip bobber and light jig/minnow set just off the bottom will usually do the trick.
In larger rivers such as our own Detroit River, there isn't an awful lot of timber or brush around and the fish will gravitate towards areas of broken concrete and rock, bottom irregularities, island tails and large backwater areas. However, knowing where to fish is only half the battle since conventional jigging tactics will only result in many hours spent catching very few fish.
When faced with these conditions, its time to refine our jigging tactics and borrow a few tricks from the local handliners. Handlining is a specialized form of walleye fishing that evolved over the years on the Detroit and St Clair River systems which incorporates the use of heavy lead weights, wire line and floating stickbaits such as Rapalas, Thundersticks and the like. There is even a local standby of handliners known as a pencil plug which has its roots among handliners.
Handlining is a seperate form of angling in and of itself requiring for too much explanation and experience to be truly effective for novices like myself but borrowing a few of the ideas and presentation concepts from this dedicated group of fishermen can turn an otherwise miserable fishing trip into an enjoyable experience.
If you've ever had the opportunity to watch a couple of experienced handliners, you no doubt have noticed how they maneuver their boat slowly against the current sometimes holding position and others side slipping in the river current. Presentation is the key that makes this technique so effective in murky water, not necess- arily the equipment.
What makes handliner's presentation unique is that instead of drifting with the current as jiggers do,the presentation utilized by handliners keeps a lure in front of the walleyes nose long enough to either entice the fish into taking the bait or move out of the way.
Jiggers can make use of some of these tactics with a few tricks of their own tossed in.
One technique that is not borrowed is the use of the 3-way rig which is nothing more than a 3-way swivel placed one to two feet above a jig. To the third eye of the swivel, a leader of 2 to 3 feet is attached with a floating jig tied on. This presentation is effective in both murky and clear water as well. Use a slightly heavier jig than what is being used alone and use your normal downstream, verticle jigging presentation.
Yet another technique borrowed directly from hand- liners uses a 3-way rig but with a very heavy jig from 3/4 to 1 ounce. Attach either a crawler harness rigged with float cylinders rather than beads or a small stick bait such as a Rapala or Jr Thunderstick to the 3-way with a leader ranging from three to ten feet in length and troll at a snails pace against the current or side slip in the current to cover good holding areas.
In murky water, be sure to use harnesses with blades of high visibility colors such as hot orange or char- treuse and stickbaits in firetiger patterns or other combinations of chartreuse/green and orange. Another hot pattern is a gold Rapala with orange belly.
In area with a very heavy current flow, a 4 to 6 ounce bottom bouncer can be used in place of the jig with a crawler harness or stickbait attached on a long leader. Again, the key to this presentation is slow ! If the walleyes are reluctant to bite, tip your stick bait with a small minnow attached to the rear treble hook. This can often spell the difference between feast and famine.
The next time your fishing trip is plagued with poor visibilty from heavy spring rains, give these tricks a try and see if you luck doesn't improve.
