While driving around Ottawa today I noticed many of the trees starting to bloom, or already in bloom. This is usually the case in late May around these parts and signals me that the walleye will be moving to their summer patterns.
So what will this warm weather do to the spring walleye fishing?
Well I am not sure but we will all have to work out the bite as mother nature presents us with a “curve ball”, I figure by the time I hit the water the walleye will be in their summer locations and water temps will be above normal. The hunting technique I will be using in a few weeks time will be bottom bouncers with spinners and crawlers, this will allow me to cover lots of water to see how far the walleye have moved from their spring spawning areas. I will post a report on this blog the first chance I get to record some water surface temp readings on local lakes. So hold on tight with this warm spring weather and try to think out side the box this opener.
Time will tell what this spring season will be like and let’s hope we can all find those spring time walleye.
April 14th, 2010 by sheldon
Gord and I are up in Mattagami pre-fishing for a tournament on Lake Mattagami. We wake up the first morning to hit the water and our truck and boat is covered in snow – Yes I said snow. We headed out and tried to fish some locations but many times during the morning we had to stop the boat and wait out the flurries as we could
not see from the heavy snow fall.
Later in the afternoon the sun came out and the temperature climbed above freezing and we managed to get on to a few nice walleye before loading the boat back on the trailer. Bellow is some images from the day.
May 31st, 2009 by sheldon
Day one started off with clear sky and light winds, by mid day I was fishing in 2 to 4 footers. Boated only four fish after working my spots and noticed many of the top 10 anglers working the same section of water. After day 1 I am in 31st place with a weight of 11.42lbs.
On day two my pattern from practice started to fall apart with light winds and heavy boat traffic in a small area of Lake George. I was running small gold yo-zuri crank baits 30 feet behind inline boards just over the top of weeds. Every couple of minutes you would have to clear weeds from the fouled baits. After a couple of hours with no action I ran to a send spot to hunt down some more walleye. After working a deep weed-line we managed to land 1 walleye and at the end of the day only had 4.5 lbs to show for all the hard work.
On day three we had a 45 minute delay with heavy fog and this was my day to return early as I was in flight 2. So I knew I had to be back by 3:45 and the day was going to go by quickly. I asked my co-angler what position he was in and he mentioned near the bottom of the standings. So i mentioned to him we where going to run around and look for big fish as i figured I needed somewhere between 15 and 20 pounds to cash a cheque. After trying bottom bouncing slow death, spinners, trolling cranks and spinners in many locations the day was a bust with no walleye bites. Well this is what happens when you swing for the fence – all glory or a big ol’ zero for the day.
It was a great tourney to fish and the accommodations at the casino where great, I am going to miss fishing the PWT in 2009. It was a great circuit that will be truly missed by many walleye anglers and fans of the sport.
September 14th, 2008 by sheldon
What a great finish on day three for team Canada as we managed the big upset in winning the PWT Can-Am tournament.
The fishing was different than any tourney I have ever done as you had to work areas and hope for a couple of big bites as you could only weigh two fish over 18 inches. One day you would pull a 25 inch walleye in the area and then the next not get a single bite nor mark any fish in the area. The pattern I worked out in practice was pulling 3 inch Berkley Gulp Frys on red slow death hooks behind 1 ounce Fin-Tech Tech Stiks and bouncers. I worked flats next to deep water that had wind blowing onto the location.
Presently in Thunder Bay and making the tow to Sudbury. I will add some more information as we travel home. I would like to congradulate all of team Canada and Captian John Butts for the outstanding win.
August 16th, 2008 by sheldon
On the second day the plan was to run and gun looking for big fish, but one of my spots was producing good fish in the 17 to 18″ mark and also produced a nice 26″ fish during practice. With all the fish in the area I sat still most of the day and worked my way through 40 or 50 fish to get a bag just over 8 pounds with another day of no big bites. It is interesting fishing a team event as you have to think about your limit and the effects on team Canada’s total weight before swinging for the fence. At the end of the day before the run in I went to start the boat and the cranking battery was dead. After a scramnble to bost the starting battery from the trolling bank I made a mad dash into the weight-in to make it in with seconds to spare.
Canada still has a small lead of the USA and lets see what day three brings the anglers.
August 14th, 2008 by sheldon
It was a very tough fish on day one with a change in the weather and brisk East Wind in the morning. Most of my spots produced today, but no big fish wanted to bite. I am in the middle of the pack after day one and need to get a kicker fish tomorrow to help improve my placing.
Team Canada is presently in 1st with 215.72lbs and Team USA has 193.16lbs. It is a three day tournament and a lot can change very quickly.
August 13th, 2008 by sheldon
Lots of fish to be caught on the lake but the bite has been mostly smaller fish that are in the system. I have a very limited internet connection and no cell phone service, so I will do updates when I get a chance during the tournament. Last night at the arena in town they had all the pro boats on display and people from the community got to meet the pros and talk about the tournament.
Tonight is the rules meeting and a dinner at the arena and I also get to meet my armature partners for the tournament. The weather looks pretty stable for the tournament with no major changes, so hopefully the practice pattern will hold for all three days. One thing about this lake is the fish move quickly as a spot one day will produce a fish or two and then the next nothing. Lots of boats will be running around during the next three days.
August 12th, 2008 by sheldon
Well, Wabigoon Lke is loaded with Pike and we have been catching some great Pike with the largest being over 35″ . In some areas the pike will hit the bait two or three times before they can find it in the murky water. The weather was great with sun and very warm temps, the next few days I will start to work on a patern to produce fish in all of the areas that I have scouted on the lake.
August 8th, 2008 by sheldon
Made it into Dryden around 10:30 am on Wednesday morning and got out on the water to scope out Wabigoon Lake. The water on the lake has about 12″ of visibility and it is very difficult to see all the rocks or water hazards. The good thing about the clarity is it makes for a great shallow water and all day bite for walleye.
Checked out about 15 spots and ran about 30 miles and had a good first day scouting out potential tournament spots. Seen Gary Parsons, Chase Parsons and Keith Kavajecz on the water so many of the anglers are arriving as we get closer to the tournament start.
August 8th, 2008 by sheldon
After getting a great tour of Sudbury from our GPS we worked our way out onto hwy 17 and started heading toward Thunder Bay. The stretch of highway along the shores of Lake Superior is truly amazing and some of the nicest scenic landscapes in this country. We hit some more heavy thunder storms on the highway today and after spending 12 hours in the truck we rolled into Thunder Bay.
Tomorrow morning we make the push for Dryden and plan to be out pre-fishing before lunch. Hopefully the next report has some photos of fish.
August 6th, 2008 by sheldon
