A little river Walleye help please!

I live directly on the Juniatat River ( a wonderful smallmouth river) in Central Pennsylvania. There is a decent population of Walleye in the river and I just can't seem to crack them, which is very frustrating considering I don't have problems catching most species I go after. So the river is a rocky, shallow river with a little vegetation. The water runs pretty clear most of the time unless we get some harder rains. I have seen many people catch nice Walleye out of this river and I just can't seem to get them. Any advice on lures or areas to concentrate on would be much appreciated. The fact that I find these fish so hard to figure out makes me want to catch them that much more. Thanks.

I fish for walleye some in Virginia at a local river. We seem to catch them around sand bars mostly. I like to throw a 3" to 4" curly tail from bass pro shops (favorite color is tomato core). Also, I throw alot of F11 Rapalas (fire tiger, rainbow trout, original, purpledescent, brown trout). We have alot of trout in the river they run up in during the spawn so the majority of the time I'm throwing a rainbow trout Rapala. Also, most of the fishing I do for them is at night. If I am fishing during the day I will find the deepest parts of the river and throw the curly tail on a 1/8 oz to 1/4 oz jighead. Sometimes we also use hair jigs tied out of kiptail. I hope this helps some.

-VCM

I would ask local tackle shops and the people you see catching them first. If the water is clear i would suggest they would be as deep as possible during the day at least. maybe target deeper eddy pools where the walleye might be waiting in ambush.

Jigs and minnows work well up here (NW Ontario).

The season and the water temp will determine what works best at any given time, but for all seasons and their presentations, the best will take place during low light hours. Presentation depths and speeds can be key for success more often than not with Walleye. They primarilly like to ambush or trap their prey whenever they can, so I like working right on channel drops, at creek mouths which intersect channels, behind current breaks like points, sandbars, or wing dams. As I am looking for a pattern, I am targeting any type of "edge" or structure transitions that I can find. I try a "slow as possible" presentation" as a rule of thumb first, and then speed up as the water temps go up or the fish become more active. Twister tails on jigs give a tremendous amount of action without having to go anywhere in current, so they are a good search bait alot of the time for me. But If you want to go after them with live bait (best in colder water periods), try slow trolling a Lindy rig with either a large leech(1st choice in clear water) nightcrawler, or a minnow. Those all will work well more times than not. From pre-spawn up until the Spring, I like working deep, current break areas with Sonars, usually just raising and lowering them no more than a few inches at a time vertically. Some catch will catch them by yoyoing three feet at a time, but I never have, and I've landed some monsters! In early Summer, I like trolling #2-#4 Mepps Minnows or Agilas with 3/8oz in-line trolling weights or heavier in river channels and over main lake points. In Summer to mid-Fall, many people here use nightcrawler harnesses, but I mainly like to run cranks around this time. Best ones for me in order: Wally Divers in either sizes, Reef Runners, then either regular or Thunder Sticks Jrs, or else it will be Shad Raps in the #5 or bigger sizes. There are tons of others that work, but those are my pics. Another place you should try to fish for them, is near spill ways and/or locks. These areas disorient baitfish, which makes them easy prey to the big 'eyes waiting to feed on them right in the heavy currents. Check your regulations carefully on those areas though, because many are off limits or have seasonal regulations anymore. Also, don't forget to check for any slot limits on the waters you fish for the great Walleye species because Mister Green Jeans has a very mean ticket book that is known to inflict pain! Hope some of this helps you! Big bites, full baskets, and God's blessings to you!

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