04-24-2019, 02:17 PM
Hey Curt, the walleye up this way are kind of rare catches and I have to luck into them and it's usually only one or two a year and they are always a surprise while I'm fishing for something else... All of my eyes have come from the river channel so far, so where I'm fishing now in the shallower sloughs I don't expect to catch an eye, but it's always possible... I know the DWR gill netting surveys showed walleye out in the sloughs, but I've never lucked into one out there yet...
I did get an 18" LMB last year in the shallows, but it was a surprise as well.. Mostly just carp and channel cats following them around waiting for them to spawn... I think that's why the channels go shallow this time of year, is to clean up carp eggs. I found a pod of maybe 8-10 carp rooting around Friday and as soon as my lines pulled through that area I had hits on both lines and they were both channel cats... Doesn't always happen, but it was working good last Friday... I love it when I can troll and catch big fish. It's so much fun when that pole about pulls out of your hands as they thrash and tear things up... Learning to catch the cats trolling has been one of my better accomplishments up here... I always used to think you had to soak bait to catch cats, but they are way more fun on the troll and less fish swallow the bait trolling, but they are harder to set a hook into when they take it on the move, I tend to pull the bait out of their mouth without sticking them, but even that is fun too.. I'll learn how to bait my hook better someday so the hook tip stays exposed better so a jerk will hook them. Not sure where the fine line is between plenty of bait and being able to hook the fish, but I'll keep practicing and hope to figure it out someday... Later J
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I did get an 18" LMB last year in the shallows, but it was a surprise as well.. Mostly just carp and channel cats following them around waiting for them to spawn... I think that's why the channels go shallow this time of year, is to clean up carp eggs. I found a pod of maybe 8-10 carp rooting around Friday and as soon as my lines pulled through that area I had hits on both lines and they were both channel cats... Doesn't always happen, but it was working good last Friday... I love it when I can troll and catch big fish. It's so much fun when that pole about pulls out of your hands as they thrash and tear things up... Learning to catch the cats trolling has been one of my better accomplishments up here... I always used to think you had to soak bait to catch cats, but they are way more fun on the troll and less fish swallow the bait trolling, but they are harder to set a hook into when they take it on the move, I tend to pull the bait out of their mouth without sticking them, but even that is fun too.. I'll learn how to bait my hook better someday so the hook tip stays exposed better so a jerk will hook them. Not sure where the fine line is between plenty of bait and being able to hook the fish, but I'll keep practicing and hope to figure it out someday... Later J
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