Daughter and I have both caught walleye in Deer Creek…on worms.
Go figure. 
Worms are definitely proven walleye chow. But, the question is…were you fishing for walleyes at the time…or just “chuck and chance it”?
I have long maintained that by far the highest percentage of walleyes caught from almost any water are caught by people fishing for something else…or at least not targeting walleyes specifically.
If you are into ice fishing we can probably get you guys into some hard deck perch this winter. Otherwise, they really start coming on about June each year…after their spawn in well over and the water is warming up to their prefered comfort zone. You can catch them all around the shoreline if you look for a bit of structure in 12 to 15 feet of water. Lots of them are caught during the year by anglers soaking bait or dragging lures for trout. Go figure.
Plain old worms will catch plenty of perch. But you can often catch more and bigger perch by using a tandem jig rig with the small plastic jigs tipped with a bit of nightcrawler or perch meat. Perch are carnivores and they can be aggressive when they school up.
If you put Deer Creek perch on your bucket list for 2012 I can virtually guarantee you a bucket full. And since the predominant year class this year was in the 8-10 inch range you will be able to count on scoring a few “footlongs” by the end of next summer.