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River Walleye Fishing Tips
By Bob Alter
River walleye fishing can be a lot of fun and it can be in big hassle. Make sure you are aware of these 5 tips to increase your catch rate: presentation, direction, speed, location, and depth. Let's take a closer look at all 5 now..
1. River Walleye Fishing Locations
In the northwestern part of the United States we are fortunate to have the Columbia River in our back yard. It is a long river that stretches from Canada, cuts through Washington State and creates the border between Washington and Oregon. Walleye are found in every part of the system and the techniques we use to successfully catch walleye don't change to much. Using a map to find hot spots before you head out to the river is a good idea and talking to locals can also help you out a lot. While you are on the river, look at the other boats and it won't take long to determine if they are walleye fishing, bass fishing or sturgeon fishing. Pay attention to the walleye fisherman not for presentation sake, but to find the locations. If you notice one boat in an area for an extended period of time, chances are good they are catching walleye. Usually it is a drift or trolling method and it's not that hard to get your boat positioned in the drift.
Walleye Fishing hot spots can change from year to year. What was once a great hot spot is now dead as a piece of drift wood. You are smart enough to know that walleye migrate to spots that contain easy food and a bolder or two to rest behind during the day. Look for cover, bait fish or long shallow runs along the bank that immediately drop off. These places hold walleye in deeper waters and in the evening hours the walleye come up from the depths to eat in the shallows. My personal favorite locations to catch river walleye is to find a bend in the river and fish it. Next is finding islands that have considerable drop offs on one side.
2. River Walleye Fishing Speed
You need a fishing finder that marks fish, bottom structure and speed. If you don't have a fishing finder that marks speed then use a GPS unit to help you out. We always start at 2 mph and move faster or slower depending on the drift. If the current is stronger we will slow down our troll and if the current is slower then obviously we will speed up. During the summer and early fall, it really doesn't matter how fast you go, these fish will nail it, if you can get it within a reasonable distance from their resting spot. If it is a windy day and the wind is blowing in the direction of your drift, then turn the motor off
and let the wind take you.
3. River Walleye Fishing Directions
Direction is critical if you are in the main body of the river. Using bottom bouncers and trying to move upstream is very hard, therefore we always head downstream with bottom bouncers. If you want to pull crankbaits, then it's best to troll upstream. That is why we have at least 2 rods in the boat when we are walleye fishing. One is used for bottom bouncing and the other is used for crankbaits.
There are times when we have trolled across a section instead of running the seam. Sometimes we are trying to figure out depth and other times we are just trying to locate the fish. Don't be afraid to try different methods when the fishing has slowed down.
4. River Walleye Fishing Presentations
Presentations are straightforward. Either the walleye will see a crankbait or it will see a crawler harness. When we use a crawler harness our goal is to allow enough worm beyond the last hook to make sure it will wiggle. When we use smiley blades we cut the worms in half and when we use blades we use a whole worm.
5. River Walleye Fishing Depths
Next to location, depth plays a critical role in landing more walleye. Depth is always changing depending on where you fish and the surrounding structure. The Columbia River is a long winding river and depths can change from 10 feet all the way to 300 ft. This is where a GPS can come in handy. If you mark your locations then you stand a better chance of staying on top of walleye.
Prime walleye waters are dependant of food sources. Think like a minnow for a minute and tell me where you would want to hang out for safety and to find food sources. During the evening hours where can you go to hide from Mr. Walleye.
I've caught walleye on the Columbia in depths of 8 feet all the way down to 100 feet. Generally we catch most of our fish in the 30 foot range.
We've had many fishing trips that started out by targeting bass only to catch a bountiful harvest of walleye and we've had days when we target walleye only to catch bass and perch. During September one of our favorite things to do is multi-species. That means we will target steelhead in the am hours and then fish for walleye in the pm hours. The past 2 years we have been able to catch walleye bigger than the steelhead we caught earlier in the day. That's the beauty of the Columbia River, it contains all sorts of fish and it is basically very hard to go home empty handed.
Make it a walleye day.
Visit River Walleye Fishing and get your FREE report on fishing hot spots in Canada and the US. We have a great deal of information on river walleye fishing secrets, tips and tricks that will help you land more and bigger walleye. River Walleye Fishing
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