How to find the walleye bite.

[krash3470]

I have fished mainly for pike and bass in the past, and I have only seen a few walleye caught before. I've heard they are mighty fine eating fish. I would like to boat atleast a couple eatin size this year.

Up until now, I've run a wally divers, jigged for them and a couple years back used worm harnesses, problem for me is I have yet to catch one. Any help from the vast amount of knowledge that is the LOU's members, would be greatly appreciated!

[jeb1340]

Where are you fishing?

[black cloud]

I fish otisco and I cant figure out how to catch walleye there.

[krash3470]

Usually Irondequoit bay, the genny and braddox bay, when the water level isn't rediculously low. I sometimes make it to the fingerlakes too.

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[bosco]

A Walleye rookie would likely have better luck fishing more productive Walleye waters like Honeoye or Oneida. I've been skunked 4 X out this year on IBay and the River so I'm not inclined to act as an authority on those bodies....at least this year....but more often than not, in past years, I've had productive outings when I went at night. I think Sodus Bay would be more productive than Braddocks as well. I've heard they gather at the mouth of Black Creek on the River at dusk and dawn too but I've never tried it myself. I've heard good things about the river south around Avon as well.

[FREEMAN77]

go up to the river out of black creek and head north start trolling south of the 390 over past and troll south slow I am no pro but this has worked for us deep divers 7-12' at time it can be a real pain in the ars the bottum turns wavey but thats where they will be in the bottom of the waves good luck

[walteye]

As with a previous post-the easiest way to catch walleye is to target major walleye water-for me it is either Oneida Lake anytime or late spring and summer on Lake Erie's eastern basin. Fish where you see marks on your sonar-trolling cranks just above them works. Renosky's/Smithwick Rogues and Dave's Kaboom shiners all produce-jointed shad raps have their days at Oneida.

Walteye

[krash3470]

I could get to black creek or sodus pretty easily.

One question I have about Black Creek though, is where would I lauch my 17ft boat? I've tried to lauch at the park launch at Jefferson rd and Scottsville rd, but the lauch is not long enough. Are there other places to put the boat in?

I'll look at getting some of those Smithwick Rogues and Kaboom shiners, I'll be over at Gander Mntn today, so maybe I can grab a few, to try this weekend.

If I took a trip to Honeyoe, do they have a motor limit size there? I keep thinking that only motors under 10 horse are allowed, is that the case? Being in that area, I've also heard there are decent numbers of Walleye on Conesus, any feed back on this water?

Thanks for all the information so far guys, I'm optimistic for the season, and this stuff helps a lot.

[W.W.IV.]

You should be able to launch your 17fter in black creek, there was a hump you have to get past. I've seen boats over 20ft go in there.

[FREEMAN77]

I have a 17' fisher deep v I could launch there it was not easy but I got it in I had to put my traler over the stop at the end I do not know of any other spots to launch moneyoe does not have a limit and there are lots of walleyes in there everyone I talk to about this body of water says fish shallow like 8-10' and I have not fished conesus yet they say there in there. goodluck

[FREEMAN77]

I have a 17' fisher deep v I could launch there it was not easy but I got it in I had to put my traler over the stop at the end I do not know of any other spots to launch moneyoe does not have a limit and there are lots of walleyes in there everyone I talk to about this body of water says fish shallow like 8-10' and I have not fished conesus yet they say there in there. goodluck

[bosco]

There are no engine size limits on Honeoye. They don't have a speed limit either. Just a noise limit.

[krash3470]

Well, I'm pretty much set on shooting over to Honeoye this weekend. I'm going to grab some new lures, worms and maybe some minnows if possible, to try and catch some walleye. Any tips on a program for the lake, in addition to Freeman's? It would be greatly appreciated!

Since I have never launched there, and there are two for public use, which would be best to head out of? There is the one at the north end, at what they call Sandy beach, which is for small trailored boats and then the state launch at the south end.

Any ideas on whether or not the north launch would accomodate my 17ft boat or if the 6 car lot fills up quickly? I'm thinking water levels should be a bit high with all the rain yesterday, but I don't want to run into a problem at 4 am, trying to get into the water.

Thanks again for any feedback guys!

[salmonite]

State launch all the way. don't bother with the north end. I have always caught them jigging with black and purple bucktails tipped with a crawler.

[ladyblugill]

honeoye is very good choice for good tasteing walleye as well as oneida and conesus.much better than the lake ontario fish i.m.o. as mentioned a jig tipped with a worm is a good choice or trolling at night with a floater stickbait above the weeds can be productive also.

[snuffynra]

i fish walleye on oneida religiously,LOL .they are a finicky fish at times.even with all the right lures they sometimes dont want to play.i mostly troll for them but will jig occasionally ,and throw raps and others at night in the spring and fall.you dont have to spend a fortune on this that and the other thing. a jig with a worm off the hook is great,or a worm harness trolled close to the bottom.jigs in black and purple work great here.shallow waters in low lite and deeper as the sun comes up.i cant help you with the other lakes,but if you ever venture to oneida i could hopefully give some advice to get a few 15 to 20 inchers (perfect size for a dip in some beer batter) .careful though, walleyes can be addicting.good luck .....snuffy

[krash3470]

Well, the trip out to Honeoye was fun, but we didn't boat any walleyes. It was a bit disappointing, but we had a blast catching bass after bass and even a couple pickeral.

The morning brough five large mouth within the first ten minutes of being on the water. Then nothing, until close to 11 a.m. when we moved back in on top of the weeds and started throwing spinner baits. From 11 to 12:30 brought another 12 large mouth and 2 Pickeral. Of course everything was catch and release, so no fish dinner Sunday but we sure had a great time and the scenery was awsome.

We tried a few different Smithwicks, a Dave's rosie red, rapalas, some deep diving crank baits and jigs in various colors. We tried black, brown, gold, green, yellow, white and probably 10 other different patterns in really dull to really bright colors, on the stick baits. Nothing took a shot at them, other than the first run of bass in the morning.

Was on the water at 5 a.m., so we worked the water from almost no light to sun burn levels, and from very shallow to as deep as we could get. I guess it just wasn't in the cards to pick up some decent Eye's.

I'll probably try Sodus next weekend since if we don't get into the walleye, we stand a good chance at some Pike.

[mars bar]

I'm trolling lake Erie these days and Saturday I boated an 8 lber. worm harness is my go to lure, usually purple or pink. Action is still slow i don't know why, maybe early.

[Irish Buoy]

First think low light levels, always better for the eyes.

Let me tell you a short story. I used to live on Otisco lake near Amber. I would fish early in the morning along where the higway rip-rap comes down to the water. A fishing buddy and I would see a group of native Americans fishing there from shore and early every morning they had a stringer full and I mean full of walleyes. We would do ok but nothing special. So one morning we pulled the boat over and asked what they were using . They without hesitation showed us a bucket of small trout. We asked were they got those and they said we net them over at the causway. LOL so if you want to catch 20+ walleyes get there early and net some trout and fish by the Rip-Rap.

DON'T Really But this is a true story so it may answer why you 've had a tough time catching walleyes in Otisco Lake.