Erie Canal Walleye Success!

[idn713]

Ya thats right first time out and I connect with the target species!! We nailed one other smallmouth and had alot of hits but ended with one wally and one smallmouth. I am pretty stoked as it was a reasonable fish and now I just need to fine tune to get a bunch more. Also alot of nice arcs on the graph in the canal and I know alot of those are carp and sheepies, but I gotta believe that some of those are walleye as well. Man this gets me excited and now I wonder if I trolled against the current, if it would it be productive to float and jig live bait on the way back down? I am stoked! Enjoy the pic!

[zach]

Sure it would work if the water is clear enough. I have a friend that gets them bass fishing occasionally, he gets them on deep divers if that helps out? Congrats bud!

[idn713]

Yah we were trolling the deep divers and that is what this guy hit. but I want the fight while slowly floating and not trolling!

[bosco]

Well....if it'a a fight you want, you're on the wrong species. Really though, walleye is mostly all I fish for with the occassional outing for perch or crappie, and I must say that if I hook a fish and it's giving me a good fight I've usually inadvertantly hooked a pike or a largemouth. But I rarely troll for walleye for that very reason. Once in a great while maybe just to cover some water and watch the screen. Classic fishing line when out with my brother a few years ago. He exclaims "I got one....it's not fighting....it's definitely a walleye". Kinda sums it up.

[idn713]

Hahaha ha I know what you mean. But its cool as I do not catch them very often, but ya I really want to jig for them now because I would rather not drag in a wet bag (walleye) going trolling speed. Bosco if you have any tips for jigging em up or anything else let me know!

[bosco]

Put some meat on a jig and send 'er down. I don't fish the canal very often. A couple summers ago I spent a week on the Mohawk River section of the canal near Schenctedy and fished at night at the base of one of the spillways so there was some structure, eddies, and a deep basin for fish to relate to. I did real well there on the eyes. I don't know about the Brockport area of the canal. I think the water is slack, the bottom flat, and the water dingy. Not much structure and no locks or spillways for miles and miles. You've got to find areas that the fish might be relating to. Personally, I'd get a larger, light colored jig that has a spinner or something that's going to give off some flash and vibration (as that water's pretty murky in the canal) and set it aside. Then I'd troll, troll, troll with my eye glued to the sonar while mentally mapping the area and looking for any kind of structure that fish may be holding to. Then, when I see some inconsistencies on the bottom and some hooks, I'd stop trolling, throw some meat on the jig and send it down. Keep it close to the bottom making regular contact with the bottom. I rarely jig for eyes more than a couple foot off bottom. They don't hit jigs hard. Usually they hit on the drop and it's a subtle "tick". They don't inhale it like a bass or slam it like a pike. There's a finesse to it that you have to pick up over time and with a good jigging rod. Occasionally you don't even feel it and it's just when you go to sweep your rod tip up that all of a sudden you realize you've got a fish on. And sometimes, early on when you're learning, you'll have had hits and never have known it. Keep track of the spots you're finding so you can go back and hit them again. Who knows....you might be pioneering an awesome new Walleye fishery and I'll book a charter with you in a couple years.

[Has Been]

I use to take my small boat up to the widewaters on a nice summer day just before dark . Troll into it then bounce a small jig from shore to deeper on the way back. Did very well on all species, including eyes. Anything to break up the shoreline was hot. The Canal is a very underated place to fish. I grew up about 100 yds from it & thats pretty much where I learned to fish.Chicken livers on the bottom for Catfish.Carp big enough to tow your boat. There are Largemouth in and around trees in the widewaters or bridge enbutments . Caught a ton of Smallmouth to 5 lbs in my younger days. The eyes were rare but we got some .An old guy when I was young use to use a yellow Bettle Spin for eyes.

That spot looks a little familiar to me.

[old man]

has been is right,the canal is underated. i live on it,in fact i can see it as i type this. i went out back for an hour just now with a can of worms and a grandson. tonight's catch included bullheads,perch,rock bass,sunnies,gobies,smallmouth,and a sheepshead. in the winter i can watch my tipups by the fire in here and catch pike all day. my wife wonders why i make a boat payment and drive all over hell to fish when i can do so well at home. she's not muskie sick yet so she doesn't get it.

[idn713]

Bosco- Awesome info, and posts like that make this sight very valuable. Everyone else thanks for the information and I should be posting more wally pics soon!

[bosco]

Also remember that walleye are a schooling fish. When you get one trolling, go back and try and get over the spot where it hit and then jig the spot to try and pick up some of his cousins.

[GAMBLER]

After growing up with the canal in my back yard in Spencerport, I can tell you the Canal is under rated like Hasbeen stated. The first fish I caught in my life at 2 years old was a 6lb 4 oz walleye out of the canal. Do some homework when the canal is drained in your area and you will find suttle changes in the bottom that will hold walleye. Mark them with a hand held GPS and come back when it is filled. I used to find more walleye covering good areas of structure casting cranks and sticks. Wide waters channel holds a good population of eyes.

[KingFisherWest]

hey guys i was woundering what the pollution level is in the canal that might be in these eyes? Are these eyes are as tastey as the eyes in Lake Erie or the Niagara River?

[idn713]

The way I figure it the walleye from the canal migrate in with the filling of the canal from erie and other non canal sources. My gut feeling says these fish are clean and good to eat but I really dont know nor have I eaten any fish from the canal.

[fishbear]

hey guys i was woundering what the pollution level is in the canal that might be in these eyes? Are these eyes are as tastey as the eyes in Lake Erie or the Niagara River?

If you don't mind eating fish from the Niagara River or Lake Erie, once a couple of the most polluted places around but now cleaner, I wouldn't worry about fish from the canal. But you can get the whole story from http://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/outdoors/fish/fish.htm