Walleye

[Topwater1]

Where could I fish for walleye out of a small canoe. I know about the pond of the Caney at night but I'm not to thrilled about fishing down there at night.

[jad2t]

What bothers you about fishing down there at night?

[jad2t]

Center Hill, Old Hickory, Dale Hollow (trophies), Normandy, and Tims Ford all have Walleye and you could fish any of them out of any watercraft you choose. Fishing for them at night is the only way I know to catch them. Daytime Walleye fishing is tough to do and it involves a lot of deep water trolling. Those techniques aren't idea for kayak anglers so I stick to night fishing.

[XxthejuicexX]

As far as ease out of a small boat, below center hill. It's creepy at first but you grow to enjoy it. Normandy is the smallest body of water around here with walleye. Out of a canoe it's going to be tough to cover enough water to find them and impossible to troll out of well enough to catch them I think. I tried it out of my yak once and it has hard to do because if you are trolling two rods and one gets hung up the other is going to get jacked up too as you are trying to free the other. I had to take the bass boat out to Normandy to catch my first keeper walleye a month or so ago bouncing bottom with a crawler harness.

[Topwater1]

What bothers you about fishing down there at night?

I guess it's not that bad but don't want to be stuck out there in an emergency.

[Pinwheeled]

Unless they're generating, the pond in the Caney is probably one of the safest places to night fish. At least you don't run the risk of getting run over by another boat. It's a little creepy at first but peaceful.


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[XxthejuicexX]

Unless they're generating, the pond in the Caney is probably one of the safest places to night fish. At least you don't run the risk of getting run over by another boat. It's a little creepy at first but peaceful.


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Yep. That fog starts rolling in and it gets creepy. On that note, I think I am going Friday : )

[jad2t]

There aren't really that many Walleye down there though. You can catch one or two, and maybe they'll be keepers, but the place isn't totally crawling with them. Most of the ones you catch there are too small to keep.

If you want to fish a true Walleye lake look into Dale Hollow. That lake not only has high numbers but some of them are giants.

The Caney has Walleye sparsely scattered all through the river, not just at the dam. I'm trying hard to take care of that problem though and catch and eat them all.

[Travis C.]

Where could I fish for walleye out of a small canoe. I know about the pond of the Caney at night but I'm not to thrilled about fishing down there at night.

Go to one of the Walleye lakes in the canoe at night with a submersible light or two. Put it out just before sunset in a likely walleye spot where you find bait. Once the bait comes in good rig up a drop shot rig with a treble hook on top weight below. Drop that below the bait, jerk it up through the school and when you hook shad drop it back down below the school.

IF there are walleye or predator fish around the school anywhere you will catch them.

[XxthejuicexX]

Go to one of the Walleye lakes in the canoe at night with a submersible light or two. Put it out just before sunset in a likely walleye spot where you find bait. Once the bait comes in good rig up a drop shot rig with a treble hook on top weight below. Drop that below the bait, jerk it up through the school and when you hook shad drop it back down below the school.

IF there are walleye or predator fish around the school anywhere you will catch them.


I need to try this on the Caney. I've got the lights

[Travis C.]

I need to try this on the Caney. I've got the lights

I have thought about it on the Caney and not trying to steer you away from it by no means but I don't think it gets dark enough to draw enough bait in at the Dam.

It may work...that is just why I haven't tried it there.

[Topwater1]

What line do you use for the walleye and big trout at night below the dam, do you use a leader.

[XxthejuicexX]

What line do you use for the walleye and big trout at night below the dam, do you use a leader.


anything from 4-8 lb test fluorocarbon. Jerkbaits and things like that get the heavier line. 2lb for the troutmagnets.

[XxthejuicexX]

I have thought about it on the Caney and not trying to steer you away from it by no means but I don't think it gets dark enough to draw enough bait in at the Dam.

It may work...that is just why I haven't tried it there.


I have thought of this too. I know when they have those lights on in the corner on the wall it lights the area up really well. I am always surprised that I don't catch anything cruising in those lights. I am still fairly new to fishing at night there, I've only been 6-8 times so I am still learning. I've still not had a good night catching there. Well, short walleye tend to be my specialty that and losing big browns.

[SAMBOLIE]

I need to try this on the Caney. I've got the lights

I have thought about it on the Caney and not trying to steer you away from it by no means but I don't think it gets dark enough to draw enough bait in at the Dam.

It may work...that is just why I haven't tried it there.

Travis, It may work for Juice. His light are not very bright. Think you know what I mean. :)

[XxthejuicexX]

Travis, It may work for Juice. His light are not very bright. Think you know what I mean. :)


HAHA! At least my bulbs not blown. :D

[Travis C.]

Travis, It may work for Juice. His light are not very bright. Think you know what I mean. :)

Ha!


Topwater1, the line can depend on what your are throwing, what for and when. A Trout Magnet I would not go over 4lbs preferably 2lbs with a fluorocarbon leader. A bigger bait like a 5-6" stick bait or bigger it really doesn't matter as much at night. I have used 14lb mono on big stick baits and it did not phase them. This was however further downstream in darkness.

If there is light or daytime visibility go as small diameter as you are comfortable with. A night in total darkness use something heavy enough to pull out of hangups and not risk breaking off a big fish. They are not line shy at that point.

[jad2t]

I used 15# flouro leaders all last Summer and caught plenty of big trout, walleye, and stripers at night. This Summer when I started going I wasn't having as good of luck as last year, especially with the Walleye. I dropped down to 8# leaders and things are picking up very much. I don't know if it was time of year or line size but either way, I'm sticking with what works and a bit looser of drag than I had last Summer.

[Pinwheeled]

I am still fairly new to fishing at night there, I've only been 6-8 times so I am still learning. I've still not had a good night catching there. Well, short walleye tend to be my specialty that and losing big browns.


Same here. I've only really spent a night down there a handful of times. I'd sure love to see some of the fish I've lost. I'm sure a few were probably rockfish but I'd like to think most were big Browns. I have a hard time keeping fish buttoned up on jerkbaits.




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[jad2t]

What jerkbaits are you losing fish on? If you're using Rattlin Rogues, you should definitely keep using them, but you should have changed your trebles out immediately after opening the package. The ones they come with are awful. Too small, bend easily, and you lose fish. I replace all mine with KVD Elite trebles and almost never lose one now.

Also, the only time I've caught rockfish at the dam is during or not long after generation. If the water is low and has been low for a while, you will very rarely find one at the dam. I caught a really nice one that had to be pushing 20 pounds in the waterfall one time last Summer. It wasn't even dark yet either, it was at like 6pm. I threw the jerkbait in there and got a hard hit, missed the hookset, threw back in there and got a hit that pulled about 30 feet of line without stopping after the hookset! I knew I was in for a battle so I sat down and held on. It was hanging over the hawg trough. I let it go because I didn't want that big thing tied to my kayak all night. Later that night I got 2 more around 20" and they came home. I also got about an 18" Brown that night and a few short Walleye. I'd say that was my best night down there.

[Pinwheeled]

Jimmy,
The rockfish I've hooked down there have all been during long periods of generation. Ive never hooked one that I know of on low water. I did do a float from Happy to Betty's one day and saw a ton of big stripers on low water. It was wild but could not get them to eat anything.

I'm sure my losing fish on jerkbaits is from cheap hooks like you said. I'm too lazy to swap them out and I rarely keep anything so I don't worry about it much. I usually throw cheaper jerkbaits down there too so I'm sure they have junk hooks. I just have a hard time throwing a Megabass or Lucky Craft jerkbait on 6lb line. If I'm bass fishing with a jerkbait, it's usually one of those two brands and I don't seem to have any issues.




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[jad2t]

Jimmy,
The rockfish I've hooked down there have all been during long periods of generation. Ive never hooked one that I know of on low water. I did do a float from Happy to Betty's one day and saw a ton of big stripers on low water. It was wild but could not get them to eat anything.

I'm sure my losing fish on jerkbaits is from cheap hooks like you said. I'm too lazy to swap them out and I rarely keep anything so I don't worry about it much. I usually throw cheaper jerkbaits down there too so I'm sure they have junk hooks. I just have a hard time throwing a Megabass or Lucky Craft jerkbait on 6lb line. If I'm bass fishing with a jerkbait, it's usually one of those two brands and I don't seem to have any issues.
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Yea I lost a Shadow Rap down there one time and never bought another one. They're great but so are the Rattlin Rogues and they're only 5 or 6 bucks. Trust me, replace those crappy trebles that come with them and it will make a huge difference in hookup ratio.

On low water you'll start seeing them hang around downstream of Happy Hollow. I've been wading on high but falling water right at the ramp at Happy Hollow and seen them cruising around. It's cool standing in the water 20 feet away from one of those beasts.

[XxthejuicexX]

I'm picking up new hooks today. Never really thought about it till you mentioned it Jimmy. I've lost all but one brown I've hooked into with my jerkbaits.

[Headhunter]

Gamakatsu. Every bait that I own has them. For stripers and hybrids, I use 4x gamakatsu, on all of them.

[FloatNFish]

A pair of split ring pliers helps when changing out the hooks. Those trebles like to bite!