Who says walleye won't bust a topwater ?

[txnative]

The lure: Smack Tackle's Smack Jack. It's a 6" floating wake bait designed to mimic a skipjack.

Of course the walleye was not the target species, but I may lie and say it was just to add a bit of mythical awesomeness to my fishing abilities. Hard to not be impressed when someone says, "Yeah, I catch 3-5 walleye all the time. I really like catching 'em in winter, in muddy water, at night, on a half-foot long topwater." :D


Chris Bryant

[creekcrappie]

Wow that is crazy!

[white95v6]

sweet walleye. oh they love wake baits too. :)

[fishfindergeneral]

Springtime, night, top water walleyes are a big deal in highland reservoirs...

[txnative]

Springtime, night, top water walleyes are a big deal in highland reservoirs...

I tried to experience that in spring of '13. Fished from 11 pm until 10 am, and all the topwater action I got was from smallies. They were crushing my walking stick bait over 100+ ft of water off main lake points on the lower end...it was awesome fishing.

Dave, I will get with you closer to that magical season. I have a few questions regarding the limitations of a kayak when dealing with a few select species on your home waters.


Chris Bryant

[fishfindergeneral]

Right on, just holler...

[bfish]

Yup, upper east TN guys like long-A's on top for marbledeyes

[nomad60]

Learn something new every day. I did not know walleye would hit topwater lures.

*mythical awesomeness noted :)

[Travis C.]

You should start throwing a chrome turbo toad for them then. :D

[JeffsLowe]

That is a cool pic and story!

fyi - have never done it in TN, but not uncommon at all to catch walleye on the surface in Ontario. We go up every year, and often in May/early June they will come into the shallows in the evening to feed, especially near a run in. One of our favorite tactics is to pull a 6" Rapala along slow enough for it to swim on the surface and they will bust the heck out of it. My buddy got one 31" long that way, and although not in a Kayak, it did pull the canoe around for a bit.

[txnative]

And now, for the rest of the story:

That walleye was my first fish of the trip. I only caught 1 other fish. Same exact spot, same exact lure, about an hour apart.


Chris Bryant

[agelesssone]

Me and Woody are going to be sitting in that exact same spot in the AM.

We'll post a report when we get done. Of course it will probably be a late report after we get through cleaning all the fish we're gonna catch!

[Travis C.]

Me and Woody are going to be sitting in that exact same spot in the AM.

We'll post a report when we get done. Of course it will probably be a late report after we get through cleaning all the fish we're gonna catch!

Good luck guys! Put a hurtin on them.

[txnative]

Me and Woody are going to be sitting in that exact same spot in the AM.

We'll post a report when we get done. Of course it will probably be a late report after we get through cleaning all the fish we're gonna catch!

Good luck and have fun !


Chris Bryant

[jad2t]

Me and Woody are going to be sitting in that exact same spot in the AM.

We'll post a report when we get done. Of course it will probably be a late report after we get through cleaning all the fish we're gonna catch!

Good luck Merv! Save at least one rockfish out there for the next time I go.

[bd-]

Dave beat me to what I was going to say. In East TN, topwater fishing for big walleye at night with redfins while they're crashing alewives is a big deal.

[SAMBOLIE]

Me and Woody are going to be sitting in that exact same spot in the AM.

We'll post a report when we get done. Of course it will probably be a late report after we get through cleaning all the fish we're gonna catch!

Good luck Merv.