Coming Up With the Answers
by Gary Roach
The
sportshow season has ended and the tournament season has begun. I did a
bunch of seminars this year and as usual, I was asked some good questions
by audience members. I always love getting questions because it helps me
to realize what is on the minds of anglers as they begin to formulate their
game plans for the coming open-water season. I thought I would share some
of these insights with you.
Anglers are wondering what kind of impact the underwater viewing camera is going to have on their walleye fishing in open water. I believe the camera can be a tremendous factor when fish are on structure and here’s an example to show why.
We spotted a school of fish on the sonar on the tip of a point.
Down
went a live-bait rig with a leech and two passes later we didn’t have
a
good bite. Dropping down the camera we saw that the fish weren’t
walleyes, but suckers and sunfish. Better try a different spot. Without
the camera we would have spent a lot more unproductive time on these
fish and the results would have been less time finding and catching what
we were after.
Another example that shows how a camera can put you onto fish
is where
you have a big sand bar and nothing showing up on the sonar. You drop
the camera down and as the boat is drifting over the bar you suddenly
spot a few walleyes here and there and they’re spread out over the
sand
but holding tight to bottom. Mark that spot on the GPS. Now the fish are
spread out so a bottom-bouncer and spinner with a nightcrawler harness
will let you cover some ground, keep the bait near the bottom where the
fish are, and even though you can’t see the fish on the screen, you
know
they’re there.
Another concern from anglers who I visited with was how to
decide
whether it was better to incorporate finesse techniques or triggering
techniques when the walleye bite is tough. In this situation the rule
for which technique to choose doesn’t change. If walleyes are bunched
up
tightly on structure than use a finesse approach. If the fish are spread
out or suspended use a presentation where you can cover water. The big
difference when the bite is tough is how good your bait is or how you
rig the lure to be more appealing to a fish in a negative feeding mood.
On a tough bite with a finesse approach the livelier the bait
the better
chance of a bite. Weak worms, or limp leeches won’t do the trick.
You
need to feed those walleyes something that has some appeal to it. You
can increase your chances with a finesse approach by using quality bait.
On a triggering approach where you want to move faster and
cover some
ground consider adding some meat to the lure. On a crankbait thread a
half a nightcrawler on the front treble hook. On a spinner rig use a
heavier bottom bouncer and a bigger blade. One of my tricks on a
fast-moving spinner rig is to use a nightcrawler harness with three
hooks and put a leech on each hook. This can really trigger bites.
My favorite question of them all was whether I ever get tired
of chasing
walleyes, bass, pike, panfish and salmon all over the country. That’s
a
simple answer. Never.
For more of Gary Roach’s fishing insights visit www.adamjohnsonoutdoors.com.
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