|
Indiana Walleye |
|
|
|
Break-a-dawn walleyes On
the St. Joseph River, local captain savors the earliest daylight for
walleye For
Indiana Walleye Capt. Gregory King motored up to the Six Span Bridge
boat ramp as the sun, hidden
behind the clouds, made the
overcast skies glow their 5-in-the-morning glow. “What time did I tell
you?” he asked. “I wasn’t sure if I said 4 or 5. I wish I would
have told you 4.”
When
it comes to walleye on the St. Joseph River, Gregory doesn’t like to
waste the moments proceeding the break of dawn. For the record, he said
to meet him at 5. Gregory and his son, Jeff, were there at 4, getting
their early morning bearings as they puttered around drinking cups of
Joe. “Once that sun comes out strong, they really seem to go into
hiding,” said Gregory, tying on a few No. 7 jointed Rapalas in the
perch pattern.
The
fact is the best walleye bite is often at sunrise, said Gregory. And on
the St. Joe River, from spring to summer, trolling perch-patterned
jointed Rapalas is the best method. "You can cover a lot of
water," said Gregory, eying on the actions of our rod tips, which
fluttered to the rhythmic wobble of the crankbaits. The
rod tips were held over the boat’s side and just inches from the
water’s surface as about 100 feet of monofilament separated our rods
and our lures. Jeff King kept an eye on the depthfinder, attempting to
steer the boat along river’s 5-6 foot contour line. "This is one
of those deals where 90 percent of it is boat control," said
Gregory. More importantly, Gregory said the point is to stay in the
inside bends, out of the
current.
That’s where the walleye wander around, looking for an easy meal.
It’s hard to discern the river’s structure with a depth finder, said
Gregory. He follows the river‘s curves upstream. "They always lay
on the inside bends, out of the current," said Gregory. "After
a certain point in the day, these fish sit close to the bottom and stay
in the shade." Gregory then emphasized his favorite color pattern.
"It's got to be perch," said Gregory, noting the flash of
orange on the lure‘s underside. "It looks like blood to
them," said Jeff. Within
a few minutes of trolling, Jeff’s rod jerked and he quickly rose out
of his seat. He fought the fish to the boat and laid the walleye against
a ruler, measuring just short of the 15-inch minimum. "He just got
reprieved," said Gregory, tossing the walleye back. The next hit
came on my line, a subtle tap so light my reflexive hook set was too
late.
"Sometimes they'll hit short," said Gregory, who saw my blunder. "A lot of times they'll just swim up to it and close their mouths on it." I got a chance to redeem myself when I slammed the hook home on the next hit, only moments later. The first half hour provided the fastest action, 3 walleye out of 5 hits, though none were of legal size. It seemed to prove Gregory’s point that the walleye bite is best at sunrise and not much later. One thing the Kings pay attention to with their depthfinder are submerged humps, which walleye often hide behind, waiting for food to come over. "That's a walleye," said Jeff as a 2-foot hump showed up on the depthfinder in about 10 feet of water. It also marked a larger fish behind the hump, on the downriver side. "Probably a hungry one. They'll lay behind it and wait for a baitfish to come over the top." As Jeff turned around to troll past the hump one more time, the overcast skies turned black and we didn't catch another walleye that morning. But a handful of smallmouth bass kept us busy for the next hour, including a double-header punctuated with a 2-pound smallie that gave Jeff quite a battle. And trolling, again, showed proved itself the effective and productive method it's long been billed
|
|
