Swimbaits, Etc. to Target Bigger Walleye

[OneBlade]

OK, so year after year at Lake Powell we catch our share of walleye, but they are all under 21". Where are the bigger ones?  I am thinking this year of trying out some swimbaits, larger sizes.  Any of you walleye fishermen out there had luck with swimbaits or any larger type of bait?

[FishMan]

Last year, I casted my jig way more then ever, and it definitely payed off in #'s. I also put down the Senko and threw the Tube whenever a rock pile was in front of me. I'll start with the tube..... Everyone knows I love the Senko, but when u try and fish it on a boat of guys trying to drag a worm harness off the bottom , your opportunities in the strike zone are minimal. The tube, allows me to cast into 6 inches of water, make really long casts, and hug the bottom down the rock slides as we kept trolling along. I used a 3/4 oz head for this and wish I brought 1 oz ones with me. I caught Smallies (as was my target species on the cast) but a huge # of Wallie and surprisingly, cat fish. When the trolling boat was too fare away from shoreline to reach with the tube, my 5/8 oz, narrow head 4/0 jig head with the Yamamoto 5 inch grub was the ticket. It casts a mile, and sinks like a rocket. Keep in mind, it's a narrower profile bait, so it sinks fast unlike the tube. Most of my Wallie came from this, and the strikes I missed were more fun then the ones I landed.  The key is to bounce it off the bottom. Buy them in quantities of 50 on eBay and when u hang up, break off retie and cast again. If your not losing jigs, your not fishing where they live.  I also fished a 1/4 oz tube, for the times we slowed down to fish a rock pile, very deadly on the Smallies.  The largest of the Wallie we caught, all came from the worm harness, but for action and #'s you can't beat the jig......but this is not your lazy man fishing, so start your cardio workouts now.   I will say, tipping the tube or jig with 1/8th of a pice of worm and keeping it sprayed with Gulp Alive I do believe made a huge difference. It's a pain in the ass, but it really helped. It amazed me how many times the bluegill would tap tap tap steal the worm, but I believe that activity around the jig or tub is what drew in the attention of the Smallies, Wallie, catfish.
Every year we go, we learn something new.......I'm game for tieing on a swim bait this year. Captain Dave, your going to need to add a few more rod holders.

[OneBlade]

Good stuff Tom!  I went through my tackle box today and have the basics.  While numbers would be nice, I am looking to find that elusive 22" or larger we can't seem to find on that lake.  I would consider it a success if I could find a 4lb.  Or course, my bucket list is an 8lb or 28" but we haven't come close to those at all on that lake.  But I have a few interesting swimbaits on order.... you never know...  Also, I think you're right about tipping with a worm piece.  The activity of bluegill around that worm plus smell of the worm I think has to help.

[sandman]

Links to what you are calling a swimbait please??

[sparkchaser]

Here's a really good article that provides a ton of info that applies to some of the places we fish at Powell:

http://www.in-fisherman.com/walleye/a-soft-spot-for-walleye-softbaits/

Last year most of my success was in fact with the harness, but I did have good results with the hula grub, and power jig. I have a few spots in mind where I think a swimbait could be effective.

[Fishless]

Matt, now might be a good time to sign up and log into waynesword up there at Powell a lot of the local guys and people coming to the lake from Utah and Colorado target the walleyes there, lots of archived info on the sight but they are good about answering question on the website

[OneBlade]

I need to really monitor waynesword more this year, maybe get some new tricks.  The site seems daunting I need to poke around it a little and find the threads that can help me.  So, I've seen a few videos of people tossing softbaits in shallows.  I was actually thinking of something a little larger, like a small bluegill or baby striper.  What I was thinking were things like this:
http://www.mattlures.com/

Now those are very lifelike, larger size (6" and 1 1/2 to 2oz), and expensive too.  My concern about any soft plastic is what it looks like after a walleye takes hold of it.  They sell a mend-it material to fix tears in those soft plastics.  So, I also looked into hard plastic versions.

Only reason I thought of this was a many years back I was at Bass pro and saw what looked like a real lifesize perch.  I was thinking WOW who's fishing with that and what are they catching.  The salesman there (no it wasn't Bill) talked about fishing at Apache only going for bigger walleye and he'd get it down way to the bottom in deep water and then reel up fast.  Totally blowing smoke I'm sure but he got my interest.

Now my dad has caught many 24+" walleye with a simple tiny jig and minnow.  But I'm wondering if the big 'uns don't mess around with the small stuff if they can get themselves a baby bluegill, baby striper, etc.  Menrats and I saw a baby something a couple years back in the walleye we caught and while it wasn't as large as a small bluegill it was 5-6" long.  Do walleye eat their own? 

[craigm]

Matt , I  brought lots Midwest walleye gear with me as we are moving both to AZ and our Lake Home so rather than sort stuff out I brought much of it with me to Az with the intent on sorting thru the winter and bringing home what does not work here . With that being said I have been fishing Walleyes and Smallies for about 65 years , I have never known a walleye to eat a sunfish type bait ( suppose it could happen  ) , but they do take "swim baits "  though up north they prefer a longer thinner bait , I have caught many on Sassy shads type plastics and a Jig , also on a bait B'N makes called their Moxie rigged on a jig and safety pin spinner. You can rig any of these on Bouncers ( I use 3 oz for everthing down to 40 ft ) .I have probably caught more eyes than I can count on a jig and grub 2 to 4 inch . I would be happy to give you some things to try as it looks like I will be back in Minnesota when you guys go to Powell and will not be able to test them myself so if you like I will give you some to try and let me know how well they work . the biggest walleye I caught in Powell was back in 08 in Warm Creek 27 inches on a #5 Shad Rap Black back white bottom,  it did not weigh 3 lbs. skinniest eye I have ever seen. PM me to remind me  hope to be at the February meeting .Oh yeah I was curious as to what Blades size you guys are using on your harnesses ?

[OneBlade]

Thanks craigm for your thoughts.  I prefer #4 blade size.  Back in Nebraska we always used #3 but somewhere along the line I found one size larger worked out here.  Not sure what the rest of the club uses maybe they can chime in.  I just bought a bunch off ebay with quick change clevis so I can put on whatever blade size and color I prefer.  As for the swimbaits, longer/thinner may be the way to go.  I've only really caught walleye using harness and a long nightcrawler but as Fishman posted above he's had luck with artificial baits.  Once the Feb meeting gets closer, I'll IM you maybe we can meet up.  I'd be glad to buy a few things off you what work for you and "test" them out if you'd like :-).  My thought to try out a more lifesize bluegill, perch, or striper has no justification.  The striper though I think Powell probably has their share of those and why wouldn't the walleye eat them?

I will say I tend to be on a boat that is trolling 0.7-1.1mph so being able to cast something and reel in may be needed.  We don't often stop to try out an area.  Not sure what's possible given that restriction.

[WheatThin]

We've caught our largest walleye at Powell on twist tail grubs on jigs casted to rock piles like fishman said above.  Caught a few decent ones on kastmasters, haven't had much luck with swimbaits thus far.