Columbia Walleye

Grandpa Lynn · 07-19-2005, 11:07 AM

Will be camping either at Aminsworth or Venita this weekend. Have never tried Walleye fishing before, and would like to give it a try. We were thinking about running over to below John Day Dam and trying it.

Any info/tips on how to do it, where to go, etc, etc, would be appreciated..

Thanks in Advance
Grandpa

Hunt'nFish · 07-19-2005, 03:13 PM

If that's the case, camp higher at Memeloose (forgive my spelling). The bass fishing up there is also pretty good and there's a good launch at Mayer Park just east.

For Walleye I'd fish upriver at Biggs/Maryhill/Rufus area. Perhaps a Celilo launch and fish below Miller island around the smaller islands between the Deschutes & Celilo. There's also a nice park at the mouth of the Dechutes but I'm unsure of it's launch...... ANYONE KNOW?????

My favorite method.... troll a 5-6ft worm harness made up of 12lb test leader, two small chartruse corkies, a couple bearing beads, a plastic quick change clevis, a #4 french blade (chartruse of course) and a big fat crawler. Run it on a 1-2oz bait walker and fine tune the weight by crimping pencil lead on the bottom. Troll it just fast enough to turn the blade and keep it up, flat and level. Try making up a couple harnesses using perch pattern corkies and rainbow blades. The hooks on the harness should be 3" apart.

Good luck. If the off shore forcast falls apart, I think I'm going to give the eyes another whirl myself.

I see your in Beaverton too, I'm right off Walker Rd. just north of Tektronix. give me a call 503-643-6136 or stop by 2350 SW Balsam and I'll set ya up with some tackle, info and ideas. Or perhaps a lunch meeting.
Might be time for a Westside Walleye Lunch!

Happy to help,
Walleye Tracker

Like this:

snowball · 07-19-2005, 09:47 PM

How is the river up that way for boat handling-?
I picked up a starter rig a few months back, but I'm limited to a 14' 69 starcraft deep hull, closed bow with a 9.9 motor. The boat itself has a very deep vhull, so I'm not as worried about stability as I am current flow-

Any advice is appreciated-

Hunt'nFish · 07-20-2005, 07:33 AM

Snowball,
I've seen folks out in similar rigs, but the windwave can get pretty rough up in the gorge. I'd suggest sticking to the lower river around Gov Island and Akerman Island til you get a better feel for her. The lower river should be picking up anytime. They just need to shut off the smolt flush.

But I see no reason not to give it a try now. I know fish are being caught, it's just not as good yet.
Tracker

FishinTechnician · 07-20-2005, 11:17 AM

WT, thanks for the tips. I'm new to this walleye fishing too and plan to start in earnest soon. Interesting to note the length of leaders you are using. Is that a Berkley Power Worm on your harness? I have been doing some research from the archives here and talking to as many people as I can find. Saw somewhere that worm harnesses are most effective when trolled downstream and plugs are favored for upstream use. Would be interested in your comment on that. May ring you up if you don't mind.

Thanks, FT

chummer · 07-20-2005, 11:54 AM

Rufus has a ramp which is going to be the shortest run when the wind picks up and camping near by. There is also a great campground and ramp on the Washington side right above the the bridge at Biggs. The ramp at the mouth of the deschutes is doable but you should have some good boater skills as there is some good current there. You will also have to have a deschutes river pass to use that ramp, and I believe everyone in the boat "Technically" is also supposed to have a pass.

Hunt'nFish · 07-20-2005, 01:31 PM

FishTech,
Sure, call! I'm always happy to chat.

The worm on the harness in the pic is just for show since I doubted I could find a real crawler willing to let quit wiggling long enough to let me take a pic. But the plastic worm in the pic has caught fish and is of the Seducer brand. I marinate them in a little "Walleye Feast" Smelly Jelly or a blend of the Anise/Crawler scents and keep some in the box for the times when I run out of the real crawlers. It can save the day and keep you in the game.

I like long leaders simply because I like my bait to be back from the baitwalker a bit. Just my preferance and they seem to catch fish when others around me aren't. I also prefer fairly large blades and will go up to half dollar sized blades if need be. I also like an assortment of blade styles and sizes on hand to "tune" the worm harness to the river conditions. Sometimes the fish want it slow, other times fast. Since I rarely change my corky sizes, I tune the harness by going up/down in blade size. This allows me to increase or decrease my troll speed and still keep the harness off the bottom. I like to troll the spinner such that it just barely spins. This produces a good "thump, thump" as I call it. I primarily use, french, indiana, colorado, tomohawk and metric style blades in assorted sizes & colors. But I'd have to say a #4 or 5 French blade is my go-to blade most of the time. I buy the brass ones in bulk from BC Anglers in Oregon City and shoot a little floresant paint on them in what ever color I'm running low on. I also salvage old blades off junk lures I find or buy, especially if they are odd styles or sizes. Sometimes they won't touch a french but will a tomohawk, go figure. Something about the frequency of the thump and how they interpett it by their lateral line in comparison to what their feeding on.

I also have a slow presentation rig that I use early in the season. Cold water means slower fish. SO the presentation has to be slow as well. It consists of a small squid skirt w/ a 2-3 tiny corkies inside and a couple bearing beads and a Mack's "Smile blade". instead of a bait walker I use a lead slinky like those we use for drift fishing for steelhead. I pretty much drag it across the bottom and allow the rig to float up a bit. Size & number of corkys affects it's bouancy find the right float height and speed and you'll get bit. Spin'n Glows can also be used in this type of slow speed harness.

I don't have all the answers so I just switch things around till I get bit. Usually I fish w/ 1-2 other fellas, so when we hit the water each of us trys something differant and we see what works that day and then duplicate it on the other poles. No shame in switching to what works!

But even when all pols are running the same thing, it's not uncommon for one guy to be doing all the catching. WHY?? It's all in mouth, he's just holding his right! No, now seriously.... it's more about HOW he's fishing it. Maybe he's banging the bottom more, perhaps even drag'n it a bit (sometimes kicking up a little mud w/ the bait walker is a good thing), or he could be not banging at all and thereby fishing slightly higher off the bottom. He might be fishing farther behind the boat or something like that. The point here is pay attention... try and figure out what the other guy is doing and why it's working better.
always happy to help,
Walleye Tracker

FishinTechnician · 07-20-2005, 03:48 PM

WT, thanks again for the quality advice. Seems these things are a little more finicky than Springers. Will ring you up some time soon.

FT

Grandpa Lynn · 07-20-2005, 05:12 PM

Thanks for the info.

Will be leaving in the morning. We're camping at Aimsworth, because we'll be doing some Salmon/Steelhead fishing in that area, as well. Not quite ready to venture out on a Walleye only trip.

Grandpa

Hunt'nFish · 07-21-2005, 05:12 PM

Don't be shy guys, I'm here to help. But, yes there's a bit of a learning curve. Drop by one of our Lower Columbia Walleye Club meetings and join the fun.

Go to: walleyecentral.com and do a quick search for us.
Good bunch of guys.
Walleye Tracker

Grandpa Lynn · 07-25-2005, 08:30 AM

Had boat problems, so we didn't get to go up to John Day Dam after all. Tried it (Walleye Fishing) for a few hours on Sunday morning. I obviously have A LOT to learn!

We fished 2 different areas close to the Fishery, below Bonniville. Had one on and lost it and had a few other "bites", but didn't land one.

Thanks to everyone for the tips.. Want to try it again soon..
Grandpa Lynn

Hunt'nFish · 07-25-2005, 09:35 AM

I'm sorry to hear about the boat problems.
Well, your at least getting them on the hook.
I was up there Sat (white/green Crestliner) and we picked up one 5lb eye on the first pass. Wahooo, it's gonna be a good day! NOT. Couldn't duplicate it. Switched colors & blade sizes around and still nothing. The west wind was already blowing at daylight and only got worse & worse & worse. It turned into one of the roughest days I've been out in. Thank goodness for the new boat. The Tracker would've sank hours earlier!! Even the Crestliner was taking water over the bow when those series of 3 big rollers would come upriver. The first 2 would get'er to bounce and on the third she'd pierced through. Sky, water, sky, water. Finally gave in at noon and headed down river to play w/ the island hoppers and ski crowd around Chinook and Gov, Lady & Ackerman islands. Was marking fish but just couldn't get them to bite. Oh well, I tried. Too much boat traffic I suppose.

I figured it would be blowing just as hard Sunday after listening to the 10pm news, but I hear it was pretty fishable. Shoot! That's what I get for listening to those idiots on the news. Oh well I'll just have to hit it again.

Glad to hear you at least got a hook-up.
Walleye Tracker