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02-05-2022, 08:21 PM #1
Re: Reading water color for more crankbait walleyes
Well I have learned something new. I will stay out of the clear water. I have only trolled a few times and just got lucky and caught a couple. I plan on trolling a lot more this year so I enjoy your article
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02-06-2022, 09:37 AM #2
Re: Reading water color for more crankbait walleyes
Glad to hear that. That’s why I wrote it. Thanks for letting me know.
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02-09-2022, 10:05 AM #3
Re: Reading water color for more crankbait walleyes
Nice article, and appreciate you sharing the alternative satellite imagery site!
We were fishing west of the islands last year late March on the first day of our trip, and the water was definitely too dirty. We only had a couple hours to fish and marking plenty so hung with it. What surprised me was how good the late evening bite became in that dirty water. If memory recalls we ended with 8, and many came off a black and gold deep husky jerk. Guess it just had the right contrast in that muddy water. Having said that I won't intentionally seek out that type of water. Definitely prefer the chalky green as described.
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02-09-2022, 02:58 PM #4
Re: Reading water color for more crankbait walleyes
Thanks. When it comes to "dirty water" there are also levels within that category. I have done well in water that looked dirty to the eyes, but I could still see my prop. Here's a photo of water that was "dirty", yet we still caught some and I could still see my prop.
The other scenario when you can sometimes catch lots of walleyes in water that would normally be considered "too-dirty" is in the spring when you get warm surface water being pushed into shore by wind. Especially in the afternoon. I have seen times when the main lake might be 38-39 degrees, but the water near-shore with wind blowing in might be 8-10 degrees warmer than that. The baitfish will stack up in the warm water and the walleyes will follow, and they will sometimes be up in water less than 10 feet deep. As I mentioned, for this to happen, it requires wind to be blowing towards shore. The harder it blows and the longer it does that, the more the warm water stacks up. Unfortunately, the waves can also get pretty nasty in those areas, so it isn't the most comfortable situation to fish.https://slimshadycustoms.com/ Slimshady Customs - Custom Painted Crankbaits & Blanks. (Bandit Style Deep-Divers and other various crankbaits)
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02-06-2022, 11:43 AM #5
Re: Reading water color for more crankbait walleyes
Don't ever be afraid to fish "clear" water. Just because the water doesn't have the "correct" stain to doesn't mean that you can't catch a walleye on a crankbait. A walleyes pea brain tells them to do two things, eat, make little walleyes. Walleyes, when hungry, can and will leave their prefered temp, oxygen level, light level to feed. Trust your eletronics. If there are fish there, try it, before you drive X amount of miles the find the "correct" stain. This forum has some great info, just be sure to make decisions based on more than one source. I would suggest that maybe you book a trip with a captain that runs the type of program you want to run, get out there and question the **** out of him.
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02-07-2022, 09:23 PM #6
Re: Reading water color for more crankbait walleyes
To be clear, nothing in fishing is ever absolute. There are always caveats and exceptions. Like I said in the article, the Central basin is one of those exceptions. I have caught tons of big walleyes in clear water in the Central basin. Mostly on spoons, but that's because that's what we generally run when fishing for Steelies.
I also said that there are times when we can't find any stained water, and we are forced to fish in the clean. In those situations, I go very natural and fish my boards really far from the boat. We can usually scratch out a few doing that.
I also mentioned low light conditions. This could be early or late, or even just dark dreary days. That said, on most days, if I have the choice to fish muddy, clear or stained, I will always try the stained water first and it rarely ever fails.
Example: Last year over by Fermi, we were marking fish like crazy, but we could not buy a bite. A few junk fish here and there, but no walleyes. With all of the marks I was seeing, it was hard to leave, however, the water was just too clean for my liking. I decided to pull lines and run South. After a few miles, I could see the color changing. I told my crew that we were about to catch them. There was zero doubt in my mind based on the water color. I went a couple miles into the greenish water and set up. Within a couple minutes we had a 4 lb'er on and it never stopped the rest of the day. That was just one example of many over the 40+ years I have been fishing this system.https://slimshadycustoms.com/ Slimshady Customs - Custom Painted Crankbaits & Blanks. (Bandit Style Deep-Divers and other various crankbaits)
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02-08-2022, 11:28 AM #7
Re: Reading water color for more crankbait walleyes
This was exactly my point. There are a lot of factors involved in determining when and where to fish, and we could discuss determining factors until we are blue in the face. Your thread is a very good piece of info for a newbie to store away. If you have been pulling cranks that long, I'm sure you must remember pre quagga/zebra muscle days. When the lake was quiet, it all had the perfect stain. Best bite was midday.
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02-08-2022, 08:48 PM #8
Re: Reading water color for more crankbait walleyes
The good news is if you can find that perfect color mid-day still rocks! The photos in my original article were all taken mid-day and it got better as the day went on.
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02-12-2022, 09:37 AM #9
Re: Reading water color for more crankbait walleyes
We definitely have seen the same thing.
I always thought it was because the storm scattered the baitfish and the Walleye had no bait balls to school under. So they spread out chasing the smaller pods of bait.
I too am curios what others think.Mike
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02-10-2022, 11:05 AM #10
Re: Reading water color for more crankbait walleyes
Like Coho we watch our Fish Hawk for temp changes. Surface temp is good most of the time in the Spring. We also have found the wind pushing warm waters, bait, and fish shallow. But the Fish Hawk helps when the opposite occurs also (even more so). That is a cold wind can chill the surface temps but there is a band of warm water between the top and the colder bottom.
Like has been said many times, trust your electronics, this includes temp gauges. It is amazing what the newer stuff does. I sometimes feel like I am on a floating computer. It takes study and experience but the new electronics really work. They can't catch fish but they can give you an edge!
BTW if you follow the warmer water shallow, don't be surprised if you pick up some Brown Leapers. Some still consider them trash, but times sure have changed in that regard. We look at them as bonuses. We always catch several Fish Ohio smallies every March when we chase the warm water and Walleye shallow.Mike
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Here are a couple pics to help...
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