Fish Finding Methodology

[ReelTime]

Heck that's simple. Before you go send Skipper9 a text and ask where to start. LOL!!! Funny but true.

I don't consider myself an old pro by any means but I do know a little. Yes there are definately migration patterns to the walleye. And yes there are always what I call resident walleye just about everywhere all year long that tend to stay in those areas. Take for instance right now in early spring the walleye will congregate on the reefs in the western basin around the Camp Perry range cans to spawn. Not uncommon in April to darn near be able to walk accross the boats around the reefs during the jig bite. After the fish spawn and the water cools they will start to migrate East for deeper cooler water.

Example, I live 200 miles away so normally make it up about once a month. March, April I will fish around the reefs of western basin. May, June is more that likely around the Islands somewhere. July, August I will more than likely fish around Vermillion to as far west as Lorain.

Something I wish I would have done from the start is to keep a log of every trip. Note the time of year, the water temp., the program you used to catch the fish, etc. and normally history will repeat itself. In years to come it will save lots of time.

Honestly, pay attention to the fishing reports on this forum and most of the time you will have a good idea of where to start.

[ebijack]

Like Reeltime mentions, there is a typical migration. There are alot of boats that just follow the charter boats as they are usually out everyday. But, there are plenty of times the charters are hunting and other are catching. Over the years I have lots and lots of waypoints. I use those and time of year. I watch my sonar like a hawk while running towards waypoints as I usually find pods and start to fish where I mark nice size marks while on the way to another spot. Once you build a network of friends you can cover alot more water and/or get upto date info and this really shortens finding the active fish. Site's like this help ALOT also!