Andrew Martinsen's Walleye Fishing Secrets

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Andrew Martinsen's Walleye Fishing Update


Taking a Tour of Underwater Structure

Looking for Walleye Before you Cast Out

Walleye are crafty creatures that excel at hiding. Once you find them you may be tempted to throw out your bait with abandon. There are several advantages for taking time to survey the underwater structure before cranking out your best lures.

Walleye love to hide in and around underwater structure for many reasons. These areas provide cooler waters as well as security from bigger predators. In lake life there is always something bigger and hungrier on the prowl. These spots also are meccas for walleye food.

To pull in walleye in these areas, troll slowly over and around the underwater structure. Going slow has two advantages. First, it is less likely to disturb the walleye you are trying to find. Second, slow speeds allow the fish finder to capture the most accurate images possible. Optimizing the functions of the fish finder will increase your chances of bagging a brag-worthy walleye.

Use your fish finder to create an accurate image of the structure beneath the boat. You should focus on the size and scope of the structure. Be on the look out for any deep spots that may pop up on your survey mission.

Once you have built a mental picture of the structure you can focus on areas that are more promising than others. On your patrol, you may have noticed pockets of fish that popped up on the fish finder. Now is the time to give them some more consideration.

Pay close attention to pockets of smaller fish. You may not be interested in catching forage fish but walleye certainly will be. Walleye aren't usually too far from the food source.

The advantage is on your side when walleye are shadowing forage fish groups. It usually means that they are actively hunting. Hunting walleye are much more aggressive and more likely to take a snap at your bait.

A few bleeps of solo or small groups of walleye may pop up during your tour of the structure. These fish typically are suspended and not actively hunting. That doesn't mean that they should be ruled out entirely. It just means that your approach will need to be different.

Actively hunting walleye will eat just about anything that crosses their path. Suspended walleye like to be wooed and sweet-talked. You may need to break out your most appealing baits in order to catch these elusive ladies.

You probably paid good money for your fish finder. When it comes to underwater structure, a fish finder can be really successful at earning its keep. The layout of structure can vary and the proper way to fish them equally so. Taking time to tour these spots can increase your knowledge as well as your catch.

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