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Casting for shoreline 'eyes

159K views 766 replies 89 participants last post by  Weekender#1 
#1 ·
Well it is officially fall, but air temps in the upper 70's for the next week does not make it feel that way. Have my shoreline night gear all ready in the corner of the shed to grab it after dinner. Stocked up on a few new cranks and plenty of jigs and plastics................... but these warm temps have kept me at home so far. Tried getting out on some evenings right at dusk at different times this summer and had no success except for a few largemouth. Did not even spot any glowing eyes on those trips. I know ErieEye posted some success through the summer, but i couldn't seem to find them. Spose i need to just get out there and put in more time (and walking more of the shore) to figure out the when/where the walleye are feeding. Has me wondering if they return to the specific feeding zones because of the water temps or if it is the amount of sun/dark time in the spring and fall. Either way, let the fall fishing begin!
 
#286 ·
Got another last night fishing from 9:00 to 11:30 and sure missed a lot of bites. Even had a bite on a belly spin hair jig. All other bites came on swim baits and they must have been just grabbing the tail and pulling. Plastic would be nearly pulled off the hook after each one and just couldn't get them to hook up. Tried downsizing and that did not help. Only saw glowing eyes in one area up shallow and majority of bites were out deeper scraping bottom.

The fish i caught went 21" and came on a 5" swim bait going as slow as i could to keep it just ticking the rocks. Didn't play around either, he ate every bit of the bait and hook was in the roof of his mouth. Finally caught it around 11:15 when the wind kicked up and it got cold and started some snow. Maybe their attitude was going to change...... but it was too late for me. Gave in at 11:30.

Fish Fish Longboard


Pink Nail Hand Finger Food


Dog was very happy that i cleaned it inside away from the outdoor cats. She gets all the bone & belly scraps..... if you look close you can see the drool was strung from her mouth all the way to the floor while she was waiting for me to give her some.

Bucket Canidae
 
#287 ·
Some nice cheeks there Russ (uh I mean the Walleye cheeks of course), LOL! Great report, can't wait to get out but work has me too tied-up for the next 10 days or so.
 
#288 ·
Got another last night fishing from 9:00 to 11:30 and sure missed a lot of bites. Even had a bite on a belly spin hair jig. All other bites came on swim baits and they must have been just grabbing the tail and pulling. Plastic would be nearly pulled off the hook after each one and just couldn't get them to hook up. Tried downsizing and that did not help. Only saw glowing eyes in one area up shallow and majority of bites were out deeper scraping bottom.

The fish i caught went 21" and came on a 5" swim bait going as slow as i could to keep it just ticking the rocks. Didn't play around either, he ate every bit of the bait and hook was in the roof of his mouth. Finally caught it around 11:15 when the wind kicked up and it got cold and started some snow. Maybe their attitude was going to change...... but it was too late for me. Gave in at 11:30.

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Dog was very happy that i cleaned it inside away from the outdoor cats. She gets all the bone & belly scraps..... if you look close you can see the drool was strung from her mouth all the way to the floor while she was waiting for me to give her some.

View attachment 224557
Nice fish and report. It looks like it's going to be taking a turn towards a colder weather pattern at the end of next week. I hope to get out and try my luck this evening.
 
#290 ·
I second that one for sure!! Since I don't own a boat, hard water fishing is my favorite because I get to go where no "man" has gone before (without a boat that is, LOL!). Bring on the cold baby!!
 
#296 ·
Comon Russ, stop teasing me with all this talk about ICE!!! LOL! Look forward to seeing your pics from tonight, I have this feeling you are going to have some success tonight, it's that kind of weather pattern!
 
#297 ·
I did make it out on Tuesday... not a single bite casting for 3 hours or so on that cold and misty night. Saw 2 other shore anglers (1st i have bumped into ANYONE at this particular reservoir) that night. They said they got 'a couple' walleye, but i never got close enough to see what they caught. Did watch them catch and release 1 fish, might have been a bass though.

I was thinking about getting out again tonight, but dang is it gonna be cold with this wind blowing! Will have to see how adventurous i feel after dinner.
 
#298 ·
Wow, is it ever blowing a chit-ton of cold nastiness around outside tonight. :) :) :)

Fish Bass Fish Northern largemouth bass Perch


Fish Fish Trout


Not a monster, but this 19" fella made it all worth it though! Not even getting frozen, will be on the menu tomorrow night. Hit a Helsinki Shad HJ12 maybe 10 yards from shore. Did not spotlight a single set of glowing eyes tonight so was making a lot of casts out deeper. Think i have settled on my favorite braid line being FireLine. It was COLD (22° to 25° actual air temp) and windy the whole time and my 2 rods with FireLine froze up far less than my rod strung with PowerPro. The FireLine seems almost waxy compared to the PowerPro and only had issues with casting when my entire end rod eye froze shut. I broke my favorite Helsinki HJ as a result of my end eye freezing shut as a matter of fact. Ooops. Likely my last walleye of 2016.................. BRING ON TH ICE ICE BABY!!!!!!!!!
 
#299 ·
Gave it a shot last night and can't even begin to guess how many walleye i spotted swimming up close to shore. Very shallow too, less than a foot of water where ever the bigger rocks were. Unfortunately, the whole time i fished i never saw a single fish that even gave a hint of interest in my lures.... and i tried one of just about everything and lost several jigs in the process. I'm assuming they are in full on spawn mode because a lot of the time there were a pair of them together.

Didn't get up there until around 9:00 which was after the light was completely gone for the day. Next time i head out i am going to try and get there earlier and maybe get lucky if they get hungry right at dusk.
 
#300 ·
Got into some action last night. Wind was blowing good out of the NE and i fished the South end, waves were rolling pretty good... water is now crystal clear. Got there at 9:30 and spotted a few from the top of the bank so went straight down and started casting with stickbaits. Not a bump with them but for some reason i stuck with them for way too long. I was convinced the wave action would have them chasing the stickbaits. Turned my light on a few times and was not getting any follows. Switched spots, saw more glowing eyes from top of the bank, casted sticks and nothing. Took 3 different spots before i decided i should try something different.

Started making my way back to where i started and stopped at a place i have caught quite a few in the past. Did not see any from the top of the bank but grabbed my swimbait rod and slow rolled it ticking the bottom. About the 3rd cast in, i saw a big dark shadow come right up to me feet practically. Couple more casts and caught a 14" walleye. Bingo! I don't believe there is a size limit here, but the shadow i saw looked bigger so i released this one. Ended up catching 2 other walleye (both 20") that went on the stringer, a 13" bass and a big ol 16" bass. Every bite was on a Kalins Norther Bluegill swimbait. One of the walleye was even caught by sightfishing it. Spotted it from the top and noted where it was by a specific rock. It hit hard too. Got back in the car to head home at 11:45.

Fish Bass Perch Trout Northern largemouth bass


Fish Fish Bass Sardine Suzuki


Fish Bass Fish Northern largemouth bass Recreation


Fish Bass Fish Perch Bait


When i got them home, noticed something sticking out of the throat of one of the walleye. It was the head of a bluegill. :cool: The color and size of the 2 walleye was quite different even though they were the same 20" size and both males. One was much darker colored and a way thicker body. Could really tell when i filleted them with how thick the meat was. Pretty sure they are NOT different species because as far as i know ONLY walleye are stocked in this reservoir.... just different gene pools i guess.

Fish Fish Fish products Aluminum can Seafood
 
#302 ·
Put a couple more fish in the freezer last night. Warmer weather is bringing out more anglers..... some guys were fishing slip bobbers off the dock, another young kid roaming around casting and a couple that i think were catfishing. Not positive exactly what they were doing. I honestly like the foul weather better, keeps the strange folk from 'hanging out' at the reservoirs.

Got to the ol' faithful upground around 9:15 and got a few bumps but no hook-ups until close to 10:00. All my 'bumps' were coming on swimbaits. Switched to a big husky jerk and got my first walleye and then started getting good size bass too. If you notice the tail on the bass, looks like it has been fanning a bed. Could see quite a few glowing eyes swimming around in groups of 2's. I missed a really good size walleye, hit it while the HJ was at a dead stop which does not happen often for me. It popped off while still out pretty far so never got a good look at it.

Switched back to a bunny strip hair jig and got 2 more walleye.... one short and the other went 22". I actually tied the jig the night before. :cool: Lots of activity but it seemed like a switch went OFF at around 11:00. The glowing eyes just disappeared. I packed up and left around 11:15.

Fishing bait Bait Fishing lure Grass Artificial fly


Fish Bass Coregonus lavaretus Fish Northern largemouth bass


Fish Bass Northern largemouth bass Fish Bluegill


Fish


Fish Bass Fish Fishing Barramundi


Fish Fish
 
#305 ·
If anyone has an upground with walleye nearby.... get out now! They are active and before long will disappear for the summer.

Made it out last night and fished from 9:30 to midnight. Ended up catching 5 walleye and a nice bass. Had a couple other walleye hooked up, but no monsters. Kept a 20" walleye and had 2 others that were borderline keepers (16"-17") that i released. Caught them on both shallow stick cranks and swimbaits. Lots of fish up close to the rocks but all the fish i caught were out away from shore. They were all up high last night, could not get a bite ticking the rocks. 3 or 4 second countdown with the swimbait and then slow and steady reel. I tried a cheap little Cotton Cordell floating stick and it worked just fine too. With the cold rain/mist coming down... i had the whole lake to myself. :cool:
 
#308 ·
sopo716 - I have some Keitech FAT swimbaits from Jann's but most are Kalins Sizmic Shad. Both styles are ribbed body with a big tail that kicks no matter how slow you go. Have a ton of Kalins 5" grubs and have to order those direct from them to get the colors i like.... sucks that the quite making the swimbaits in Bluegill color. That is my favorite of the 5" grubs and loved the color in the swimbaits too.

I probably keep my light on half the time when i am just down fan casting. If you walk with the light on and move it around a lot, will spook them quickly. If i keep my head still it doesn't seem to spook them as bad, but there are a couple large over head lights in the area so maybe they get confused and think i am a light pole? If i do turn my head and spot one, i look away and try to hold my head steady. I have caught a few where i could watch their glowing eyes dart at my bait. Pretty cool to see but doesn't happen often. I do also search for them from the top of the reservoir. Just walk with my light on and pointed towards the ground. About every 20 yards i quick scan the area. If i spot one.... turn off the light, mentally mark where it is and then scramble down to cast at it.
 
#311 ·
Hit a local reservoir last night from the boat this time. Trolled the edges with lures of all sorts, and harnesses. My FIL was with me. He landed 3 nice gills on his harness, 2 of which are 9", and about a 7.5". Threw back lots of smaller ones. I never had a hit until right at dark I switched to a large blade harness with half a worm and caught a large saugeye. I couldnt get a precise measurement last night, but I think it's real close to 21". I have them in the fridge. I will measure and snap some pics before I clean them this morning and post them up a little later
 
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