[paco]

i really need some help here . the last few years walleye fishing has been like muskie fishing for me . i feel lucky if i leave the lake and i got one fish most of the time when we(my son and i) leave we haven't put one fish in the boat . i have been tring to just figure out one lake instead of going all over . berlin is the closest lake so that is where we have been going we had one good day about 20 fish but most of the time its one fish or none . we try everything trolling tots , jigging , casting sonars big "o"s and shad raps . i went out and got us both nice line counter reels thinking that we could reproduce strikes if we just knew where the last one came at . what are we doing wrong ??????? there is one good thing about not getting fish we do get to spend alot of time talking .

 

[Seaturd]

Paco, while I'm certainly not a walleye expert I've caught my share of 'eyes out of waters from Ohio to Michigan to Ontario. I spend most of my time on either Mosquito or Atwood and am not familiar with Berlin either. The things I look for most this time of year are cover and bait. Walleyes are quite often weed dwellers on Ohio inland waters and will also relate to wood (stumps, sunken trees, etc.). Jig fishing weed edges paying particularly close attention to cuts, jagged edges etc. on the edge of the weed bed is a very good starting point. And tipping your jig with 1/3 of a night crawler can be very helpful. Drifting crawler harnesses can also be very productive and in my opinion the less gaudy the better. My homemade harnesses of 3 or 4 beads and a single colorado blade and single hook have caught a tremendous amount of fish and are simple to make yourself.

Trolling this time of year consists primarily of dragging lures along a cover edge (i.e. the outside edge of a weedline) or searching for fish along a breakline. Points along the breakline of a submerged creek bed, rock pile, old foundation, whatever can all be trolled effectively. Sometimes matching the bait produces best - like using a hotntot in a lake where shad is the primary forage. Other times a minnow bait will produce better maybe due to a hatch of minnows or perch. Experiment with different lures until you hopefully come up with a pattern.

There are myriad other methods of taking walleyes but if you concentrate on cover and get good at it you will catch fish. Not every time but you'll do okay and you can then start to expand your knowledge base and learn new techniques.

 

[Net]

I'm not saying this is you Paco, but I see way too many guys fishing inland lakes like they would fish Erie. They drift or troll for miles dragging lures that might actually find the strike zone 1% of the time. Chances are you are fishing a lake where the eyes are relating to very specific structure as Seaturd pointed out. If you have a fish finder and an electric trolling motor, try dragging a bottom bouncer & crawler harness slowly along the contours of a hump, point, dropoff, etc. The trail you leave behind should look like the squiggly lines on an etch-a-sketch. Not only are you searching for their preferred structure, but by weaving in & out you are trying find out what depth they are holding in. Once you get bit you can usually duplicate that pattern elsewhere on the lake.

What type of structure do you have at Berlin in 12-22 fow? Any good stump fields? Rocky humps? Hardbottom points?