Bay fishing bigger walleye??

[ccarver80]

Went to McKenzie bay this weekend had a blast!

Ended up catching 20 or so walleye inside the bay, only kept like 3 eaters just over 14"... rest were barely pushing 10"-11".. if that....

The main part of the bay is 70' deep... and goes back 5-6 miles....

do I NEED to go to the main lake to get bigger walleye?? my boat is only 16' with a 75hp.... so unless its dead calm, seems kind of risky.... we were in the smaller points and bays hiding from the wind...fishing between 10' - 25' of water

other theory why they were so small this weekend is the small storm rolled over Friday morning, few claps of thunder ... cleared up by noon... maybe bigger fish went inactive?? we only fished Friday and Saturday

 

[Bowhunter_24]

no

 

[ccarver80]

ok some one was just telling me you had to go out of the bay to catch them.... ;:;popcorn

 

[eyexer]

probably need to. my kids fished the hook this weekend. caught a lot of fish. a 28" and a 29.5" in the mix

 

[pluckem]

No,

You probably just need to change up how and where you fish in the bay. Think shallow and weeds. Focus on wind blown shores. Pitch jigs, cast cranks, long line cranks. Boat control and placement is important so you don't spook the fish.

This isn't specific to McKenzie Bay, just general information. Some walleyes will stay in the weeds all season long. They can find shade and plenty of baitfish to keep them satisfied.

 

[ccarver80]

yea im leaning more towards the storm that rolled over Friday morning might have pushed the bigger ones down.... we did troll along a wind blown shore casting a swim bait .. buddy had a decent walleye on... but lost it... it was pretty hard keeping my boat under control thou.... waves were pushing us along 2+ mph ... and trying to go up it.....trolling motor maxed out and barely could move up it... big motor worked ok... just someone couldn't let go of the steering wheel... ha-ha meaning only one person could fish at a time...

 

[johnr]

Hey, I think you were in the tent right behind my 5th wheel. I was hassling you to pay a passage fee to walk past my camper.
Maybe that wasn't you, I kind of forgot to look for you guys after you said you would be up.

 

[eyexer]

the fish my kids caught we're in 25' . limits everyday

 

[ccarver80]

Hey, I think you were in the tent right behind my 5th wheel. I was hassling you to pay a passage fee to walk past my camper.
Maybe that wasn't you, I kind of forgot to look for you guys after you said you would be up.

HAHAHAHHA heck ya that was me!!!! lmao..... you kinda startled me with that question! i was like shoot i don't have any cash!! sorry i was kinda unsociable... my buddy was leaving Minot at 2am to be there by 5am... grabbed my head phones so i could watch monty python and the holy grail on the laptop since the power was out ;:;banghead then i was gonna pass out! ... ended up staying up till midnight thou with all the fireworks going off... oh well... still managed to wake up at 5 when he called

 

[deleted_account]

i dont know much but one thing ive learned to be true about dem eyeballs is if your catching 12-14 inchers in one spot, dont expect to suddenly start catching bigger fish in that spot. They definitely seem to segregate themselves by size or year classes a lot of the time.