suspended walleyes on Sak

[wales]

Never have caught any. Tried a few times fishing 20 feet over 40 feet with cranks but nothing. I never caught one by accident either like when 10 feet turned into 20 & my crank goes 10 feet. I know places like the Great Lakes produces many walleye that are suspended but never heard success stories around here.
Anybody try it & succeed?
thanx

 

[cooter00]

I've always believed if they are suspended they aren't walleye...but I have heard the same as you about the great lakes maybe they are just different over there but I could be wrong I've never tried to catch suspended fish

 

[H82bogey]

Yes, I have tried it and yes with success. It is a very, very difficult bite IMO. You need to look for bait fish, big schools of them. Sometimes you will see a mark indicating a bigger fish, but most of the time you don't. Your best bet that walleyes are feeding on the baitfish are gaps in the baitfish. Look for steep breaks where the main river channel swings closer to shore. This is where smelt will travel up and down the lake.

I find the best way to find the schools of bait fish are to travel at 10-20mph, whatever your graph can handle, and don't stop until you find them.

 

[Downrigger]

Yes, have also been successful. I've caught all mine on HJ-12 shallow diver on downriggers (usually blue or clown). I do just like H82bogy and drive around through schools looking for high active fish. I usually wont catch many in a day but the ones I do are very solid fish. All this thread does is make me feel bad I haven't done it this year.

 

[cooter00]

You guy are targeting bait balls which is what I do also but walleye are not suspended they are coming off the bottom I try and put my bait in between the bait and bottom and get great results they will usually hit the crank instead of going up to the bait ball I get lots of doubles doing this...do walleye actually sit suspended or are they coming up and goin down

 

[Enslow]

it's all about the thermocline. I don't fish Sak barely ever but have heard of schools of big sauger suspended. A friend of mine said he was marking the fish whilw salmon fishing. He said after he put cranks behind the balls he caught a lot of big sauger.

 

[supermag]

I've caught them suspended before on Sak, but ran into them on accident. Was pulling 30 ft over the top of an island. Kept getting bit out deep making our turn. Spent more time out there and caught all our fish 30 ft down in 40-50 fow. Haven't spent much time targeting the smelt clouds, but have wanted to.

 

[Rowdie]

I've done it twice. Both times were full moons in August on OAHE. This was about 20 years ago when I still had access to the family pontoon. The first year was great! I went out at about 8:30 pm and farted around until it got real dark. I trolled the Moose flats in 45-50 fow, with deep running plugs. (They weren't cranks then). Big Bombers, and a short fat green one with a big bill, Manns?...They would run 25 fow. Had a cooler of beer some lanterns and the olé lady. I think we ended up with 5 fish and three were over 5 lbs. Lost a couple cause I didn't slow down. No one was catching big fish at that time in August. The day before, they had a couples tournament in Mobridge. My brother used to get in it with his daughter, so I gave him a hard time. I think we would have almost doubled the winning weight. Plus, my olé lady wanted to go at 2 am and I wanted to stay, well you know who won that. The moon wasn't even up all the way yet.

The next year I was all hyped to do it again, we're gonna stay late all agreements made beforehand....... and the lower end unit goes out ....I was out all night all right, pulling that damn pontoon along the shore all the way back to the ramp. It was light out when I got it back.

 

[camoman]

You guy are targeting bait balls which is what I do also but walleye are not suspended they are coming off the bottom I try and put my bait in between the bait and bottom and get great results they will usually hit the crank instead of going up to the bait ball I get lots of doubles doing this...do walleye actually sit suspended or are they coming up and goin down

The walleyes will suspend. Just like any fish they are looking for comfort, which for them is the thermocline. In a stratified system the deepest water in any area where true stratification is occurring is anoxic/hypoxic and supports little life.

 

[Fishmission]

have ran into them several times over the years. Sometimes by accident making a turn in deeper water, running from one point to another, etc. Several years ago I had a buddy win a pretty big tournament on the big lake fishing suspended fish over 60 foot
Jim Carol has at least one suspended fish video on Sak from a couple or three years ago

 

[Jake G]

The best fish in the lake will be up in the bait.

 

[cooter00]

The walleyes will suspend. Just like any fish they are looking for comfort, which for them is the thermocline. In a stratified system the deepest water in any area where true stratification is occurring is anoxic/hypoxic and supports little life.

I have no idea what your saying I feel stupid just reading this

 

[remm]

The deepest water below the thermocline will have very little life- bait/vegetation/walleyes, meaning most of it will be at or above the thermocline, including the walleyes, which means they will be suspended above the deep water. That's what I gathered anyway.

I have no idea what your saying I feel stupid just reading this

 

[wildeyes]

I've did this on Sak and New Johns not many but good fish when it works. Just don't do this enough.

 

[eyexer]

it's all about the thermocline. I don't fish Sak barely ever but have heard of schools of big sauger suspended. A friend of mine said he was marking the fish whilw salmon fishing. He said after he put cranks behind the balls he caught a lot of big sauger.

this is exactly right. in late summer aug-sept. the smelt relate to the thermocline. very often around 20' deep. When you contour troll the shorelines of the old river channel you will find these smelt at 20' off the tips of the points. When you make your turn out and around these points you will pick up these suspended eyes that are out there feeding on these smelt. This is often times in 25-40' of water.

 

[Wildyote]

The only reason why walleyes in Sakakawea are around the thermocline is because that is where the smelt are at. Walleyes don't need cold water habitat as they can survive and flourish in deep wetland sloughs that have sufficient O2 levels. I have caught walleyes in 4-8 feet of water on Sakakawea in August many times.

 

[Ristorapper]

I've caught them suspended before on Sak, but ran into them on accident. Was pulling 30 ft over the top of an island. Kept getting bit out deep making our turn. Spent more time out there and caught all our fish 30 ft down in 40-50 fow. Haven't spent much time targeting the smelt clouds, but have wanted to.

Had similar situations. Have caught fish on the islands east end for instance and the more passes i make the more the fish move off the island and suspend over deeper water (Seven sisters east island).

Another situation that happens on a hot bite. Many boats in an area; fish biting like crazy but it is bumper boat like. Move out over deeper water actively fishing the same depth where the fish are active on the hot bite. For example if you are catching fish in 17 FOW and it becomes too crowded or the bite slows, the fish may have moved out over deeper water but do not change their depth in the water column (or they may be coming up to hit it the lure; doubt it though as i was in the Ft. Rice area when this happened). Caught fish over 27 ft of water pulling cranks running 17 feet down.