Andrew's Adventures

Fall River Walleyes

Sat, November 05, 2011

Since mid-October, I’ve made a strong effort to hit the local flows at least every night as long as my schedule allows. Usually it’s been four to five nights per week. This is pretty good and I cannot complain.

In order to catch walleyes from our Northern Illinois rivers, which aren’t very populated with them to begin with, the biggest thing any angler must do is to find the time to fish, and utilize it. Usually I am fishing from 5pm until as late as 9pm. Unconventionally this is when air and water temperatures are at their coldest and most uncomfortable, but a time when big fish are on the move and feeding. On some nights I’ve been catching a mixed bag of walleyes and bonus pike (A combination of two to three fish per night), while on other nights I’ve experienced nothing more than taking a couple hundred casts and getting missed fish or no hits at all.

When I began wading and fishing the local flows in mid-October, the fishing was slow and uneventful. Water temperatures were still around 60 degrees and I was barely catching anything. On my local areas of the Des Plaines River Watershed (the river and its main tributary), the fall fishing usually doesn’t pick up until water temperatures fall to below 55 degrees.

Once the water finally began to cool down during the last week of October, the fishing finally improved. At the moment, water temperatures are holding steady at 45 to 50 degrees. As expected, the fishing is picking up. This range of water temperature is prime for walleyes. Besides ideal water temperatures, what’s made the fishing better is that water levels and current flows have remained consistent for the last several weeks without any drastic fluctuations.

Thus far I haven’t been able to get into any large ones like I’ve done in years past, but I’ve got a feeling that the big females will show up any day now. Up until this point, everything I’ve caught has been in the respectable 18 to 22 inch range. Solid fish for the Chicagoland area.

I’ve been throwing a combination of bigger plastics and minnowbaits. I often wade with two rods; One is tied with a big minnowbait while the other is rigged with a jig and 3-5 inch soft plastic. I always mix and match my colors and sizes according to water clarity, depth, and current. I’ve used every imaginable color and combinations of all kinds and surprisingly natural colors that resemble forage species have fared the worst. Traditionally, these often produce best while everything else goes unnoticed. . . Not in 2011, I guess. . . Despite this abnormality, the most consistent player has been anything in obnoxiously-looking orange. This has been working in all conditions, including crystal clear water and even in broad daylight. Thankfully Rapala still makes fluorescent orange Original Floaters. In addition, I am well-stocked with orange plastics of all models and sizes and the best producers have been Lindy’s Munchies, Walleye Assassins, and 4” BPS Squirmin’ Grubs.

The areas I’m fishing are no surprise for this time of the year. There are plenty of these all over the place.

• Deep holes and large pools with a combination of hard rock bottom and some current.
• Downstream holes of rapids and riffle runs.
• Deep shoreline eddies with nearby rocks.
• Gravel bars and their adjacent downstream holes and current chutes.
• ANY and all areas I stop along the way that have a noticeable presence of baitfish. (ONLY during daytime)
• Dams and the larger and deeper pools just downstream of them.

If one such area isn’t producing within 30 minutes to an hour, move on to the next. It will do nothing worse than improve odds in catching fish.

On October 25th, I caught my first sizable walleye in over two years from “Andrews River”. A football-shaped 22 incher. I love rivers that are loaded with shad.

Then everything else has been average sized fish - this one was around 18”.

In addition, smaller fish have been around as well, which is a good indication for the future. This is likely a stocked fish that made its way several miles upstream.

Besides the targeted, desired, and coveted walleye species of fish, a few others have made their way into my Frabill wading net.

The most notables have been northern pike, and almost every night out I’ve been able to catch at least one whether it’s a snake or a small stream gator. I’ve been able to observe that if the pike are around, then the walleyes aren’t and likely won’t be. These species of fish just don’t seem to correlate or coexist very well together in the same environments when it comes down to feeding habits and river locations.

Below are a pair of 28 inchers that fooled me into believing that they were giant walleyes at first, following the hookset. The first fish was from sometime last week while the second was from the other night. Both felt heavy and displayed bottom-hugging head-shakes in similar fashion to big river walleyes. What a major let-down.

We are only a few weeks away from the Thanksgiving holiday. My fall fishing and its productiveness usually ends within the few days leading up to it. By then, water temperatures will be around 40 degrees and fish will be in their wintering holes. They will still be accessible, but catching them will be even more difficult.

Based on how things are currently faring (decent and not bad, but could be a lot better), there’s only a short window of opportunity left in order catch some really nice and final fish of the year. The weather is changing, day-by-day the water is getting colder, and the fishing isn’t getting any easier.

Still unsatisfied with the results, I’ll keep being nocturnal for the next several days. After all, it’s been a good routine.

Comments