The past few weeks Alexandria has encountered some of the most consistent quality walleye fishing of the year. Generally during late July and August the walleye bite is confined to low light time periods. Even then the quality can be difficult to come by and any cold front will most certainly change the bite up, but this year it’s been a different story. We’ve been consistently catching good numbers of quality eater sized walleye 17”-20” as well as some big picture fish 22”-28” thrown in the mix. Even the stormy weather has had little effect on them.
I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a number of great guides over the years, but this summer my hat goes off to fellow guide Ben Hittle (ph# 320-766-1832). He has been a huge help to patterning these big mid-summer walleye. We’ve been targeting fish super shallow (5’-6’) as well as quite deep (20’-28’) depending on the time of day. With water temps around 75 deg, trolling Lindy rigs, Spinner rigs and crank baits at 1.0-2.5mph have all been producing walleye.
Most lakes in Alexandria have a decent population of walleye, but not all of the fish are looking to feed all of the time. That’s why covering as much water as possible looking for active walleye has been key. A good way to tell which fish are active is they will generally be 2’-3’ off the bottom chasing schools of bait. By targeting these suspended fish you will most certainly put the odds in your favor.
Panfishing has also been very good. Most of the good reports have come from 12-18’ weeds. A 1/16 oz. jig and a white twister tail trolled at about 1mph has been a great way to locate the nice crappie. I’ve also had very good success with a 1/32oz jig and a small spinner. Trolling either one of these baits is a great way to locate hungry schools of fish. I see too many people go out with just a bobber and a worm, hoping for the best. If you know where the fish are this approach works very well, but if you are trying to locate the fish then, IMO, this technique is too slow. More often than not people end up giving up before they find the fish.
No matter what species you plan to target, if you start with a bait that can be fished fast your odds of finding hungry fish just goes up. You only have so much time on the water, so you might as well spend as much of that time as possible catching fish. Kids can lose interest quickly, that is unless you find the hungry fish! Be careful though if they have too much fun you might be the one begging to go in!
If you ever have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me and good luck fishing!
