Poppers and crocodiles= walleye score for me!!!

[TroutFishingBear]

Definitely my best walleye outing of the year, so I have to be proud. here is the description:

I went on saturday at about 4 pm and got back about 2 hours ago.

The first evening I got 4 walleyes; a 13", a 15", a 17", and a 19". I also got a 14" largemouth bass. I got all of these fish rip jigging a crocodile. ( a fish around 20" also bit the line of at the bank)

The next day (today) I started fishing when It was pitch dark outside (4:30). I was throwing a rattletrap in a cove, and each time I'd lift it to get it back to me so I could cast it again, fish were jumping at it as I was lifting it out of the water. Fish were also jumping at it if it was fouled. they were right off of the bank. I wasn't sure what kind of fish they were, just that they were good sized because of the sound of the splash. So I tied on a large popper thinking that whatever these fish were would hit it.

So I cast out about 5 ft. out and way parallel to the bank and I started ripping that thing across the surface to get attention. Well, the fish were going crazy! Since it was pitch black, they missed it most of the time, but so many were going after it that it didn't really matter. I got a 20" walleye that fought like a freight train my first cast. When it was fighting I thought it was a big old bow because it was so strong! It just turned out to be a 3lb walleye which was what I was after Next cast I lost a huge fish. I'm 95% positive it was a walleye. It was definitely the biggest hooked walleye of the trip. I ended up catching 8 walleyes on the popper in about an hour, 3 of them being 20 inches or larger. The other 5 were in the 13-15" range. I also caught 2 dink smallmouths on them. Who knows how many fish got away, at least 10 of them. I then tied on a crocodile because the sun was coming up and nothing would touch the popper anymore. So I went over to this shallow rocky point that shot out in between two deep sandy areas. I rip jigged the crocodile and caught 4 more walleyes in the 13-18" range, and I also caught a 24", 7 lb. rainbow trout that for some reason was full of eggs. I then snagged it up and after that my fishing was pretty much done because it was about 8:30 am. So final total for that morning was 12 walleyes in the 13-22" range, 3 of them being 20 " plus,  2 dink smallmouth, and 1 big old obese 24" rainbow trout.

My tally for the whole trip was 16 walleye, 2 smallies, 1 rainbow, and 1 largemouth! I kept my limit (5) of walleyes, 4 of them that I kept were 14-16", the other (hooked in the eye so I had to keep it) was 20".

What a trip, and now I know how to catch walleyes when it is pitch black outside


Now, have you guys ever caught a lot of walleyes rip jigging? What types of spoons do they like best and what type of rip jigging patterns do they like? Also, have you guys ever heard about people using poppers for walleyes? I didn't think they would catch walleyes until today. Give me your thoughts and/or ideas that you may have on these techniques.

[Mackdaddy21]

Has anyone here ever had a pattern like this? Tons of walleyes slamming poppers? How many of you have caught walleyes on topwaters at all?

Tyler

[Pasquatch]

Negative, Captain, Negative! 
 Nope, that's pretty weird, but sounds cool!

[TroutFishingBear]

Just for an update...I remember going there the next week after school and at about 10 oclock at night I had severel strikes in just a few casts before leaving. Looks like it might not've been a fluke. (I had already caught my limit that night)

[Mackdaddy21]

I would have never believed it till I saw the results. Just goes to show you walleyes are opportunistic predators that will grab whatever they can. I have heard of even caftfish hitting poppers and even buzzbaits. Though throwing buzzbaits and poppers isn't what I'm going to be doing for these fish. If I see walleyes hitting TFB's poppers, I will tie one on.

Tyler

[Ashnohgrimbatul]

Had it happen once, I casted out on old floating frog lure and a walleye hit it.  I thought I was seeing things when the fish came to the boat and it was a walleye and not a pike!

[Water Wolf]

Way to go TroutFishingBear  , good job on all the fish. I have never heard of walleye caught with a top water, but it does not suprise me that they do. When it gets dark they get active. One time while trolling back to camp as the sun was setting, I notices a few fish taking small may flies off the surface, I decided to take a look as see if I could tell what type of fish they were, I motered over to the area, and sure enough it was walleye feeding on the surface. They were feeding on may flies that were resting on the surface. They did not seem to bothered by my presence, I was able to get fairly close to one before it slowly swam away.
I have caught walleyes rip jigging, but it was with storm wildeye swim baits, not crocodile spoons.

Water Wolf

[TroutFishingBear]

I wonder if they'll do that this year. Lord knows its difficult for me to get a limit if they won't, I'm not exactly the best walleye fisherman in the world, but I usually get 2 or 3 each time out.

[TroutFishingBear]

Well TFB there's an article in this month's Walleye Insider about fishing topwater walleye.  You should seek out a copy and check it out.  Very interesting and these guys claim they do very well at night with topwater lures on shallow flats in lakes that have large alewife populations.  I might have to try something like that this summer but with my luck all I'll probably end up with is bass.

Ah those icky green carp Thanks slipbob I'll check it out.

[Mackdaddy21]

I should check out that article too. I think they were up on the surface busting small bluegills, plus their were cicada hatches going on at the time too. I have even heard of catfish being taken on poppers too. They are of course going to grab whatever they can get expending the least energy.

Tyler