Your First Walleye!

[Whats@Walleye?!]

My dad never really took me out, he wasn't a very good father, he would rather drink and watch sports then spend time with me. Although he has gotten better, since i had a son of my own.  I never was into fishing until i was about 22, That was 4 years ago. I didn't know how to catch a walleye, i was just a hook and worm kind of guy. I would go out and set my pole down and wait for the hit. I read one of those big boared signs at one of the fishing access, and i saw a picture of a walleye and told myself "I wanted to catch one of those". I went out and bought these walleye sticks, they were brown tootsie roll looka lika things that smelled. After a few failed attempts i decided to plan a trip to sylvan beach with my cousin. It was my third time going, the past two i only caught carp and some sheephead. This time i used jigs tipped with worms for the first time ever. I got a hold of one and my heart started to pound, my hands got tensed. I didn't know i had a walleye yet, i knew it was something other than a sheep head. It took me about 45 seconds to bring it in, it was my first walleye, not big enough to keep. Just barley under 15 inches. The next hour my cousin caught his limit, it was his first walleye also.


I wanted to start this new topic for everyone to share their story on their first walleye. Please enjoy reading my story.

[hunts2long]

I can remember going out early in the season with my father and my uncle and fish for them in the river. We fished from shore and seemed to always catch some. I now know why we did so well. They were in the river spawning. What did I know back in the '50's? I live about 200 yds from that spot today, but very seldom fish it in the spring. I do know that you may have been bitten by a very bad bug, which you may never get rid of. Good Luck....hunts2long

[filetandrelease]

far as walleyes ,when it came to soft water I and my buddy , taught our selves by trial and error start jigging and casting in the creeks , back then he had a 14' aluminum boat and again it was by trial & error, jigging and drifting in the lake, some of my best memories I have, we worked very hard at it and it was worth it , so keep after it W@W  your on the right track , and the beginning of every season since  those early years I get excited every time I catch one , going from senile to kid in a single strike

[Bassnubie56]

We were taking care of my Mom, who had Alzheimers, real bad. We were up at camp. Mom was driving my brother crazy with her dementia. I suggested he & I go fishing. The wives "Mom sat". We had never gone fishing together before. We had no idea what we were doing. I was dragging (trolling) a large Rapala stick bait. I felt a snag. Pulled in a large bunch of weeds. In the middle of the weeds was my first walleye. Too small. Threw him back. Mom has been gone several years now. We go out now, every chance we get, almost every Sat. during the summer. We get tons of smallies and an occasional walleye. It has turned into a real special thing for us.  We have even gotten into some small local tournaments together. No money fish yet, but it is a blast!  I guess you can say, Mom drove us to fishing! Thanks, Mom!

[BIGJim223]

My first eye was caught in a tiny, feeder creek that ran into a bigger creek, that ran into the Susquehanna  River. It was full of small native brookies and a few 12-17" browns. My spinner got slammed in a pool just below a roadside culvert that had a 3' or so deep pool full of murky runoff water from the rainy day we had had. The fish felt like a slammer brown, but stayed down in the pool instead of coming up and jumping as a normal brown would. After what seemed like 15 minutes (probably 2 minutes!) of keeping it out of the tree roots and tangles around the pool I got it up near my feet and saw it was a very fat 25" walleye! Now the trick was to land it without a net, and no beach to pull it up on, with a 4lb test ultra-light rod. I finally just went in the water and pinned it up against the bank and grabbed it in the gills! First caught waldo, in my hands!
  Gave up on the trout for the rest of the afternoon, went home to prep Waldo for a fish fry dinner! When I cleaned it, it had 3, 4-5" brook trout and a shiner in it's stomach, so it was eating good up in this tiny little brook! I have fished this spot dozens of times in the 20+ years since that day, never caught or saw another walleye in the stream.

BIGJim223

[Bartel Rd. Bait & Tackle]

GROWING up in johnson bay my first walleye was on a gusto dixie spinner.  white willow blade with 3 red dots. I always bought them at johnson bay marina along with my crawlers. I'd row out to the pin bouy line and drift. caught an aweful lot of walleyes that way. then when I'd get to the end of the drift I'd throw out a jointed number 9 rapala and troll while I rowed back up. those where the days

[3 DOT]

Unfortunately, I don't remember what I had for dinner last night      I was told that I was 4 years old when I caught my first walleye.   
  Like Fillet said, there's that anxiety that builds up every time you set the hook on a walleye !    Summertime crappies are the only other fish that tickles me when I hook one !

[FrankM]

I caught my first walleye in 1977 in the Allegheny Reservoir.  I was fishing in a 14 foot fiberglass cartopper with an ancient 3 horse outboard.  The boat belonged to my friends Tim (aka Pusgut) and Jerry (aka Hog Head).  These guys already knew how to catch walleyes from years of trips up to Lake Nipissing in Canada.  They had nice Penn trolling reels and were all set up to troll worm harnesses and all I had was a plastic Zebco 404.  Anyway we trolled around some islands and the bottom was covered with rocks and logs.  It was great structure for walleyes but you had to know how to bounce the bottom without snagging.  Tim and Jerry were catching walleyes right and left while I kept snagging and losing tackle.  Back in those days we didn't have a lot of money for tackle, in fact Jerry was known for using big nuts and bolts for sinkers.  I was getting pretty frustrated losing sinkers and harnesses and my buddies were having a great laugh.  Unfortunately Jerry passed away a few years back but those guys always remembered this trip.  They always said here is what Frank sounds like:  "I hate trolling, all I ever get is snags, this sucks.  Wait a minute! I got one! I love trolling!  When can we go again!"
Anyway, Immediately after that trip I bought a used Penn reel and bait casting rod and learned how to tie my own worm harnesses. The following year I bought my first boat but the addiction to chasing the elusive walleye began in that little cartop boat with a Zebco 404.

[wormser]

Last year for me on Oneida.  Recently moved to NY after growing up in central PA so never had much opportunity to fish walleye.  My 10 year old son caught one on the same day as well.  Hopefully many more to come with the two of us.

[reeleyz]

I don't remember when I caught my first walleye but I would guess I was around 4. I remember heading out with my dad in our 14' sea nymph with a 1957 18 horse Johnson every opening morning for years. We would troll the shoreline from our house to Nunnery Point (Oneida). It wasn't too hard to get a limit of eyes back then. Then the zebra mussels came and the water cleared up. Then we learned to jig and the trolling ritual was replaced by jigging.

[danny b]

My wife caught her first walleye before me haha. I got my first walleye 2 years ago on the Mohawk river. I was using a Shakespeare ultra light my grandfather gave me when I was 4 years old. I was casting in front of a spillway because there usually is smallmouth sitting around there but ended up with a decent size walleye

[timdog]

  mine was  when i was about 10 or 12 years old. caught just before dawn at Caughdenoy dam. back when the gate keeper actually knew what he was doing  in terms of which dam to open. the walleyes would be there thru spring and most of the summer. a perch count-down rapala did it for me. i even filleted  and cooked it myself. the best tasting fish i had ever had!!!

[Deadeyez]

I caught my first walleye when I was around 4 or 5.  My mom used to take me out in our boat to the rock pile out in front of my parents house which used to be our camp. We used to drift Dixie spinners and when the sun started to set we would move in to the shallower water and cast the Dixie spinners.  This is the same spot my kids have caught their first Waldos and that I still fish to this day.  Great memories from when I was a kid and still makin memories with my kids there.  My ashes will probably be spread out at that rock pile when the time comes.