MyFishFinder Forum

MFF US Northeast => Vermont => Topic started by: bootstrap on Apr 30, 2018, 08:50 AM

Title: river walleyes 2018
Post by: bootstrap on Apr 30, 2018, 08:50 AM
who is ready or looking forward for the season opener next week and beyond? super high dirty cold water should make for tough fishing. hopefully the warm temps later in the week will help. i will be out.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: crayfish2 on Apr 30, 2018, 10:28 AM
Perchbait and I haven't missed a walleye opener in a long time, but this might be the year if the water doesn't clear up a little by the weekend.  Salmon are starting to heat up, so may chase them in the lake rather than play in the mud.  We'll see.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: Koissu on Apr 30, 2018, 04:04 PM
Is it unwise to go up the Winooski in a canoe? I remember when I got into fishing a few years ago I went out in a kayak not aware it was the walleye opener, but only went down to the opening into Champlain. I imagine going up early morning probably isn't safe. I caught a 27.5" on Otter Creek this past weekend...too bad it's too early to count towards master angler
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: bootstrap on Apr 30, 2018, 06:12 PM
the parkin lot/boat launch at the vergennes falls is entirely under water
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: Koissu on Apr 30, 2018, 06:52 PM
the parkin lot/boat launch at the vergennes falls is entirely under water

I drove by there on the way. Pretty cool spot! Never been there
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: bootstrap on Apr 30, 2018, 07:32 PM
shhhh dont be telling everybody. lol

after this rain they were all washed back to the lake anyway.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: Koissu on Apr 30, 2018, 07:33 PM
shhhh dont be telling everybody. lol

after this rain they were all washed back to the lake anyway.

I thought about that, but also realized only like 5 people post here lol I think I will edit it though..
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: crayfish2 on May 02, 2018, 08:49 AM
Koissu,

We've fished the Winooski in a canoe before.  We put in at the little parking spot next to the Heineberg bridge.  I don't see why that would be unwise, except that the water is really high and full of junk right now.  Under normal conditions I wouldn't think twice about using a canoe, though.

Good luck!
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: Koissu on May 02, 2018, 08:56 AM
Koissu,

We've fished the Winooski in a canoe before.  We put in at the little parking spot next to the Heineberg bridge.  I don't see why that would be unwise, except that the water is really high and full of junk right now.  Under normal conditions I wouldn't think twice about using a canoe, though.

Good luck!

I just meant with all the 'real' boat traffic on opening day but it'll probably be fine. Still not sure if I will try from shore or canoe, or not go at all because of the river right now..
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: bootstrap on May 02, 2018, 07:58 PM
i will be on shore. i do just fine. planning on 3am for the opener.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: Theshad on May 02, 2018, 08:56 PM
I’ll be fishing the Mississquoi in Swanton. From shore like every year. Too many boats out there for how fast the rivers going, don’t want to play bumper boats! Usually do just fine.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: mudchuck on May 07, 2018, 07:14 AM
I've done the Winooski in my canoe, takes a lot of paddling to stay ahead of the current with the amount of water coming down, but doable.
It'll wear you out, but if you're into it, go for it, the boat traffic isn't that bad since everyone is trolling slow.

I launched on the Lamoille and after 2 hours of trolling, a couple of "logfish" and in the 3rd hour, I was well upstream near the Bear Trap Rd bridge when my motor decided to give up.
Almost made it back to the launch, but needed to be towed the last few hundred yards.
Back on the trailer and off to the repair shop. Bummed because just did get it back from getting the fuel system repaired and was working just fine...until this...
We think it maybe threw a stator magnet, but will know more on Monday.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: Koissu on May 07, 2018, 07:21 AM
Sorry to hear about the boat trouble, that's never fun. My brother is in town from Spokane so I wasn't really able to get out. I did stop at the Lamoille on our way to Saint Albans Sunday morning. Set up a rod with a sinking rig and worm, and casted for about 30 minutes with no bites. Maybe later this week will be a bit better when the water clears a little
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: crayfish2 on May 07, 2018, 08:51 AM
Sorry to hear that, Mudchuck!  You sure it's not something as simple as plugs?  Our motor will load up after a while when trolling really slow.  I have to kick on the electric motor to keep us moving and clean her out good about every hour or 2 when trolling.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: mudchuck on May 07, 2018, 09:50 AM
Sorry to hear that, Mudchuck!  You sure it's not something as simple as plugs?  Our motor will load up after a while when trolling really slow.  I have to kick on the electric motor to keep us moving and clean her out good about every hour or 2 when trolling.

I'm positive it's not fouled plugs, it started making a sort of metal to metal squealing noise from under the flywheel, like something was rubbing, started misfiring, then kaput.
Still has really good compression and cranks, but not getting fired.
I too have to sometimes clean fouled plugs after trolling a while. I keep a spare set on-board with a plug ratchet and just swap them out, then clean the other set at home.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: mudchuck on May 08, 2018, 06:13 AM
WOOHOO!
So the flywheel key pin sheared off, $1 part and back in business!!!
I'll be back on the river after work this afternoon.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: crayfish2 on May 08, 2018, 09:34 AM
 :D   That's great, Mudchuck.  Did you see any fish caught while you were there?  We couldn't bring ourselves to go play in the mud, and chose to try to find some walleyes in the lake.  That wasn't successful, but we did find pike, perch, smallies and largemouths.  Would love to get on the river once it clears up a little.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: Theshad on May 08, 2018, 09:39 AM
Caught one nice one Saturday morning, 6.5 lbs. Saw four or five caught by 11:00 A.M
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: crayfish2 on May 08, 2018, 02:11 PM
Nice fish, Theshad!  Which river were you on?  We typically fish either the Lamoille or Winooski, depending on our mood.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: Theshad on May 08, 2018, 09:59 PM
Missisquoi. Gonna head back out Thursday morning with the boat, water should be calmed down/cleared up a little by then. Hopefully.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: crayfish2 on May 09, 2018, 09:14 AM
Great ... good luck to you!
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: mudchuck on May 10, 2018, 10:38 AM
:D   That's great, Mudchuck.  Did you see any fish caught while you were there?  We couldn't bring ourselves to go play in the mud, and chose to try to find some walleyes in the lake.  That wasn't successful, but we did find pike, perch, smallies and largemouths.  Would love to get on the river once it clears up a little.

Didn't get out Tuesday, passing more stones had me laid up, but did go yesterday, caught a single 3# smallie, marked lots of white perch & baitfish but no walleye were brought up.
Trolled from mouth to the Beartrap bridge, 3:30 PM til dark.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: mudchuck on May 10, 2018, 10:39 AM
Missisquoi. Gonna head back out Thursday morning with the boat, water should be calmed down/cleared up a little by then. Hopefully.

Water on the Lamoille has calmed, but with the wind & rain moving in now (Thursday) it might stir it up more.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: bootstrap on May 12, 2018, 02:35 PM
been out of state all week. finally fished today. landed 5 kept 3. biggest was 28.

(https://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/9/8/4/8/9/7/webimg/992580054_o.jpg)
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: Koissu on May 14, 2018, 11:50 AM
been out of state all week. finally fished today. landed 5 kept 3. biggest was 28.

(https://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/9/8/4/8/9/7/webimg/992580054_o.jpg)

Nice haul! I'm heading to the Winooski after work tonight. See what happens.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: Theshad on May 14, 2018, 09:16 PM
That’s awesome, bootstrap.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: Koissu on May 14, 2018, 10:11 PM
Was at the winooski for 3 hours tonight. Managed to lose one pretty small walleye but did land a nice 26" red horse sucker

(https://s7.postimg.cc/50xeuqdnr/IMG_2274.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/50xeuqdnr/)
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: bootstrap on May 15, 2018, 02:21 PM
they bit well in the rain today.

(https://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/9/8/4/8/9/7/webimg/992879239_o.jpg)
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: Koissu on May 15, 2018, 03:18 PM
they bit well in the rain today.

(https://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/9/8/4/8/9/7/webimg/992879239_o.jpg)

What were you getting them on?
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: bootstrap on May 15, 2018, 06:09 PM
deep divers
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: bootstrap on May 18, 2018, 07:01 PM
limited out every day this week except for today, cold front has slowed them down.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: vtmopar on May 20, 2018, 05:06 PM
Walleyes are late this year, water temps are still too low.
Hopefully next few weeks it will start.
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: bootstrap on Jun 15, 2018, 09:26 PM
landed over 30 that were 18+ inches in may. none over 10 lbs a few were close.

(https://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/9/8/4/8/9/7/webimg/992961946_o.jpg)

(https://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/9/8/4/8/9/7/webimg/996281216_o.jpg)

(https://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/9/8/4/8/9/7/webimg/996281395_o.jpg)
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: fishnmachine on Jun 15, 2018, 10:12 PM
Nice eyes, bootstrap. Way to git er done!   ;D
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: filetandrelease on Jun 15, 2018, 10:22 PM

Very nice healthy looking fish , congrats
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: lowaccord66 on Jun 19, 2018, 08:43 AM
Nice work!
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: TroutCrazy on Jun 19, 2018, 03:34 PM
Nice fish!  I still haven't gotten after the walleyes-- I got distracted by the trout!
Title: Re: river walleyes 2018
Post by: bootstrap on Jun 30, 2018, 04:21 PM
no walleye? thats crazy!!!!