subject: Walleye Fishing With Nightcrawlers [print this page] How to catch an 8 pound walleye when other fishermen in the same area are not catching anything. The owner of the lodge where we were staying took us out fishing because no one was catching any walleye on this particular week in July. So in order to prove to us and the rest of the fishermen at the lodge that there really was walleye in this lake, he went fishing with my partner and I the next morning.
First he said, bring 12 dozen nightcrawlers, as that would be the only bait we will use. That July week was fairly warm, 70s and 80s everyday with not much wind and lots of sun. Great weather if you wanted to get a tan, but not too good for walleye fishing.
We already knew that fishing for walleye in the middle of summer was not going to be easy. When the lodge owner asked us to get that many nightcrawlers we were a little surprised. But we figured he knew what he was doing and to not ask any questions.
The three of us met at the dock where the 14 foot aluminum boat with the 25 horse outboard was. We met at 8 am. Not as early as we thought, but he had early obligations. As we left the dock he said lets look where everyone else is and join them. He already knew where they were. I thought that was interesting because if they were not catching anything why would we go to the same area?
We started to get ready for some slow trolling. He said pick out the most lively nightcrawlers and hook them up through the nose. That was very important. We wanted them to be lively and stretched out while we were trolling.
This was a large body of water with lots of room to fish. We picked the area in the middle of all the other fishermen and started to troll in about 20 feet of water. We fished at different depths in order to locate the walleye.
Walleye fishing with nightcrawlers can be very tricky while trolling. If you troll too fast you may lose your nightcrawler. So we trolled slowly and waited for something to hit. The lodge owner started to catch walleye while we sat there without a bite, or so we thought. We were most likely getting bites we just didnt know it. The lodge said you may not be feeling the bite because its like pulling your bait through molasses. When you feel that kind of bite then set the hook he said. The walleye were biting so lightly my partner and I could barely distinguish when to set the hook. But when we did learn the feel we started to catch walleye.
That morning we caught 12 walleye in the range of 2 to 4 pounds and tossed another dozen back with the largest walleye weighing in at 8 pounds! Of course we didnt catch the big one the lodge owner did. What a day of fishing that turned out to be!
When we got back to the lodge, we showed off our catch to the other lodge guests. Everyone was amazed and confused. They didnt catch much of anything to brag about.
So, when you are walleye fishing with nightcrawlers and they are hard to catch, remember to feel for the molasses bite. The walleye are biting lightly and working their way to the hook by slowing sucking in the nightcrawler, thats when you set the hook! Good walleye fishing!
