By Bob Jensen

Walleyes are often thought of as a fish that lives in clear water.

They are also often thought of as a fish that, during the summer months, prefer the depths.

While it is true that walleyes that are hanging around in clear water will often be deep, it is also true that in many, many situations walleyes will be found in stained water. In fact, when they have a choice, they will often prefer the stained water habitats. And, when they are in stained water, they will usually be shallow, and best of all, they will be biters.

I just returned from a walleye trip to the Bay of Green Bay just out of Oconto Wisconsin. The tactics we employed there to catch lots of big walleyes in stained water will help anglers catch walleyes wherever they are fishing in the Midwest.

Green Bay is a pretty clear body of water, but where we were fishing there were areas of stained water. The stain was caused by winds that had been blowing into the area for several days, and also by a river that was flowing into the bay and bringing sediment with it. The sediment caused the water to be discolored.

We were pulling spinners along a breakline that went from about five to nine feet. As we trolled, we were taking good numbers of fish. After awhile, action slowed, then stopped. That’s when we noticed we were trolling in clear water. We turned around, got back in the stained water, and started catching fish again. The stained water had a visibility of about one foot; the clear stuff had a visibility of about three feet. That made a big difference.

Since the water was shallow, the walleyes would be spooked by the boat going overhead. We attached Off Shore planer boards to our line about ten feet ahead of the spinners to get the baits away from the boat. Just one #2 splitshot was used for weight. We didn’t need to get the spinner very deep for the walleyes to strike.

Spinner color was critical. The best ones were the Baitfish-Image Spinners in the Gold Perch or Firetiger patterns. We tried all the colors, but these were by far the best.

The spinners were tipped with live crawlers or Power Crawlers. Both caught fish, but the Power Crawlers caught more fish per bait.

Speed was also critical. The Humminbird 787 that we were using has a built-in speedometer, which we kept a close eye on. The fish wanted the baits trolled at a speed of about 1.1 miles per hour. Much faster, no bites. Much slower, no bites. Pay attention to speed whenever you’re trolling. Speed control is really important.

Remember, wherever you chase walleyes, if there is stained water present, be sure to give it a try. Walleyes could be there, and if they’re there, they will probably be biters, and that’s the best kind of walleye there is.

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