bababooey
12-30-2008, 11:59 PM
A guy I know went walleye jigging last week and got one close to 10#, nice fish.
By JOHN PITARRESI
Observer-Dispatch
Posted Apr 26, 2008 @ 09:31 PM
This was a long time ago.
I had enjoyed a couple of good days walleye fishing.
Not the only good days I ever had, mind you, but I had a bunch of fillets to fry up. There were at least a dozen pieces, plus cheeks. That was more than even I could eat on my own, although I’d be willing to try, so I asked a couple of friends over to help do the job.
Just as I was finishing up the last couple of chunks, I realized I had no lettuce for a salad.
I put some Scott towels over the platter of fish.
“Hang out and have a beer.,” I told the guys. “I’ve got to run over to the store and get a head of lettuce.”
“OK,” they said.
Bad move.
These guys had never seen a walleye in their lives, in the water or on the table, and I didn’t know if they’d like them or not … but I should have known.
By the time I got back, maybe 10 minutes later, the 12 or so fillets were down to a measly two. The smallest ones. The cheeks? Forget it.
“Thanks, John,” said my two former friends. “Those were great! What do you call them?”
I was speechless, an extremely rare condition for me.
I can tell you that never will happen again.
Saturday is the beginning of walleye season, once a very big deal in Central New York because of Oneida Lake’s status as a premier water for these fish. It’s also opening day for pickerel, northern pike and tiger muskellunge, and there will be plenty of anglers chasing them, too.
Over the years we’ve had some great success fishing for walleyes with sandpike minnows, Rapalas, spinner-and-worm combos, leeches and just plain nightcrawlers. I’ve never been big on jigging, so I’m one of the guys Capt. Tony Buffa was complaining about in the new Oneida Lake Bulletin, the newsletter of the Oneida Lake Association, which you should be a member of if you have any interest in the lake.
Buffa’s advice to those who don’t like to jig?
“Stop complaining, start jigging, and you’ll catch fish.”
Buffa also suggests that you use a stiff, one-piece, six-and-a-half or seven-foot rod, graphite or boron, lined up with 6-pound test Berkeley Fireline Crystal, which will give you an ultra-sensitive feel to better detect hits. I can’t disagree with any of that, but unless you do a lot of walleye fishing you might not want spend a lot of money on new tackle. You can still jig up walleyes with your regular gear, maybe not quite as efficiently.
Buffa, who has been charter captain on Oneida Lake and Lake Ontario for 33 years, also said it makes sense to add a nightcrawler to the jig.
Then what? Cast as far as you can, leave the bail open, and let the jig sink to the bottom. Reel up the slack slowly, and dip the rod to the water. When the slack returns, you know you’re on the bottom. Sweep the rod two or three feet horizontally. You should be able to feel the jig make contact with the bottom. Reel up the line you pulled when you moved the jig. Pause. Sweep the rod again. Repeat the action all the way back to the boat. Set the hook when you feel harder contact. Once the jig is vertical under the boat, jig it up and down, making sure you make contact with the bottom.
The deeper the water, the heavier the jig, starting at ¼ ounce in shallow water and up to ¾ in water 30 feet and deeper. Buffa said most walleyes caught in May and June on Oneida fall to black and purple patterns with a few strands of flash. If that doesn’t work, try a jig in perch colors.
Hey, you don’t have to fish for walleyes this way. There is more than one way to skin a cat – are we still allowed to use that adage? and no method comes with a guarantee, but it might be worth your time to try it.
By JOHN PITARRESI
Observer-Dispatch
Posted Apr 26, 2008 @ 09:31 PM
This was a long time ago.
I had enjoyed a couple of good days walleye fishing.
Not the only good days I ever had, mind you, but I had a bunch of fillets to fry up. There were at least a dozen pieces, plus cheeks. That was more than even I could eat on my own, although I’d be willing to try, so I asked a couple of friends over to help do the job.
Just as I was finishing up the last couple of chunks, I realized I had no lettuce for a salad.
I put some Scott towels over the platter of fish.
“Hang out and have a beer.,” I told the guys. “I’ve got to run over to the store and get a head of lettuce.”
“OK,” they said.
Bad move.
These guys had never seen a walleye in their lives, in the water or on the table, and I didn’t know if they’d like them or not … but I should have known.
By the time I got back, maybe 10 minutes later, the 12 or so fillets were down to a measly two. The smallest ones. The cheeks? Forget it.
“Thanks, John,” said my two former friends. “Those were great! What do you call them?”
I was speechless, an extremely rare condition for me.
I can tell you that never will happen again.
Saturday is the beginning of walleye season, once a very big deal in Central New York because of Oneida Lake’s status as a premier water for these fish. It’s also opening day for pickerel, northern pike and tiger muskellunge, and there will be plenty of anglers chasing them, too.
Over the years we’ve had some great success fishing for walleyes with sandpike minnows, Rapalas, spinner-and-worm combos, leeches and just plain nightcrawlers. I’ve never been big on jigging, so I’m one of the guys Capt. Tony Buffa was complaining about in the new Oneida Lake Bulletin, the newsletter of the Oneida Lake Association, which you should be a member of if you have any interest in the lake.
Buffa’s advice to those who don’t like to jig?
“Stop complaining, start jigging, and you’ll catch fish.”
Buffa also suggests that you use a stiff, one-piece, six-and-a-half or seven-foot rod, graphite or boron, lined up with 6-pound test Berkeley Fireline Crystal, which will give you an ultra-sensitive feel to better detect hits. I can’t disagree with any of that, but unless you do a lot of walleye fishing you might not want spend a lot of money on new tackle. You can still jig up walleyes with your regular gear, maybe not quite as efficiently.
Buffa, who has been charter captain on Oneida Lake and Lake Ontario for 33 years, also said it makes sense to add a nightcrawler to the jig.
Then what? Cast as far as you can, leave the bail open, and let the jig sink to the bottom. Reel up the slack slowly, and dip the rod to the water. When the slack returns, you know you’re on the bottom. Sweep the rod two or three feet horizontally. You should be able to feel the jig make contact with the bottom. Reel up the line you pulled when you moved the jig. Pause. Sweep the rod again. Repeat the action all the way back to the boat. Set the hook when you feel harder contact. Once the jig is vertical under the boat, jig it up and down, making sure you make contact with the bottom.
The deeper the water, the heavier the jig, starting at ¼ ounce in shallow water and up to ¾ in water 30 feet and deeper. Buffa said most walleyes caught in May and June on Oneida fall to black and purple patterns with a few strands of flash. If that doesn’t work, try a jig in perch colors.
Hey, you don’t have to fish for walleyes this way. There is more than one way to skin a cat – are we still allowed to use that adage? and no method comes with a guarantee, but it might be worth your time to try it.