The Master Gets Schooled! Or, What I’ve Learned About Artificials for Walleyes
By Bruce “Doc” Samson
Over the past 30 years, walleye fishing has been a major element in my life. Early on, I learned from the boat seat of Jerry Anderson, one of Mille Lacs best guides ever. Since, then, with live bait, the trophy case has added eight major walleye tournament wins and many more “should-haves” while using live bait.
I was out with Bill Lundeen the owner of Lundeen’s Tackle Castle (located at SW corner of Mille Lacs Lake). We were testing a few shallow water presentations and only caught one Northern Pike in the weeds trolling and one walleye on boulders with slip bobbers so we decided to troll the lake basin for walleyes. Bill used floating Rapalas and Salmo Hornets and failed...
Samson strong, tames weather and walleye
Minnesota pro goes wire-to-wire in Mille Lacs Pro Walleye Tour victory
By Lynn Burkhead
ESPN Outdoors associate editor
Heading into the final round of the Professional Walleye Trail's Lowrance/Evertroll Central Pro Am stop at Minnesota's Lake Mille Lac, angler Bruce Samson was in familiar territory.
I have an easy and quick way to show you how to find new fishing spots. All you need is a boat, buoys, and quality electronics. I search for fish with my sonar until I spot fish, throw the buoy, and then drive around the area to understand the contour, the content of the bottom, and where the fish are. The fish are usually on the best spot! Remember that for future use. I use to do this with an old Eagle flasher.
The following article describes uses of weights to get lures to the depth of your target. The target is usually suspended walleyes so its time to begin trolling for walleye using weights.
Walleye anglers troll these setups directly behind the boat or use planer boards to spread out the lines. (Off Shore boards are preferred by walleye tournament anglers). My friend Mark DeDeker wrote this tip for the site. He says he has more crankbaits and spinners than Cabala’s!
Leadcore trolling, for me, has become a huge part of my fishing arsenal. At one time I was strictly a live bait rigger, and unless I had a hunk of meat on a hook where I didn’t feel comfortable. Fishing various bodies of water and the utilization of leadcore in particular; I would like to share with you some of the details that I have learned through trial and error about how to leadcore troll in order to help shorten your learning curve. You can virtually troll any kind of bait on leadcore:
Remember that old song from childhood? Knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone? Well, I’ve changed the words a bit for a valuable lesson to use when fishing riprap.
RIPRAP FISH’LL WHACK
CHANGE YOUR LINE FOR STRETCH
DON’T SPOOK THE FISH, USE PLANER BOARDS
AND LOTS OF ‘EYES YOU’LL CATCH
Just where should I start fishing? What would be the best presentation to use? I often asked myself these fundamental questions before venturing onto a new body of water. And you, too, may ask yourself this when you are wondering how to fish unfamiliar bodies of water. There are many factors that formulate the procedure of going about learning how to fish unfamiliar bodies of water.
It swims, hops, wiggles, sinks, snaps, and twitches to attract fish. A jig does about everything except jump tall buildings and fly. A vertical presentation is only one of your choices to catch walleyes-I have many vertical jigging tips for catching walleye. Vertical jigging is a technique where the boat is stationary or moving slowly. Boat control is very important for this method because you must move slowly to stay vertical. Always watch others jig as there are many variations of each presentation. Practice and use what works for you, but always try to match the jig action of the angler who is catching the most fish.
High Tech electronics and family fishing doesn’t sound right but it works-you really can learn how to use sonar with your kids to catch fish!
I had my grandchildren out fishing and we were catching panfish (bream for the southerners) in the weeds with leeches and wax worms and I noticed these fish on the sonar.
