Slackwater Columbia River Walleye

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The Columbia River is one of the greatest Walleye fisheries in the world. However, from top to bottom the river is heavily dammed making flows unpredictable from day to day. When Lake Roosevelt is being filled, when there is drought, or low power demands flows in the river can decline dramatically and vary hour to hour. In this video I discuss the challenges of targeting Walleye during low flow or slackwater areas.
Tackle featured in this video:
- VMC Moon Eye Jigs: amzn.to/3S0FFsl
- Fenwick 7' Med Walleye Elite Tech: amzn.to/3JbhdDb
- RUNCL Ancohuma 3000: amzn.to/3yEeZa7
- PowerPro 8 or 10 lb braid: amzn.to/3TjN4UA
- Seaguar 8 lb Fluoro: amzn.to/3gd2Jah
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[@Pianosa77]

"I'm feeling the bottom for what kind of substrate it is" another example of how he's playing 3D chess while I'm playing checkers.

[@52fordguy]

That calm water makes me calm...

[@robertromaszewski8379]

Great video man. Love the walleye content!!!

[@Carlb328]

I don't have enough patience for Walleye, probably why I never catch them.

[@pdxfisher1]

Great video!! Surprised by the lack of current. It was running pretty good in the Bonneville pool on Sunday.

[@chubbrock659]

Can you see them on the sonar at that depth? They hold pretty tight to the bottom don’t they? EDIT: you read my mind and answered my question after I posted.

[@MrAcuta73]

You mention mercury levels in those fish. My Mother was an ODFW biologist for almost 40 years before she retired. The toxicology reports on squawfish, walleye, and sturgeon were scary in the Columbia/Willamette and fish from the Snake as well. All resident fish were, really. But the piscivores were obviously the most loaded. Looked like something from the soil at a superfund site. The PCB's were probably the biggest/scariest contamination. We stopped eating sturgeon after that. 😂

[@andrewhansen4179]

What a shame. It's getting harder and harder to find uncontaminated fish and game. I had a friend from Wyoming die of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from eating ????? We all need to do better to keep our environment clean and clean up what is trashed. We all should be worried about the negative results of overpopulation, like global warming.

[@braddixon3338]

and without another boat in sight

[@kurtcummings269]

What area of the Columbia were you fishing? Great info video

[@ronreitz2399]

Another great video, Tyler And you are correct about the Midwest guys. I'm in Northern Michigan and most would think it's crazy to fish Walleye at that depth. But it does spark my interest in a deep water approach this coming August when others complain about the dog days of summer! Dose the river establish a thermocline when the current is that slow? I would love to drop my Fish hawk TD down to that depth and see. As usual thanks for educating us and driving my interest in a different direction than I am used to!

[@spiltmilt]

No thermocline formation in this part of the river, its not very far from here to the base of a dam so the water is fairly uniform in temperature.

[@ronreitz2399]

@spiltmilt Understood and interesting now it makes even more sense why depth has no real impact on walleye. I hope Sidras health is continuing to improve. You are looking great, Tyler. A very adorable type of commitment you have for her. Best wishes for you both.

[@jpmorgie]

So I used a little different technique this last week at Banks. It’s one I’ve used for lake trout. I used a 4-5 oz inline banana weight and put smile blade spinner with a slow death hook behind it. Then I did a jig troll where I bounced the weight off the bottom. Bouncing it off the bottom creates a reaction strike.

[@spiltmilt]

Sounds a lot like bottom walkers just slightly modified

[@conk8636]

Good content, a lot of folks will be watching this in 5 to 10 years, going this guy knows his shit. Salmon , Stealhead. Will be a lost cause. It’s a catch 22 .

[@asully70]

Didn’t know there was a limit on walleye. I want to give that fishery a try in my outback.

[@spiltmilt]

Thankfully there is, in places on the Columbia where there are no salmon.

[@Nex509]

I've never caught that many, but I didn't know there was a limit on walleye on the Columbia river.

[@spiltmilt]

Depends on which section of the river you are in for Walleye limits

[@emmettbowen4431]

I didn't know they had walleye in the tide water. How far up are you fishing?

[@vitaliymusatkin7954]

When fishing between 60-120 ft, how heavy do you go with the moon eye jigs? Do you have specific weight per certain amount of feet of water?

[@rjduresky]

Was this in June? The Walleye were at 100' or 50' in June? What is the forage that is driving them down there? I fished 2 days this last weekend, and I never even considered water that deep. The water temps are moderate, the current was moderate, and I figured (!) that the bait was up in the vegatation and shallows. Of course, I didn't see a Walleye this last weekend, because I never fished deeper than 30'. Just wow, thanks for posting, great content. And you are right, no Walleye fisherman from the midwest would believe, especially in June (including, yours truly).

[@purujit01]

They feed on crawfish in lake Roosevelt and those live pretty deep.

[@spiltmilt]

All the fish I caught in this video had sculpins in their stomachs

[@rgrrgrsxndngr1904]

Did BC and AB not get enough snow pack? With all the fires up there, sounds like maybe that’s a major contributing factor. But I haven’t been following their weather since forever ha.

[@spiltmilt]

They are filling Lake Roosevelt after drawing it way down to make space

[@mid-jump_attack]

Always a little concerned about toxins in resident Columbia fish like walleye.

[@spiltmilt]

Yes something I am always aware of which is why I prefer to eat younger fish that are less likely to have accumulated toxins

[@user-mz3ui5qu4r]

What fishing net are you using?

[@spiltmilt]

Ranger Nets tournament net

[@user-mz3ui5qu4r]

@@spiltmilt do you have a link to purchase them?

[@spiltmilt]

This is the frame but you'd have to buy a replacement rubber coated nylon mesh to make it exactly the same as mine. www.farmandfleet.com/products/1110798-ranger-36-handle-pear-d-fishing-net.html

[@user-mz3ui5qu4r]

@@spiltmilt would you have a the replacement net link?

[@spiltmilt]

I don't. You might contact ranger directly.

[@markskibo5159]

Those look like Crappie

[@spiltmilt]

You need an optometrist bud

[@steveadair7942]

Will a fish even live being caught from a 120 ft?

[@spiltmilt]

Not likely for Walleye.