Best Lures for Deep Water Walleye

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Walleye fishing in the Pacific Northwest usually translates to fishing at depths unheard of in most traditional Walleye fisheries. From Montana to Washington our river and reservoir Walleye commonly occupy depths of 40' to 100' or more, some Walleye in Lake Pend Oreille have been caught in gillnets deeper than 200'!!! The light weight lures used by Great Lakes and Canadian shield lakes anglers just won't cut it here. Here is my take on the best Walleye lures for bring those deep water Walleye up and into your boat or kayak.
Tackle featured in this video:
- Major Craft Jigpara Jig 15 gram: amzn.to/3D0Xfbu
- Northland Tackle Sink-n-jigs: amzn.to/3Vvr2QF
- Norisada Blade Baits: norisadatackle.com/
- VMC Moon Eye Jigs: amzn.to/3S0FFsl
- Moonshine Lures Shiver Minnow: amzn.to/3g6MgnU
Recommended Setup:
- Berkley Lightning Med Rod 7': amzn.to/3jFBEva
- 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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[@baitnbullets]

Thanks for the tips! I am heading out in the morning back here in Utah ice fishing for walleye!

[@bajacuffs]

Ordered my autopilot 120 today. Cant wait to chase those walleye in rufus

[@spiltmilt]

Congrats!

[@israelmittelstaedt7796]

Really informative, thanks

[@kenhutchison92]

Always great information and entertaining

[@reapergrim76]

Cool stuff! 😀

[@trimbaker1893]

Thank you. George here. I am living up in the mountains of western north carolina. the lake I fish is Glenville lake. gin clear and deep. No feeder rivers only small creeks. The lake has lots of trout, rainbows and big browns. Walleye are in there too and for a year now, I have been doing what works in lower elevation lakes, and have not caught the first walleye. I mark some fish at incredible depths and have reasoned it out that those were just methane bubbles escaping the bottom and the sonar was fooled by them. I am going to go back with a new confidence. What you describe fits this lake. Thank you. George.

[@spiltmilt]

Let me know how you do George! Some beautiful country you live in there.

[@trimbaker1893]

@@spiltmilt I will let you know. I fish this lake more than the local guys. Sometimes I am the only boat on the lake. Last year, a day before Christmas, I found big crappie. I caught nine crappie, five of which were over three pounds each. 18 inches long and more. The day after Christmas, I lost one at the net that would have gone four pounds. Some of the methods I use come from salt water fishing. I eat what I catch, I always have. I also go home when I have enough to eat. Jigging deep makes good sense to me. I catch huge slob sized yellow perch here deep jigging jiggin rap style lures. some of the perch are two pounds and more. ok, getting long worded here, Thank you for your reply and I will let you know...George.

[@josephgarcia1575]

Good info as always

[@TK-rj3lc]

Great video, I fish in deeper lakes as well and this will definitely help!

[@coreyduberstein1683]

Another great video with lots of good information and looked to be a great day to be on the water! Thanks again Tyler.

[@spiltmilt]

Thank you Corey for the positive review

[@GusWest]

Thanks Tyler, great tips as usual. I am in SW Colorado and have issues with walleye and usually do not do great targeting them on my home reservoir. I have been trying bottom crawlers and usually end up losing the rig. I catch them all day trolling crank baits on Lake Powell but that does not work at home. I will definently be checking out the baits you recomend, through your links of course, and am excited to try some new stuff.

[@kfs4869]

Nice, I have a bunch of those jigs already. Bro, you have to do a walleye meet up one of these days.

[@victormendoza1537]

Shiver minnows are my favorite deep water jig for the columbia, 30'-80'. I usually snap it and let it fall on a slack line. That's how I typically get the most bites. Great video!

[@spiltmilt]

Awesome thanks for the tip!

[@chetmanning4908]

Thanks!

[@spiltmilt]

Thank you for your support!

[@redderdog14]

Have you tried fishing for walleye at night in the fall? I tried last year for the first time and had amazing success. Late Oct/Early Nov seems to be the best times. Sight fished giant walleye in a few feet of water using a headlamp to get a reflection off of their eyes. Got a 10lb and a 7lb walleye doing this.

[@spiltmilt]

I have and it has always been super productive. There are some places where it looks like Christmas there are so many eyes reflecting light!

[@verdeanpetersen8350]

I love using a scent spray when jigging blade bates. Have you ever used scents on walleyes?

[@spiltmilt]

Blade baits is a reactionary strike and I've found scent to make little difference in my success rates.

[@stevenovak4326]

Hey Tyler, haven't seen a Potholes Res video, I'll be going there and since I have Sonic Baitfish blade baits, that's what I will be using besides the basic plastics and trolling setups. Ever get to Potholes?

[@spiltmilt]

No I don’t fish Potholes that much.

[@jeffreyjohnson8315]

Hi. First time commenter but I love the videos. I am learning walleye on the front range in Colorado and fish from a pontoon. do you not tip your Northland Tackle Sink-n-jigs?

[@spiltmilt]

I tip all my jigs with nightcrawlers

[@jeffreyjohnson8315]

@@spiltmilt thanks. Keep us the awesome content

[@clarkfelt4098]

I appreciate your past advice. Your Kokanee scent comment + other videos helped me finally be successful on Strawberry, as well as recent perch advice got me on more perch and walleye. I won’t be able to fish for walleye for at least a week, and I know they are weather sensitive. This weekend will be the big storm that will kickstart the cold season in Utah. Is it too late to kayak fish for walleye after that? Would I find success fishing in 40-55 degree daytime weather?

[@spiltmilt]

Definitely not too late to Walleye fish. The best Walleye bit here is from October thru April. Good luck!

[@clarkfelt4098]

Excellent!

[@RayRayLem]

Great video! What knot and how many wraps work for you using braided line? I get slippage more often than I like.

[@spiltmilt]

Uni to uni - 7 wraps for each

[@RayRayLem]

@@spiltmilt thanks!

[@bajacuffs]

How far up or down will you go from your lauch point with the autopilot? Ill be starting from scratch having never owned a kayak and am worried about current

[@spiltmilt]

Your range will depend on the current speed, your battery (size & manufacturing), and how you use your motor. You can burn up your entire 100 ah lithium battery charge in less than 2 hours if you motor around at a top speed of 4 mph. Its a challenging question to answer. This video might help kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5PGY4JsrN12jsU

[@coolifadventures608]

Any walleye tips for lower Columbia river on a kayak?

[@spiltmilt]

I've caught them in the Multnomah Channel using bottom walkers. I've tried the Ough Reef several times and have once out of seven trips caught fish.

[@ryanmcgraw8478]

What time of year is this and what if anything did you have on the jig for bait.

[@spiltmilt]

Fall. Worms or plastics work on the lead head jigs

[@pdxfisher1]

When fishing new water do you try to mark fish on the finder or just start straining the water from shallow to deep in what you consider good looking water until you find fish? What do you look for on your depthfinder when fishing new water?

[@spiltmilt]

These two videos cover this in detail: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHekkH-wjLyhm9E & kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6ixgK2Jf62ajLc

[@pdxfisher1]

@@spiltmilt In the second video at the 40 second mark the spot you are fishing looks like a bit of pinch point. Is that the type of structure you look for? Do they also use the tops of bars if they are in the right depths or do they seem to prefer the funneling action of pinch points?

[@spiltmilt]

I generally find Walleye in river systems to congregate on slopes facing the current. From an ambush perspective that makes sense to me. Points, humps, and troughs are all potential holding areas.

[@Carlb328]

How big do walleye get in the Columbia Tyler?

[@spiltmilt]

Up to 20 lbs!

[@chubbrock659]

Do you have a favorite recipe for walleye? Curious how you cook them.

[@spiltmilt]

I’d have to write a book as I prepare them in so many different ways

[@chubbrock659]

@@spiltmilt I'd buy that book!

[@spiltmilt]

It's in the works.

[@finaddictsnw]

What kind of rod are you using?

[@spiltmilt]

Links are always in the description: - Berkley Lightning Med Rod 7': amzn.to/3jFBEva - RUNCL Ancohuma 3000: amzn.to/3yEeZa7 - PowerPro 8 or 10 lb braid: amzn.to/3TjN4UA - Seaguar 8 lb Fluoro: amzn.to/3gd2Jah

[@finaddictsnw]

Thanks

[@jasonbogdovitz7357]

I fish st Lawrence River like Ontario catch all my walleye in 40-75 ft of water the pros catch small mouth in 30-50 ft of water I catch them in 8-12 ft 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Krozin]

are you left handed or right handed?

[@spiltmilt]

Ambidextrous but favor my right

[@Chilipiper23]

Catching walleye that deep you should keep them. They will die if you release them. Barotrauma

[@spiltmilt]

Yes I say as much in the video

[@jeffmorand4796]

Catching fish that deep, other than LAKE TROUT is basically the end of there lives, catch and keep, or leave them and find fish 40 or shallower, see barotrauma. cheers even the myth of reeling up slowly, does not help, they may swim off but not for long. just info

[@spiltmilt]

Yes. I harvest all fish caught at this depth if legal to do so. I say as much in the video

[@zachmeyer8962]

If u decompress air blatter there ok but agreed .

[@spiltmilt]

Unfortunately that's not true. Studies on North Dakota Walleye have shown that even with decompression using the "fizz method" or a descending device still results in greater than 50% mortality upon release. The barotrauma causes blood vessels to rupture in their internal organs leading to death.

[@FinsandFur1961]

Thanks!

[@spiltmilt]

Thank you Gary! I appreciate the support.

[@FinsandFur1961]

My pleasure !