The Open-Water Alternative

As summer arrives, many locational patterns come into bloom. In traditional inland lakes, walleyes inhabit points, weedflats, humps—structure. On big reservoirs, they roam and make alternate use of many different points, humps, and other structural elements. And many walleyes use open water. Where a summer thermocline develops, it often serves almost as an artificial bottom to the lake; walleyes seldom go deeper than the level of thermocline, although they may briefly dip into it if coldwater baitfish are present at those levels. In many cases, however, temperature and oxygen levels are more conducive to walleyes above the thermocline during summer.

In early summer, many lakes have considerable suspended fish. But as summer progresses, weeds flourish in the shallows, oxygen reaches uncomfortable levels in the depths, and walleyes largely shift back into shallow habitat. Weed and wood patterns may dominate from midsummer until the fall turnover. In other waters—typically huge lakes and reservoirs and the Great Lakes—suspended fish patterns may continue throughout summer. It all depends on local habitat.

After the thermocline breaks and disappears in early fall, comfortable temperature and oxygen levels are available throughout all depths, and walleyes can be almost anywhere. Anything goes. Classic structure patterns typically abound. Yet ask yourself, where’s the food? If it’s suspended forage, chances are that many of the largest walleyes are still out there somewhere, or at least using the deep edges of major structural elements meeting the main basin, where schools of suspended baitfish occasionally pass within ambush distance. Walleyes often pin such passing schools against the steep-dropping portions of major structures, feasting on the bounty before they dissipate back out into the great unknown.

In essence, many opportunities exist for exploring open-water basins throughout the year. Sometimes, fish may be riding close to the basin, typically if the basin is relatively shallow, with no thermocline. Other times, they may suspend nearly anywhere in the water column, depending on light penetration, water temperature, depth of forage, and walleye activity. As walleyes become active, they tend to rise in the water column. Fish that begin the morning as bottom huggers may rise nearly to the surface by the time they’ve finished chowing down on suspended forage.

Thus, open-water anglers are faced with a unique three-dimensional challenge: fish cannot only move laterally, but up and down as well. In essence, every cubic inch of the open-water basin becomes fair game, top to bottom. It’s therefore necessary to be well versed in the use of multiline trolling systems, teamed with electronics, to systematically eliminate unproductive areas, zero in on fish location, present lures or baits at appropriate depths—which can change hourly—and fine-tune presentations to trigger the most big fish. That’s a mouthful, and perhaps even more challenging to put into practice. But armed with a basic understanding of open-water walleye behavior, teamed with a growing amount of experience and practice, it can be achieved quite successfully.