Bluff tailings -- Areas where a creek or river channel sweeps up against a vertical, rocky bluff tend to collect schools of roving shad. Walleyes may suspend along the bluff itself, or hold on the ledges formed to either side where the bluff ends and a more sloping bottom begins. These transitions, called bluff tailings, are major hot spots for a variety of species.
Bluffs are easy to spot; just look for the steepest, craggiest sections of shoreline. Pull up close to the wall, and try to note the presence and depth of fish on your electronics. It may not be easy; the steep wall often returns a confusion of echoes to your transducer, and individual walleyes may lie undetectable within the crevices in the bluff wall. Best bet: simply fish likely areas with a vertical jigging spoon, jig & minnow, or jig & plastic tail combo.
Standing timber -- Walleyes in deep, clear highland impoundments show a penchant for suspending in fields of standing timber during the day. No reason to assume they'd abandon that notion now. Admittedly, large prime stands of timber may not be available in and around spawning coves. But smaller, isolated pockets of standing trees likely are present. Treat them as temporary holding areas and explore their potential.
The easiest way to check for the presence of walleyes is to vertically jig a jigging spoon or weedless jig along the trunks of the trees. Use your bowmount electric motor to maneuver inside the treeline and proceed from tree to tree, dropping, dangling, jigging a spoon or jig at different levels along the trunk, anywhere from about 10 to 40 feet deep. Note areas with unusual amounts of cover -- exceptionally large or dense trees, clusters of trees, tangles of fallen limbs, submerged treetops -- rather than vertical trunks. Chances are that some fish will be holding somewhere within the periphery of cover.
Flooded brush -- In high-water conditions often associated with mid to late spring -- well into the walleye run -- flooded brush may be available. Three- to ten-foot-deep brushlines, often found on inside bends within a cove, may provide sufficient cover to hold passing walleyes. It looks bassy and probably is, but it's worth sorting through bass and crappies to tangle with the occasional 'eye.
Longline troll bottom bouncers along the brushline if it's well-defined, without a lot of pockets, twists, and turns to defeat your edge presentation. If it's an irregular border with numerous dips and indentations, however, break out your weedless jigheads. Tip 'em with plastic, a minnow, a piece of crawler, or some combo thereof. Use medium spinning gear and 10-pound-test mono to pitch and flip your lightweight (1/16- to 1/8-ounce) jig into likely holding spots. Somewhere between all those bass and panfish bites, a big 'eye may be lurking. Be ready to stick it good, and quickly get it out away from the cover, fighting the fish in adjacent open water.
Perception versus reality -- Southern highland impoundments aren't chock-full of walleyes. Therefore, they seldom offer the chance to catch a lot of fish, but your opportunities for a whopper or two are excellent, providing you roll with the punches.
Spring weather is fickle, and despite the best-laid plans, you can arrive a half-day after the latest flurry diminishes and be up the creek in more ways than one. So be versatile. Hit the rivers if they're on and producing fish. If not, shift to nearby staging areas and intercept walleyes before their portion of the run begins.
The stage is set and the performance about to begin. The runners are gathering in and around the starting blocks. Feel free to jump the gun.
In highland reservoirs, an abundance of rocky bottom usually offers numerous spawning locations for walleyes in the main feeder river and in major creek arms with active flow. Walleyes move upriver to spawn on current-swept shoals at night and hold in adjacent pools when not actively spawning (during the day). Prior to the run, however, they use staging areas at or near the mouth of a major cove.
Fish the edges of primary and secondary points that drop off into the main reservoir or creek channel. (Points are typically short and steep -- seldom extended.) The faces and edges of bluffs may concentrate roving baitfish and feeding walleyes. Flooded brush or timber may also host walleyes waiting to move upstream to spawn.
