Walleye Fishing During Algae Blooms

Algae blooms are a fact of life this time of year on lakes across the Walleye Belt. Though dreaded by many anglers, they can create opportunities for some of the season's finest fishing for all sizes of walleyes. Best of all, you don't need to be a night owl or brave foul weather to pull walleyes from beneath the green curtain. You just need sunscreen and shades, because some of the fastest action occurs on calm seas under scorching sunny skies.

Veteran North Woods guide Jeff Sundin has been chasing summer walleyes across central and northern Minnesota for three decades. His fishing grounds include rivers and lakes of all shapes, sizes, and types, and if a pattern exists for putting hot weather walleyes in the boat, he's tried it. To the surprise of many anglers, one of his favorite setups is a full-blown bloom on a walleye-rich, fertile fishery.

"It looks disgusting when the water's so green that you leave a hole on the surface when you drop your bait through it," he says. "A lot of people take one look at these conditions and say, 'Nope, I'm not doing this.' But if you fish the right spots with the right tactics, algae blooms can produce some of the summer's most consistent and enjoyable walleye fishing."

I can't argue with him on any of this. Years ago, while editing In-Fisherman's Walleye In-Sider magazine and covering the company's Professional Walleye Trail, I tailored some of the PWT pros' algae bloom tactics to my home waters a short cast north of Minneapolis and struck walleye gold. Even though these lakes were within an hour's drive of hundreds of thousands of anglers and offered ample public access, I had the spots—and the fish—all to myself. As a bonus, there wasn't a water-skier or jet ski in sight.

Like most of my fishing strategies, the plan was simple. Find a promising rockpile, hump, or point where walleyes would likely feed at twilight in clear-water conditions and fish it during the midday hours when the lake greened up. Nothing fancy, either. I hovered my boat over the spot, jig-and-minnow in the sonar cone, and watched the fish react to various jigging cadences. Most days, this approach yielded a mix of walleyes and crappies.

As with most presentations and patterns, Sundin elevates the algae game to an art form. He begins by noting the link between blooms and good fishing likely extends beyond just the conditions created during the bloom. "The lakes we fish that have the heaviest blooms typically have expansive shallow flats and are warmer, more fertile, and more productive than deeper, clear lakes," he explains. "So even if you didn't have a bloom going on, these are better fishing lakes anyway. The bloom just accentuates it by concentrating aggressive fish in predictable locations."

Finding those hotspots is the key to success when you're faced with a sea of pea soup. Although Sundin keeps the search simple, he avoids classic summer structure, and ventures instead into areas where few fishermen tread.

When a lake's in full bloom, he focuses on weedy shallows shunned by most summertime walleye anglers. "You'd think shallow water would be too warm and the fish would go deep," he says. "But a couple of factors combine to make the shallows attractive to walleyes. First, the depletion of dissolved oxygen below the thermocline limits how deep walleyes can go. So, on many lakes, the deep edges that held fish from late May into early July are now out of play."

Second, and equally important, he says, shallow weedgrowth offers a sheltering environment rich in oxygen and flush with forage ranging from large aquatic insects to crustaceans, minnows, and bite-sized panfish. "Throw in the added shade from an algae bloom and shallow weeds are hard for walleyes to resist," he says.

Productive depths vary by lake, of course. "I spend a lot of time fishing 5 to 6 feet," Sundin says. "But walleyes can slide into 3 or 4 feet of water and still be more comfortable than they would be in clearer, deeper water."

While you'd think finding submerged weedbeds in such low-vis conditions would be challenging, he says just the opposite is true. "It's an interesting phenomenon. The weedflats are shallow and the tops of the weeds practically break the surface,. You can see insects and small baitfish dimpling the surface. Hovering right over the top of the weeds, they're a dead giveaway for where to fish.

"It helps that you're typically doing this in flat-calm conditions, which, combined with hot, sunny weather, tend to produce the heaviest blooms and congregate the most fish in the shallow weeds you're trying to find," he adds. "Under these conditions, you can look around the lake when it's calm and see the areas of activity. We could talk about using the latest in side-imaging sonar to figure it out, but you can find the best spots with the fishfinders on the front of your face."

All vegetation isn't created equal in the eyes of walleyes or savvy anglers, and Sundin perennially steers for specific species of vegetation. "You may find walleyes in any decent patch of green weeds," he says. "But the best, at least in my area, are patches of cabbage growing on shallow flats. Walleyes swim right past coontail and other weeds to get to them. That being said, if your lake doesn't have cabbage, they use other vegetation types as long as they provide cover and produce oxygen. Don't shy away from thick vegetation, either. Sometimes the best beds are so dense you can only fish the outskirts of them."

Location can also play a role in a weedbed's promise. "Another trick to making this program work best is to focus on patches of vegetation that grow closest to a steep break near the shoreline," he says. "So if you have a big wide flat with weeds all over, look to the corners of the bed close to a shoreline break—as opposed to the center of the greenery. I'm speculating as to what the walleyes think, but I believe they like being able to hold in the weeds one minute and dart out into deeper water the next."

Soup Tactics

Once Sundin settles on a likely area, he breaks out standard jigging tackle. "The same pole you'd use for virtually any jigging application is fine," he says. "I like a 6-foot 3-inch to 6-foot 9-inch light to medium-light spinning rod with a fast tip, that handles line weights from 4 to 8 pounds. I typically use 6-pound mono on all my rods. Simple and easy to fish, yet effective."

Jigs are his weapon of choice, and he isn't shy about tying on leadheads with enough heft to take the bait straight to bottom in heavy cover. "Too light a jig is a deal-breaker," he says. "Even in five feet of water, I use at least an 1/8-ounce head and sometimes 1/4-ounce is even better. The goal is to drop the jig straight down into small openings in clusters of cabbage or coontail, briefly hold it in place, then pull it straight up and out. If the jig starts moving horizontally at any point in this process, you might as well be dragging it across your lawn, because it'll get stuck on every blade of grass."

To reduce snags yet provide solid hookups, he favors relatively short and stout jigs like the Live Bait Jig he designed for Lindy Fishing Tackle. "The compact jig helps prevent hangups," he says. "It also allows you to rig minnow so the hook is coming out the top of the skull and the minnow's mouth is pushed tight against the jighead. There's no extra space between the bait and the jighead for weeds to get wrapped up on, like there is with long-shank jigs."

Sundin's jig color palette covers the spectrum. "I experiment with bright patterns like chartreuse yellow, but also go to the opposite extreme with black. I probably tie on black more than anything else," he says. "Keep in mind, the water may be green at the surface, but you don't have to get down very far before it clears up, so the fish still have fairly good visibility."

While it's tempting to dance a jig, Sundin is adamant about no animation. "No jig action is key," he says. "Lift the jig just off bottom, hold it still for 15 to 30 seconds, then lift it up and pick the next pocket." He also cautions against running, gunning, and flights of wild fancasting. "The object is to slowly pick your way through these little patches of vegetation," he says. "Done correctly, it's like bass fishing—flipping and pitching into holes and open pockets in the canopy. Although you're not casting, you're literally dropping the jig from the end of the rod tip at boatside."

Strikes are hard to miss. "Walleyes hit and you smack them right away," Sundin says. "There's a very low level of finesse involved in this technique. Most people enjoy it once they get the hang of it. There's plenty of action, because bonus crappies, perch, and pike are common catches along with walleyes of all sizes."

Sundin's bloom jigging isn't exactly a laid-back affair. "You're so focused on getting your jig down through the weed and pinpointing it in one spot, it gets intense," he says. "You're not sitting back in a chair, relaxing. After a while the back of your neck gets tight and your eyes bug out, but it's worth it."