Novice2Pro Fishing Log - May 2009
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May 28, 2009

Are We Already Pro Walleye Fishermen?

The question needs to be raised at this point.  Donny and I have effectively averaged 5 walleye per night fishing, regardless of the weather conditions or time of night.  The quick answer to this question is "NO!"

Donny and I have only tapped the surface of walleye fishing.  We have yet to get out on a boat to fish and only fish at night time.  We have yet to be tested.  We are very good at catching walleye, but we are specialized novices. 

I caught one walleye at each of the spots we stopped at and lost two.  Donny caught one at Godfrey Point and two at Tony's house.  What we caught is nice, but there is a more important notion for us to consider.  That is how hard it is to catch these walleye tonight.

The walleye are in the water all over the place, but we needed to change our lures on every few casts and change our retrieval speeds.  We had to use strategy to find the walleye in the swath of carp that were still in the water by wading extremely far out to the outskirts of the schooling carp.

Donny and I are getting good at fishing from the shore at night, but we need a boat!!!

May 26, 2009

We Aren't Going to Catch Anything!

My last words as Donny as we got into his truck to head out..."We aren't going to catch anything!"  That is exactly what we did...NOTHING!

May 25, 2009

Stalking Pays Off

Last night was a tough night for catching walleye.  It seems that we are getting to the point in the season where the carp are in spawning, the walleye don't like it and makes them very picky bout what they eat.  We stopped at the finger for a few minutes tonight while we waited for John to meet us at Godfrey Point.   We saw a couple in the water, but they did not hit at all, so we quickly went to Godfrey.

I immediately went in the water to test my luck at catching the walleye on the outside of the lit water.  The flood lights are so powerful, they cast a huge light pattern out into the water.  In effect, the water conditions are completely different where Donny was fishing from shore to where I was fishing in the dark water.  Applying my stalking technique that works very well at Tony's House, I was determined to catch one.

I waded out really far and spotted a walleye by himself.  I used a perch Shad Rap to catch this one.  The water was calm and I had to reel very slowly.  Another followed shortly after this one.  Meanwhile, Donny and John had no luck from shore.  So off to Tommy's we went. 

As it has been the last few nights at Tommy's, the walleye were abundant and sharing the water with the spawning carp.  The walleye were very skittish and seemed to shun our lures' advances.  But leave it to Donny to catch one amongst all the odds against us.  We threw everything at these walleye and they just ignored us.  He caught the walleye on a perch-colored Challenger. 

We drove to Tony's house after being frustrated by the lack of bites.  Tony's house was a mess for the second night in a row.  The water was very murky and had thousands of carp swimming around.  I literally was kicking them as I walked through the water.  We gave up on fishing for the night after this.

May 24, 2009

Sean Skunked Again!  What the Heck?

A terrible night for me...simple...Donny caught three walleye at Tommy's on the same lure I was using and I caught zilch!!

May 21, 2009

50!!!

A milestone was hit for the season and we are on pace to shatter our walleye totals from the last two seasons.  We started at Godfrey Point, as usual.  Donny caught another small one, measuring at 15 inches.  He caught it in the boat launch area using a perch colored Rapala Shad Rap.  After trying the whole shoreline for a bit, we drove to our next spot.

We went to Tommy's house and saw a few walleye in the water.  We started off with Donny nailing another walleye using a black /silver Challenger and while wading next to the neighbor's dock.  I was on the dock and latched onto a HUGE walleye...over 25 inches, easily.  I was reaching down to scoop him up in my smaller net and lifted him out of the water.  The walleye was so big, that it did not fit into the net...it laid across the net.  I went to fold the walleye in half to make it fall into the net when my lure got snagged on the net and the fish's weight pulled him free and fell into the water.  Needless to say, that I wanted to throw my net, pole and lure into the lake and throw a temper-tantrum, but I maintained my composure.

We left after the walleye stopped biting.  We went to Tony's house.  I was hoping for a reprieve and to keep up with Donny.  That is exactly what I did.  I should have known we would have a productive night when we saw an awesome shooting star as soon as we stepped into the water.  The stalking technique was not very easy tonight due to the straight west winds that were making it difficult to accurately cast on top of the walleye that I spotted in the water.  However, I persevered and caught walleye number 48, 49 and 50 for hitting the 50 mark for the season.  They were all caught on the black/silver Challenger lure and were all caught using an extremely slow retrieve.

We are ahead of schedule for the season and I foresee a great summer catch log, as well.      

May 19, 2009

Sean is Skunked and Donny Catches a Slob

It wasn't my night tonight.  The weather was clear and star-filled, but without moon.  The water was only slightly wavy and the temperature was flipping freezing.  we stopped at the Finger for only a few minutes before we decided to go to Godfrey Point.  Two minutes after we arrive at Godfrey, Donny catches a walleye.  The two guys who had been there for over an hour without catching anything were a bit miffed, but that seems to be Donny's luck this year.  A short while later he caught a 21.25in slob.  We did not weigh it, but it must have been 5-6 pounds.  It was very thick and seemed gorged.  He caught both his walleyes on the black/silver Challenger lure.

We left Godfrey after we saw nor caught anything for over an hour.  We went to Tommy's house and saw a few walleye in the water but they did not hit any of the lures we threw at them.  So, we stopped at Tony's house and found the water to be very churned and milky.  No walleyes in sight and we were both freezing anyway, so we bagged it.

May 14, 2009

The Hat and Dock Are Not Cursed

This night was like Donny and I went into some alternate universe.  To set up this trip, as few items need to be brought up.  Donny and I each have a Novice2Pro Fishing baseball cap that we wear during tournaments, etc.  It seemed that whenever I wore mine, I would never have luck catching fish.  I am superstitious and did not wear the hat for much of this season.  I forgot my Yankees hat, so was forced to wear the Novice2Pro hat. 

The other item of importance this evening is the dock that we used to fish off of at Tommy's house had yielded zero fish so far this season, forcing us into the water to wade. 

Let's just say that I bucked the system tonight and wore my Novice2Pro hat and fished from the dock at Tommy's house.  My first cast I had a walleye on then spit the hook.  I thought I was doomed again...until the next cast.  I spotted a walleye 15feet in front of me, so I tossed my lure just past him and reeled in very slowly.  Wham!  He hit the lure like a Mack truck.  I had to lay flat on my stomach and reach down with my small net to get it from the water. 

About 10 minutes later, I nailed another big one.  Then right after that one, I caught another small one.  In all cases, I used the black /silver Challenger lure ("Old Faithful"). 

Donny was feeling pretty frustrated, as this spot is his natural domain and I had the luck tonight (it was the hat).  We ended up heading over to Tony's house to end the night.  The same scenario occurred here...I caught two more walleye and Donny was not happy.  He had not been skunked yet this season.  I know how he felt for sure. 

We were walking toward the shoreline, when Donny spotted a couple of walleye in the very shallow area near shore.  He tossed the lure out and caught one.  He used the black/silver Challenger.  The sky was not as bright as the past few nights, where the purple/silver Challenger seemed to work better with the bright moonlight.  The black/silver did the trick.       

May 13, 2009

Donny and Sean Seem to Have Favorite Spots Emerging

The title of this log entry says it all.  Donny seems to be dominating Tommy's house and I seem to have mastered catching walleye in the shallows at Tony's house.  This trend continued this evening when I ended up with two walleye out of Tony's and Donny ended up with two from Tommy's.

I really like the stalking technique in the shallow waters at Tony's house.  There is a lot of water area at Tony's that can be waded in.  I can spot walleye with my light and cast only 10-15 feet in front of me to catch them.  I walk around and continually use my flashlight to spot the eyes around me.  Then I can usually catch them.

Donny seems to have an effective place to stand in the water at Tommy's house where he is not directly in the light casting shadows in front of him.  Shadows seem to spook the already suspicious walleye.  He can see his target and just uses the same technique I use at Tony's.

I am not 100% sure why Donny and I have such a different result at these two locations, but I am hoping to figure it out.

May 12, 2009

Specialization in Techniques

We had a guest join Donny and I again tonight.  John unfortunately would have liked to forget this trip though.  We started off on the southern half of Oneida Lake at Tony's House.  I started off in the shallows just west of where Donny and John were fishing on the rock outcrop.  I have been consistent in catching walleye in this area over the last few nights and tonight was no different.  The weather was cold (approximately 33 degrees) and clear with a full moon.  I stayed with the purple & silver Challenger to get the benefit from the moonlight and it seemed to mimic the bait fish that were in the water.

The technique that Donny and I are using in many cases where the walleye are on top of the water and visible when spotted with a headlamp is as follows...

1.  Cast just over the are where the walleye was spotted.

2.  Turn your head away from the return path of the lure being retrieved.

3.  Retrieve the lure very slowly.  The walleye in shallow water seem to hit the slow-moving bait much harder than if you are reeling too quickly.

4.  Once the walleye hits the lure, lift the pole tip to a 45 degree angle upward from the water to effectively set the hook.  Walleye tend to respond negatively to too much tension on the line and will spit the hook if they are able to catch you off guard with their lack of fight on the retrieve.

5.  HAVE A SMALL NET IF YOU ARE WADING!  I have lost too many walleye this year because of the walleye getting itself into shallow enough water that it can use the rocks to their advantage.  lures getting knocked out due to this is a very frustrating thing to happen.  Using a small net will save you many headaches later.

Back to the trip...

I ended up catching two walleye at Tony's, while Donny and John were skunked.  We went to Tommy's House to see a bunch of walleye in the water.  Tommy had his flood light on again and had attracted plenty of bait fish.  The walleye at Tommy's seem very finicky as John and I tried without any luck to get them to bite.  Donny, however, continued his dominance at this spot in catching three walleye while wading 60-70 feet away from the dock, but only 20 feet into the water.  He used the spotting technique to catch his walleye.

After the walleye stopped biting, we went to Godfrey Point.  Nothing was caught here.  We only stayed for a short time until we went to the Finger.  I had some luck at the Finger.  I nailed two walleye from the same spot.  The Finger has a rock outcrop that juts into the water about 100 feet and continues out into the lake at shallow depths.  There is a steep drop-off about 50 yards out while facing the southern shore to the right.  The walleye seem to centralize there and when you cast into the pool and retrieve very slowly...you catch walleye.  I caught them on the same purple/silver Challenger that I have caught many on this season so far.

Unfortunately, John was skunked for the evening, so I gave him my bounty.  We are looking to bring John into the fold as a member of the Novice2Pro Fishing Team soon.

May 11, 2009

Limited Out, But Wasn't Easy

Tonight was a tough night.  We started at Godfrey Point, as the night before a friend of ours was nailing them and limited out in only 45 minutes.  We skipped the Finger, since we have had little luck there in our previous trips.  May 10th was definitely not May 11th, as we couldn't catch a walleye to save our lives...well...until Donny caught one on our way out of the water.  He caught it on a perch-colored Rapala Shad Rap. 

We drove straight to Tommy's house in hopes that there would be more walleye in the water.  Our wishes were granted s the northern winds were pushing all of the bait fish into the well-lit area near Tommy's flood light.  Walleye were everywhere but the only benefactor of this was once again...Donny.  He caught two more walleye on the purple and silver Challenger that I suggested.  I had a walleye on but it spit the hook about two feet in front of me.  I was hauling it into shore, but when a walleye gets itself onto rocks and shallow water, the result is a violent thrashing that most of the time, results in a lure flying back in your face.

After a lull in action, we went to Tony's house and started fishing in the shallows in 2 - 3ft of water.  I was not about to lose another fish.  I brought my small fish net with me out in the water wading.  Good thing I brought it because I would need it.  I noticed that Donny had been catching more fish in the same general vicinity that I was fishing and the only real difference was that his light source was significantly brighter.  I could not spot the walleye very well, so I grabbed my flashlight for this spot, as well.

A few casts into a couple of schooling walleye and wham!  I brought the walleye in close and as I reached for the fish with the net, the hook came flying out and the fish fell into the net.  Got lucky there.  I caught another one in the same fashion and Donny was in the same general area and caught nothing.  We were both using the purple/silver Challenger.    

May 8, 2009

A Bit Under the Weather for Sean

Tonight was a night that I would like to forget.  Not only did I get skunked, but I had to sit on the shore near Tommy's House after experiencing some shortness of breath and dizziness.  Needless to say, I was not paying too much attention tonight.  Donny did catch two more walleye though...one at Tommy's and one at Tony's house.

May 7, 2009

The Biggest Walleye of the Season So Far

We started at our usual spot at the Finger tonight.  We had lightning a few miles away and thought against wading out too far, so we immediately moved to Godfrey, were we might have been able to fish from the shore.  We thought wrong.  There were many weekend warriors lining the shoreline.  Donny and I scoped out both sides of the boat launch, but saw nothing in the waters.  No one else had caught anything either, so we jumped to Tommy's house. 

While at Tommy's, Donny caught another walleye.  I was getting very frustrated as Donny's friend, John, also joined us for the evening and caught two at Tommy's.  It never fails that when you bring someone along that they will catch the fish and you will be left out to dry.  As funny as it seems, I was not laughing, as he caught these walleyes on totally different lures than what Donny and I typically use.  He caught them on a fire-tiger Rapala and a blue and silver Rapala X-Rap.  I have never caught anything on anything but a Challenger or Shad Rap on the southern side of Oneida Lake.  I tried everything to catch the walleye that were in there.

After the walleye stopped hitting at Tommy's, we drove to Tony's to fishing off the night.  I tried a new spot at Tony's and hit the jackpot...a 20.75 inch walleye with a great fight in him.  I caught it on a Black & Silver Floating Yo-Zuri.  I caught him along a shoal that juts out into the lake where there were an abundance of glowing eyes swimming around.  Unfortunately, the fight was so violent, that the other walleye were skittish for the rest of our time there.  Donny caught his second walleye of the night in the shallows just west of me.  John did not catch another one that night.   

May 5, 2009

If I Drop One More Fish...I Will...Let's Just Say It Won't Be Pretty

Fishing in calm weather sure is nice, but walleye are picky in what they will hit on.  We started at the northern half of the lake tonight with a mild overcast, SSW winds at approximately 10-12mph.  Our first stop was the Finger, where we spent way too much time.  No real action as far as seeing eyes glowing in the water and no walleye on the top water feeding.

We moved to Godfrey Point where the conditions were about the same.  However Donny did catch a couple somethings...a huge Sucker and a newborn walleye that he did not end up landing (it was too small for the lure!)  The highlight of this spot was when Donny and I landed the sucker, he proceeded to get grossed out by the fish...almost to the point where he may have needed to bring his old "Wussy Glove" out of retirement.  I ended up having to unhook the sucker myself.

After spending way too much time at Godfrey, we moved to Tommy's House.  Donny went straight into the water to wade and I tested my theory that the walleye do not like the presentation of the lure from the dock.  I moved down to the shore just east of Donny to a rock outcrop where I saw a large school of walleye.  I proceeded to cast with a medium retrieval speed and turned to watch Donny catch two walleye right off the bat.  He was using the perch-colored Rapala Shad Rap and tossing it out about 10 - 20 feet around his position.  I switched to the same lure and immediately nailed  nice one.  I landed it no problem.

The problem came on my very next cast.  I had another walleye hit my lure hard.  I landed it quickly and took the hook out of the mouth as soon as I picked up the walleye from the water.  I went to toss it to the shore and as I motioned my arm forward, the walleye wiggled and hit my leg with its tail.  I watched the tumbling walleye flip through the air, right into the water.  Bye Bye!  I was a bit angry, especially since I turned my head to see Donny hauling another walleye from the water to the shore.

I did end up getting another walleye on the hook only to have it spit the hook as I went to pull it out of the water.  It was late at this point and I was ready to head home.  Luckily, Donny urged me to stop at Tony's house and try there for a few minutes.

I ended up going to a spot that was identical to the spot that I went to at Tommy's house...a nice shallow rock outcrop where there was many walleye swimming around.  I did catch another one and felt better.  Donny did not fair as well...    

May 2, 2009 Pt.2

NO SLEEP!

Donny and I met up again at 10pm today for more tournament action.  Let's just say that I was not feeling it.  I was really sick and so tired that I could not keep my eyes open without the help of some Monster Energy shots (shameless plug to try and get them as a sponsor).  The weather was mild and with very little wind to speak of...maybe 5mph out of the SSW.  We started off at the finger again without the rain.  We saw a few walleyes swimming around but had a hard time catching them.  Donny had the bright idea of using the new clown-color Challenger which paid off.  He caught one. 

After another hour of fishing without catching anything else, we moved to Godfrey Point.  Donny caught another one on the clown color, so I switched to it, as well.  No luck for me.  Just prior to us leaving Donny caught another one, but had the same misfortune of dropping it into the drink.  It was another baby, but it was another walleye.  Off to the southern side of the lake to Tommy's house.

This spot is typically a fall spot, but when we arrived, there was tons of eyes swimming around Tommy's dock.  Tommy leaves his flood light on for us to keep the bait fish in toward his place.  We expected to nail them, but they were very finicky.  I watched lure after lure travel past numerous eyes without on walleye interested.  Apparently Donny's walleyes did not go to the same school as mine, because they were S-T-O-O-P-I-D.  He used the same clown color Challenger and caught two more.  The only difference was that Donny walked down the shoreline and waded in about 30 feet outside the direct light from the flood light.  I admittedly got very frustrated at being skunked and being sick and tired did not help.  We took off to our final spot for the night and had no luck.  I decided that I would not be so stubborn next time and move to different spots at each of our destinations.

May 2, 2009

Opening Day of Walleye Season and Tournament Day!

Look out walleye...here comes the Novice2Pro Fishing team!!!  Donny and I set off on our annual all-nighter for the opening day of walleye season on Oneida Lake for the Lion's Club Annual Walleye Tournament.  We started off on the northern half of the lake at "the finger".  We arrived at 10pm and sat in the truck until 12am to get those tournament-worthy 30 inchers.

Well, the 30 inchers evaded us at our first stop.  We stood in the water, in torrential rains and wind gusts of 24mph.  The waves were white-capped at about 2 foot swells.  It looked like perfect walleye weather.  We started off using our old faithful Challenger lures.  The black and silver lure normally crushes the early season walleye for us over the last two seasons.  We stayed at the finger for about an hour...watching the couple of guys wading in the water a few yards away catch a couple and we remained at zero.

We moved on to Godfrey Point, a few miles away, only to find that there were a bunch of guys along the shore with no real reasonable place for us to squeeze in, so we moved to the eastern side of the lake by Sylvan Beach.  The winds were coming in from a NNW position and this area would normally be great, but it seems to be a fall spot.  We waded out for about a half and hour, but quickly realized we were not in the right spot for tonight.  We took off for Tommy's house on the south shore of the lake. 

We walked down to the shore and out on the dock to see what kind of glowing eyes we might see.  Let's just say that if we wanted to cast only a foot in front of us, we couldn't.  The wind and waves were crashing in and no fishing at this spot was goign to happen.  Off to Tony's house a few miles away...same thing. 

We drove back to the other side of the lake to Godfrey Point to see if there was any place for us to squeeze in.  It was approximately 2:45am at this point.  We were able to get in and fish along with three other guys.  I caught the first three walleye of the season casting across the light, in front of the pier.  I did this to create a silhouette effect on the lure using the  huge flood lights on shore.  It worked great!  I retrieved very slowly and they hit hard.  The three I caught were all under 20 inches, but were worthy to eat.  Donny was getting visually frustrated with me catching fish when he was using the same lure, which was a black and silver Challenger.  He was moving from one spot to the next, to the next, to the next.  I stopped and shot some video for the site after I caught my fourth walleye (which I actually dropped in the water when trying to hook it into the stringer...yes I am embarrassed). 

I took out the video camera, thinking I would have to sacrifice 20 minutes of fishing just to catch Donny catching  his first walleye of the season, but was pleasantly surprised when on his first cast he nailed one!  What luck!  It was a little guy, but he still caught one.  Donny ended up catching another one a short while later before we called it quits for the night. 

We didn't need to turn in any fish so we just drove home.

NO SLEEP!