Winning walleye strategies on Saginaw Bay
Saginaw Bay was the final qualifying stop on the 2002 Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Circuit. The big bay provided the most exciting and dramatic fishing of the entire season, with two seasoned pros – Ranger pro Todd Riley of Amery, Wis., and legendary Lund pro Mark Martin of Twin Lake, Mich. – battling it out on the final day for supremacy.
When it was all said and done, Riley weighed in 38 pounds and 1 ounce to Martin’s 36 pounds and 5 ounces to take home the trophy and an earned payday of $90,000.
Top anglers used similar strategies
Both anglers used similar strategies to exploit the burgeoning walleye fishery on Saginaw Bay. They both trolled crawler harnesses and crawlers behind planer boards to take home the big money.
“I didn’t use anything fancy to catch the walleyes all week,” said Riley. “I had just come from a tournament in Wisconsin and still had spinner rigs tied on when I started pre-fishing. I stuck with these same spinners throughout the tournament. Size 5 chartreuse, orange and green Bait Rigs blades are what I used on my rigs to
catch the walleye.”
Martin said: “I used a prototype blade made by Northland Tackle Company. It is a holographic blade, and it really made a difference in the number and quality of strikes I got during the tournament. I used both Colorado and Indiana blades and used a trolling speed of between just under 1 and 1.3 mph.”
Both of the top pros used night crawlers as their primary bait. Martin made a slight adjustment in his rigging technique that helped keep more fish hooked.
“I think one of the keys to my success at keeping fish hooked is that I don’t use treble hooks on my crawler harnesses,” said Martin. “Instead I am using three single Daiichi hooks. Thanks to them, I didn’t lose as many fish.
“I have noticed over the years that you can have a walleye lightly hooked on one of the hooks on a treble,” said Martin. “The fish will then roll and one of the other hooks on the treble will stick into the fish and pull out the other hook and then the fish is gone. With the single hook on the crawler, it seems to get hooked better in the roof of the mouth.”
Riley used a combination of Off Shore Tackle planer boards and snap weights to present his winning crawler harnesses. Martin used Church Tackle planer boards and clip weights. Both anglers agree that, when releasing the planer board and your weight from the line, it is very important to maintain enough tension to prevent excess slack, which can allow a walleye the opportunity to shake free.
Leaders top tourneys
Don’t follow the pack if you want to win a major tournament.
“We could catch walleyes when we were fishing in an area that was receiving pressure, but the best move was to head away from the pack,” said Riley. “The bigger walleyes seemed to shut down when you had too many people pressuring them.”
Martin was plagued with anglers following him after the word was out that he was on fish.
“I had boats following me the last couple of days before the final round,” said Martin. “In fact, one boat would head to whatever spot I went to. A couple of times I headed to spots I knew were not good, just to throw them off. The key to my success was to stay away from the other anglers. The bigger concentrations of fish were not very far away from where the other anglers were fishing, but the better fish were just not where the crowd was.”
The best areas for hooking both large numbers and size of fish were the Charity Islands or Gravelly Shoal, although the walleyes were starting to move toward the bay on the last day of the tournament. If you are looking to hook a few ‘eyes in Saginaw Bay and don’t want to make the long run from Hoyles Marina in Linwood to the Charity Islands, it is best to head out of Au Gres for a much shorter trip to this area.
The best depths varied from day to day, with many fish being caught in the 10- to 20-foot range throughout the tournament. However, some anglers found them as deep as 30 feet or as shallow as 5 to 8 feet.
One of the other little-discussed “secrets” of some of the pros during the Saginaw Bay tournament was the use of a Pa’s lure behind a planer board. Many walleye anglers have heard of Pa’s, but don’t know what it is. It is a crawler harness with a deep diving crankbait lip built into the harness. You can change the blades without retying. So in effect, you get a different wobbling action with your crawler harness and don’t need to add extra weight to bring your offering down to the walleyes. This was an effective option on the bay, but the old standby crawler harness took both first and second on Saginaw Bay during this tournament.