Vallecito Walleye

With the wildfires raging very close to my doorstep, I haven't had much time to get out fishing, however, I am using the fishing boat as part of our evacuation plan... My wife got the house deed, passports, family heirlooms all packed while I went for my waders, rods, reels, fly tying kit, tackle boxes. That should cover all the important stuff. If you're forced to evacuate, remember that a fishing boat is a great thing to fill full of your stuff then you get your stuff out AND you've got your boat. House might burn down but at least you can fish...

My quest, once life turns back to normal, is to become the authority on the Walleye in Vallecito which make up 29% of the gillnet survey, but seldom come to the net. I'll spill the beans on what I've been told by my Walleye catchin friends.

• Walleye can be caught in the day, but they are nocturnal feeders
• Walleye come into shallows and eat crayfish at night
• A bottom bouncer mimics a mud trail that Walleye will follow, try a crawler harness behind the bouncer
• The gillnet survey shows them all over, but apparently there are a lot around the islands east of the marina
• You can get a reaction bite from them pulling a crankbait quickly around structure
• They taste very very good

So there you have it, everything I've learned from much better fishermen than me. I, as you may have read, do not catch Walleye. They don't like the stink of me. My wife does fine using a 1/4oz Gold Kastmaster, but that is at Puett.