Fishing for Walleye in Willard and Yuba

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(Note: Walleye and perch fishing at Yuba crashed in 2002 and it will take a few years to build back.)

Spring Walleye at Willard and Yuba

By Tom Pettengill
Sport Fisheries & Aquatic Education Coordinator, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Willard Bay

Spring walleye are very predictable in some ways and very unpredictable in others. Spring walleye fishing means fishing for spawning fish. I have fished spring walleye more at Willard Bay than any other water in Utah. As a biologist and angler I have come to know the behaviors and haunts of spring walleye in Willard Bay.

As the days lengthen and the temperatures warm in February, walleye begin to think more and more about spawning. Both males and females will begin to migrate to traditional spawning areas. The males will arrive first and stay the longest. By early March, male walleye will begin arriving at spawning sites in the Inlet Channel and along the West and North dikes. By mid-March, spawning will begin and it will continue for a couple weeks. The males will stay in the spawning areas while females will come and go, as they are ready to lay their eggs. A 10-pound female may lay 500,000 eggs each spring. Eggs hatch in 12-18 days and within another two weeks the young walleye will have dispersed into the open water of the lake.

Males greatly outnumber the females and it is the males that we want to target for harvest and a tasty meal. If you are lucky enough to catch a large female and want to have the fish mounted, you don’t need to kill her to do that. Just quickly measure and photograph the fish and release it to spawn another time. Many taxidermists today can make an exact replica of your trophy and a picture will show the coloration of your fish.

The best catches of walleye at Willard Bay in March are made by concentrating your fishing efforts from late afternoon through the night and into early morning. Spawning typically occurs at night so that’s when the fish are in along shore and are most active. Focus your efforts from sunset into the night and pre-dawn to early morning. Spring fishing success is highly variable. Fish as often as you can to make sure you hit those few good days. Some of the best fishing may occur just before storms and during the full moon.

Concentrate your effort around the mouth of the South Marina (the inlet channel is closed to fishing in March) and along the West and North dikes. The walleye will be right in along the rocks. They may be in only a few inches of water right next to shore or down several feet. Walleye will not be uniformly distributed in these areas and may move in and out from day to day. Walleye tend to congregate in small areas and once a good spot is found it may stay good all through that spawning season. The next spring they’ll probably not be in the exact same location.

Along the dikes, whether fishing from shore or a boat, just pick a spot and start fishing. This is probably the best time of year to fish from shore because the fish are in along the rocks and often shallow. At times it seems that fishing is actually better for shore anglers than boat anglers. The fish seem to hit jigs coming into shore better than jigs being pulled away from shore. I know boat owners who regularly fish from shore this time of year at Willard Bay.

Work along the dike fan-casting to cover as much area as you can from your location and then move to where you are covering new water. Move slowly and quietly. Banging rocks together or making a lot of noise will spook shallow fish. Once you get a hit or catch a fish, work that area for several minutes to see if there are other active fish in the area. Then slowly move on, casting to locate more fish.

Most of the fish this time of year will be taken by casting 1/8-1/2 ounce jigs. Lightweight jigs work best in light wind conditions and shallower water. If the wind is blowing or the fish are deep then use a heavier jig. White, yellow or shad-colored jigs seem to work the best. The best jig body size seems to be about three inches. Curly- or paddle-tailed jigs provide good action and send off a vibration that walleye can key in on as you crank the jig slowly through the water. I have found that cranking the jig just fast enough to keep it close to the bottom but up out of the rocks works better than hopping in along the bottom. Vary speed and depth of presentation until you find what is working that day. Use a 6 or 6-1/2 foot medium action spinning rod. I like to use 6-8 pound monofilament line. Tie the jig directly to the line. Don’t use a swivel or snap to attach the jig as this will affect the action of the jig and the way it travels through the water.

At times, walleye can be very aggressive and will hit your jig hard. At other times you’ll only feel a slightly heavier sensation as you pull the jig through the water. The best way to demonstrate this subtle bite is to cut a rubber band and hold one end in each hand. As you just barely begin to stretch the rubber band you will feel a slight pull in the other hand. This is a typical walleye bite on a jig. If your line moves funny or you feel anything unusual, set the hook immediately. Most of us have many more bites than we ever know. Fish can swim along at the same speed as your lure and completely inhale it and spit it out without anglers ever knowing they had a bite.

One way to increase your odds of hooking a fish as it spits out your jig is to slightly bend open the gap of the hook. Use a pair of pliers and just open the gap a little by pulling the point out away from the shaft of the hook. Grab the hook behind the barb. Don’t grab the point or barb of the hook. You only have to bend it about 1/16 of an inch. By doing this the point won’t be exactly parallel to the shaft of the hook and can more easily snag the inside of the fishes mouth as it tries to spit it out. When it feels the pick of the hook it will jerk to get away and many times will set the hook itself, or you’ll feel the fish and set the hook. Check your hooks often. When casting around these rocks it’s very easy to dull or bend the point of the hook. Carry a small hook sharpener and keep those hooks razor sharp.

Spring walleye fishing at Willard Bay is pretty simple. Follow these few tips and tricks, keep your jig in the water and you’ll catch some March walleye at Willard Bay.

Yuba

April at Yuba Reservoir can mean walleye that haven’t spawned (pre-spawn), spawning walleye and spawned-out walleye (post-spawn). Whatever the spring activity stage, these fish are going to be in a negative (not feeding) or a neutral to only slightly aggressive mood. Water temperatures will range from the low 40’s to near 60 degrees. April still means spring fishing for walleye. With these cold temperatures the fish’s metabolism is still slow. They are not actively feeding and because their energy needs are low they don’t have to feed very often. After the rigger’s of spawning they need a little time to rest and recuperate.

During the pre-spawn and spawning periods (early to mid-April) the walleye in Yuba tend to bunch up in two key areas. They are found along a rather long stretch of shoreline from the cliffs southeast of the dam northwest to the sandy bluffs north of the campground. The other main area is in the vicinity of the island at the mouth of the narrows. They bunch up in these two locations mainly because of the rocky substrate they spawn over. There are a few other small rocky areas where some fish may be found.

Peak activity will occur from sun-down to sun-up. This is when the fish will be most aggressive and anglers will experience the best and fastest fishing success. In the evening the fish will migrate into the shallows for spawning and/or feeding. Fish may be in only inches of water right up against the shore or out in a few feet of water on the brush lines and drop offs. Fish can be caught throughout the day but catch rates (fish/hour) will be low. I have caught a few fish quiet quickly in the morning and then fished almost all day for one or two more fish. During the day the walleye will be deeper. Most of my daytime success has come along the main drop off from about 12 feet to 25 feet. I plan my spring fishing to either arrive before daylight and fish until mid-morning or arrive mid-afternoon and fish until dark.

Although walleye can be caught from shore at Yuba, shore access is limited and it’s best to fish from a boat. Other than casting jigs or maybe still fishing with a night crawler, your fishing options are limited from shore. A boat gives you greater mobility. When fish are 10 feet or deeper you can use a fish finder to help locate them.

Walleye at Yuba in April can be caught with a variety of techniques. Casting with a perch or light colored jig is probably the best single technique. I usually tip my jigs with 1/2 a nightcrawler. Try a variety of jig fishing techniques from casting and hopping the jig on the bottom to swimming the jig or just slowly dragging it across the bottom. When the fish are aggressive they will hit the jig on the fall, right after it hits the water and before it can get to the bottom. Watch your line as the jig is falling and you’ll see it jerk or pop near where it enters the water. You may even feel a tap. If there are two or three fish together, a fish may hit the jig and take off with it trying to keep its catch from others in pursuit. In this case you may see your line take off sideways or really feel the fish jerk. Vary your jigging techniques until the fish tell you what kind of mood they are in and then continue to fish using the technique that caught the first fish or resulted in a strike. Remember to bend your hooks out slightly and keep them razor sharp. As always when jig fishing, if something doesn’t look right or feel right, set the hook immediately.

If the fish are in 8-10 feet of water or deeper and scattered you can slow troll to locate and catch them. By "slow troll" I’m talking about every thing from barely moving up to about one mph. This type of fishing is best done by either drifting or slowly moving with an electric motor. Remember the water is cold and the fish are sluggish. You can either slow troll a single jig or a pair. Drag one jig on the bottom and have another, on a dropper off your main line, a foot up off the bottom. This allows you to use different colors, different tail types, different baits, as you experiment to find out what the fish want. You can also lose jigs twice as fast. You can also put a sliding sinker in front of a barrel swivel with a 2-4 foot leader behind the swivel and put a crawler on a plain hook or on a floating jig head. Or, you can use a bottom bouncer sinker and fish a spinner rig or a monofilament leader and a crank bait.

By dragging a crankbait behind a bottom bouncer you can fish a crank bait that would normally run just under the surface and keep it just off the bottom in 20 feet of water. Early in the year you want to fish stick baits (like the original Rapala) or medium action baits like Shad Raps and Berkley’s Frenzy. Sometimes early in the year a lure with a rattle in it will out perform one without a rattle.

Using a bottom bouncing sinker or a heavier jig allows you to move faster, covering more water and presenting your baits to more fish. But the fish may not want a fast moving presentation. If you’re seeing fish on your fish finder and not getting any hits then slow down or stop. Change techniques and baits. Slowly work a small area. Sometimes just sitting over a fish and hanging a bait (jig or baited hook) in it’s face will get a fish that normally wouldn’t bite.

For jig fishing and slowly moving a jig or baited hook behind a sliding sinker, I prefer to use spinning tackle. Use a 6 to 6-1/2 foot, medium-to-medium-light spinning rod rigged with 6-8 pound line. For dragging bottom bouncing sinkers with spinners or cranks, I like a casting outfit. I use 6-1/2 to 7 foot, medium or medium heavy rods and 10 pound test line. A casting reel with a flipping switch is really helpful. With the flipping switch you don’t have to engage the reel after letting line out. Set your drag just hard enough to set the hook. Walleye aren’t known for their fighting ability but big walleye have a reputation for making short, fast runs when least expected. If the drag is set too tight either the hooks pull free or the line breaks. The walleye in Yuba have been in such good physical shape that they tend to fight harder than walleye from most other waters.

I have given you a lot of suggestions for ways to catch April walleye in Yuba. Remember, the best times to fish are early or late in the day. Experiment with a variety of these fishing methods and have fun. Mastering a variety of techniques will mean more walleye in the boat no matter what time of year it is.