If it weren’t for predictability – behavioral consistencies – fishing would be the Powerball: pick a convenience store, any store, slap a sawbuck on the counter, and search the sky for a shooting star.

Auspiciously, walleyes, to a large degree, are creatures of habit. They’re driven to the same locations, to eat the same grub, as dictated by their environment and the traditional, Christian Calendar.

Summer-patterning is tougher, though, unlike spring’s easy pickings, when walleyes flood to shallow and tepid waters rife with baitfish. This is the Chocolate Factory.

No, in the summer, the sun shines longer, water temps swell, and walleyes don’t like it. Those easily fished shallows heat past the point of preference. Temps steamroll through the 60’s, into the 70’s, making tracks for the 80’s. So these light and temperature sensitive predators migrate, outward and onward, following a destiny that leads to deeper and darker climes and open spaces.

JUNE    

June isn’t really summer, in that fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk sort of way. In fact, many seasoned anglers consider the month-of-solstice unparalleled. The shallows teem with life, finned-forage included. Water temps range all through the 60’s to median 70’s, which is optimal to livable. Weeds are coming up, lending protective cover and shade, and the walleyes take notice, and residence.

Good greens offer the first genuine shelter and hangout of the summer. Weeds, acting as structure, provide a gathering point for peripatetic fish. Meanwhile, lending baitfish a false sense of security.

Certain weeds are abler than others. True broadleaf cabbage establishes in six to 12 feet of water over sand, gravel, and marl. Thicker, forest-like stands are preferred, but by comparison, a fistful of plants in a pasture of onesy-twosies can be prodigious.

Coontail is another gem, with its lattice of Christmas-green whorls. In its most dynamic form, coontail grows in dense mats in five to nine feet of water. Other localized weeds perform similarly.

In June, nothing outshines the jig and minnow. It mimics what they’re after, and can be presented in infinite ways by varying speed and stroke.

My preference is a long-shank jig with a shiner minnow or comparable, torpedo-shaped minnow. The minnow is thread on (see Illustration) to keep the hook-point free of salad and to foil short nips.

Crawling with the electric trolling motor, pitch to the visible edge of the weeds, or deep into a field of short and strewn vegetation. Swim and hop the jig back, bumping weed stalks and the bottom. Keep your line taut and the jig in constant motion. Weed-walleyes are aggressive fish; they’ll catch up.

JULY

It’s time to slather on the sun-block and don the mesh baseball cap. You might also concede that it’s time to abandon the shallows. Yes, but not always.

“When the heat of the day goes out,” says Brian “Bro” Brosdahl, a guiding buddy of mine, “walleyes move to the edge of the weeds. Some come from deep water, others from inside the weedbed. Either way, they stack-up on the edge at dusk.”

Bro locates and authenticates the weed-edge by day using the GPS plotter. This lets him steer flawlessly in total darkness, following the lit liquid crystal track. His other trick is placing marker buoys – wrapped in reflective tape – on crucial inside turns and points. Hit ‘em with a flashlight, and you can effectively troll without GPS. Use them in conjunction with GPS, and the markers bear real-time reference.

I mentioned trolling. No jig pitching here. To cover water and trace the weedline, Bro pulls crankbaits, powered by the electric trolling motor or hushed 4-stroke kicker.

Stickbaits are his lures of choice. Those elongated, cigar-shaped ditties, like the tested Smithwick Rattlin’ Rogue and Cotton Cordell Ripplin’ Red Fin. They wobble nicely at slow speeds, and run ideally in that six to 18 foot range, where most weedlines establish. Deeper divers might be required in your exact situation, so carry those, too.

Bro spools with a ‘stiff’ 6 to 8 foot mono, like Berkley XT. Superlines make baits dive too fast, and you want to put plenty of space between the motor and lure, a technique called ‘long-lining’. Nighttime walleyes are often spooky, so Bro trolls 60 to 100 feet behind the boat.

On a good bite, he’ll troll long into darkness. Full and New Moons can be supercharged.

AUGUST    

Normal people have quit fishing by now, or switched to bass. To me, though, it’s the month to test your deepwater skills, or cut your teeth. Grab a hydrological map and look for the basin – the intimidating stuff, 30 to 80 feet down. Identify the widest swaths. Then locate spots where the basin brushes structure, like an offshore reef or gravel bar. Call these ‘contact points’. It’s where deep-ranging, wandering walleyes cater to their inherent need for structure.

Once on the water, identify the thermocline, the thin and volatile layer of water between the warm upper water column (epilimnion) and cool lower water column (hypolimnion). At the thermocline, water temps drop a degree a foot. Consequently, walleyes use it to find that happy place.

Thermoclines are detectable on most LCD graphs. They appear as funky hazes or ‘false-bottoms’ 30 to 80 feet below the surface. Thermocline-graphing might reveal actual ‘thumbnails’ (walleyes), too, as well as baitfish.

A crankbait is the best tool in the box. Nature has walleyes grubbing for baitfish anyway, so there’s logic in pulling a minnow-imitator right down the buffet line.

Getting down to the kill-zone isn’t a daunting task, either.  A deep diver – Rapala Down Deep Husky Jerk or Reef Runner Deep Diver – driven by a skinny superline – PowerPro 8/1 or Berkley FireLine 8/3 – can push the 30-foot mark ‘a cappella’.

But if traditional deep-divers won’t get there, snap on a snap-weight. Snap-weights, as their name implies, readily attach (and detach) to the line, providing down-rigger-like service at a fraction of the cost and hassle. The devices (½ ounce to 8 ounces) are affixed to the line after sending the lure in motion. The simple ‘50/50 formula’ says to let out 50 feet, attach a snap-weight, and let out 50 more. Variations abound from there, but it’s enough info make you dangerous.

Because the snap-weight itself reaches 20, 30-feet and so on, most of the diving is done. Consequently, shallow stickbaits, like the Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow, get the nod.

Engage the motor at one to two and half miles and hour and set the cruise. Now pass me a beer…

WEATHER CHART

High Winds:

This is easy, especially if it’s been blowing from the same direction for two days or more. Fish wherever waves are lapping. Even in the heat of summer, a good roil will hurl plankton, zooplankton and baitfish toward shore, and the walleyes come tumbling after.

Presentation: Jigs and plastics are in vogue. So are shallow running crankbaits. Fish fast and strafe lots of water.

High Pressure:

Nothing sends walleyes deeper in their minds and body. Barometric pressure is actually that, pressure, exerted by the atmosphere that may or may not affect humans, but definitely influences wildlife. Critters get sluggish, eating less. Walleyes tend to drop deeper, too, largely because of the piercing sunlight.

Presentation: Go small and slow. Like a leech on a long-snell – 6 to 12 feet – with a light sliding sinker. Patience and a slip-bobber can also prevail. Stick to peak dawn and dusk periods.

Stormy:

If Zeus is making a ruckus, stay in the cabin – no lunker is worth the risk. If you can beat the tempest, though, head to your bread and butter hole, deep or shallow. Walleyes feed recklessly in front of foul weather. Trophy class fish often fall as blackness mounts on the horizon.

Presentation: Fish large and relatively fast. A crawler and spinner on a three-way rig – or bottom-bouncer – is deadly when pulled pre-squall.

Stinking Hot:    

Realize that walleyes don’t know when the air is 95°F and saturated. In fact, those conditions often piggyback with low barometric pressure, which is good. During such events, seek out deep offshore structure, such as a rock reef that peaks at 20 or 30 feet and cascades down to 60, 70, or more. Pound the flanks and crown at dawn and dusk; work the base by day.

Presentation: Bottom-bouncers were designed with rock reefs in mind. Attach a three to six foot spinner-snell and jumbo leech or large minnow. Troll it around on a short leash, staying as vertical as possible.