West Michigan Walleye (I caught one!!)

[Rockman72]

Went fishing out of a West Michigan port yesterday for walleye. My brother and I went out early for salmon and then came in towards the piers at dark. The wind really picked up at dark (and the waves) so we fished in the channel. I caught a 21" walleye!!!!! I was using a hj clown fishing it real slow. My brother had a couple of bites, but we only managed the one walleye. Regardless we're thrilled considering we hardly ever catch walleye. It was an interesting experience fishing in the dark. My brother had to work early this morning so we left at 10:30 just as the rain was starting to come down heavy. Looking forward to dinner tomorrow.

[STEINFISHSKI]

Good deal! we did not fare so well and had one bump in the hours we were able to fish before we got blown off. Crappy night out in the rain and mucho bouncing. Impossible to get a good feel for the bait. But next time....

[POLARBEAR]

hey guys, went over to bass proshops today and they had rappala husky jerks shj14 for $3.50 ea. looked like there is only 3 colors. wasnt sure if i should have bought some.. wanted to though... :lol: :bouncy: spent enopugh though... :Modified_ :banghead3 :yikes: lol oh the s stands for stainless. would these be the same you are casting?

[justthinking]

Hey - I'll add a second walleye to the "channel caught" list.

I got one last night around 11pm after everyone had left the pier because of the wind/waves. I think the guys who were headed in as I was walking out around 10pm probably thought I was nuts, but I figured there had to be at least one fish in that channel. As long as there was no lightning I was going to give it a shot. The fish hit a HJ14 blue/silver along the wall. It was 25" and weighed 5lbs, and is the largest walleye I've ever caught. The last one I caught was 10 years ago up at our former camp in Canada, so it was a real thrill to put this one in the net and in the cooler.

I've got to say thanks to all of you guys on this board (especially Tim) who have been chasing them over here on the west side of the state and have let all of us know what the hot baits are right now. To say that I've been out of the "walleye loop" over the last decade is an understatement, so it was nice to be able to put together the right gear to be successful on a pretty lousy night to even be trying.
Thanks again guys -

[STEINFISHSKI]

Way to go Jeff. Congrats on the biggest to date too. Hopefully the fish will stick around a couple more weeks. The bite should move northward as the water starts warming that way. Anytime on the help, it's good to know others success or lack thereof to help get started. Only a handfull guys from the site posting, good to see more getting into them.

Darrin, I think the s is for silver plated. The clowns I use have the silver plating. The HJ is neutrally bouyant and has rattles compared to the floaters or deep divers. They also have the newer glass series HJ which has done well in the daytime for me. You can reel them to depth, pause, and stand them still in the water column, and sweep them forward right in front of their nose triggering a strike from even the most finicky walleye.

[Fishbomb]

Those HJ 14's BPS has in the big bin are salt water series baits, that's why they have the galvenized hooks on them. They would be o.k. but they do not have them in the colors the regular HJ come in or any of the new Glass colors. The best colors we have been catching fish on are sil/blk, clown and the new white glass minnow. They had the regular ones on sale for $3.99 a little while back but didn't have a very good selection (sold out) so I got a rain check for twenty and are waiting for them to stock up again. I think the silver salt water one would be alright if you put some red paint under the lip so it looked like the old Vampire color.