Fishing Lakes for Summertime Walleye

EDITOR'S NOTE: Keith Kavajecz of Kaukauna, Wisconsin, a pro walleye fisherman, specializes in tournament fishing and walleye-fishing promotions. Kavajecz, who has fished in walleye tournaments since 1986, won the 1994 and 1998 North American Walleye Anglers Angler-of-the-Year award. He and his son, Tommy, won the 1998 North American Walleye Anglers Team of the Year. Kavajecz and his business partner, Gary Parsons, won the Masters Walleye Circuit Team of the Year and World Championship in 1988. Keith and Gary co-host "Bass Pro Shop's Outdoor World," which airs on TNN.

QUESTION: What's another way to find walleye in the summer?
ANSWER: If you fish lakes, including the Great Lakes, probably the best way to fish for walleye is to use crankbaits. Oftentimes in the summer, instead of relating to structure like the classical walleye humps, points, etc., the fish will go out, suspend and start eating baitfish that just swim around randomly out in the middle of the lake. Targeting these fish is difficult because they're moving targets. Wherever the baitfish move, you'll find the walleye. Plus, the fish don't usually stay on the bottom. You'll find them somewhere in the water column, 10 feet, 20 feet or 30 feet down.

To efficiently find and catch the walleye in lakes, we'll typically use a crankbait with small inline planer boards. With this technique, you can run multiple lines. If you have a couple of people on the boat, you can run four lines. Since I have three boys, often I'll take them crankbait fishing because I can run about eight lines out the back. I can run my crankbaits at all different depths - 10, 15, 20 feet down - and various colors until I find a combination that catches the fish at any level at which they bite. Oftentimes with walleye, we go out and look for them with our electronics. You actually can see them pretty well. Because walleye don't hold tight to the bottom, you easily can pick them out with a good piece of electronic equipment. Then this information will give you an indication of where you may want to start trolling. But after that, you just have to start trolling the crankbaits at different levels and using various actions to learn what they walleye actually will bite or will bite on that day.

Tomorrow: Fishing Reservoirs for Summertime Walleye