In our quest to catch walleye’s, easily the most important skill any successful angler must have is the ability to actually feel a bite. Without this, all the time, effort, and resources we have expended to get to this point are futile. Yes, some folks seem to have a little more natural sensitivity in their hands, but unless you possess some sort of physical handicap, we all possess the same basic senses.

With hunting season now fully upon us, many of you simply cannot-or will not pull yourself away from your land based quarry long enough to give the fin portion of fins and feathers any serious attention. Once the smoke poles come out, the fishing poles go completely unattended. Nowhere is that more true than in South Dakota where
everything relating to Pheasants becomes all encompassing. But…by keeping an open mind and with a minimum of effort, we can indeed have it all.

The ability to maintain the attitude that you are going to catch fish every time you hit the water is the largest X factor in a successful outing. Without this, you are just putting in your time in, and hoping for the best. The old saying that the fish are always biting somewhere generally holds true. It is our job to find these fish and present a bait to them in a manner that will elicit a positive result them connecting with our hook.

Most Walleye enthusiasts are well aware of Bottom Bouncers and a Spinner or Plain Snell coupled with Livebait, as a staple presentation. As effective they are, there has always been a gap between the two.

Particularly, from later summer into fall: When our thoughts turn to attracting and catching large Walleyes. I’d like you to take a leap of faith and throw out all of your preconceived notions of subtleties. What I am going to outline is definitely not a “Match the Hatch” or finesse presentation option.

What I normally write about and try to convey concerning fishing is typically educational in nature. I attempt to pass along what I have learned from others, personal observation, and most significantly from trying about every darn thing imaginable in order to get the confounding creatures to bite…consistently.

Here in the Dakota’s most species of fish have recovered from the rigors of spawning and are ready to tie on a serious feed bag. What this means is that they will generally be easy to catch using a wide variety of presentations. To some degree, all of us get stuck in a rut with pet methods for extracting our favorite fish. Now is the time to broaden your horizons and live a little on the wild side, at least as far as techniques are concerned.