Using Humminbird Side Imaging to solve the walleye presentation puzzle
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If you've kept up with my Humminbird Side Imaging instructional pieces, then you know that Side Imaging fishing systems are powerful pieces of technology for locating both structure and fish. One of the questions that I receive quite often is, "does Side Imaging really help you catch more fish?" This article is an example of how I use Side Imaging to not only find walleye, but also help me decide how to fish for them. By using Humminbird Side Imaging to solve the walleye presentation puzzle, I can stay on top of the fish and keep them coming to the net under a variety of environmental conditions.
Before I begin, here's a bit of context: the Screen Captures below were collected over a two week period while pre-fishing for, and then competing in, a series of early season walleye tournaments held on a shallow prairie lake. Relatively devoid of "traditional" walleye-holding structure, this lake has an average depth of about 8 feet and is just brimming with walleye. It is quickly becoming my favorite place to fish in the spring.
Dr. Jason Halfen
Professional Walleye Angler
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I'll start with a 3-way split screen capture from early in the day. This was collected from a deeper-than-average area, and as you can see, this area is loaded with fish. Inspect the Side Imaging portion of the split screen, and note the large number of dark shadows associated with the white (fish) returns. The significant number of shadows tell me that there are many fish high in the water column, as fish close to or on the bottom tend to not cast discernable shadows. This is confirmed by Down Imaging and Switchfire 2D sonar (shown here in Clear mode).
What changed?
Here is a Side Imaging screen capture that shows the transiton from a deeper flat (10-12 feet) towards the bottom of the image, and the shallows (6-7 feet) surrounding it found towards the top. Two things are striking about this screen capture: first, check out the large number of fish that have moved shallow now that the wind is blowing. The shallow water is now loaded with fish! Second, note that many of these fish are casting sonar shadows again. Not only have these fish moved up, but their position within that shallow water column suggests a more aggressive feeding attitude. With this information from Humminbird Side Imaging in our pocket, we adjusted our methods accordingly, by speeding up our bottom bouncer/VMC crawler harness presentation. Rather than a dainty 1.3 mph, we pulled these harnesses through the shallows at nearly 2 mph, with wonderful results! Multiple doubles, and even a few triples, were enjoyed while targeting these wind-swept, shallow, ultra-aggressive walleyes.
How did we target those high-riding fish? By long-lining crankbaits, Rapala Shad Rap #5's to be precise. Pulling #5s 70-90 feet back kept those baits at or just above fish level, and this strategy produced a large number of quality walleye for us in the 15-20" range. These high-riding fish, identified by their sonar shadows in Side Imaging, were very aggressive, and targeting them with a fast (2.5-2.8 mph), equally aggressive presentation allowed us to catch and release large numbers of fish. As the day wore on, however, our crankbait presentation began to become less effective, as the 15-20" walleye that fed aggressively earlier were replaced with 10-12" fish.
It wasn't the location of the fish, as they had not deserted the mid-depth flat that we were working. They also hadn't turned off completely, as every once in a while, we would get a decent 15-20" fish mixed in among the dinks and white bass. However, it was clear that cranks were no longer the ticket. Humminbird Side Imaging gave us the clue we needed to determine the proper presentation once the early crankbait bite slowed. Here's an example of a Side Imaging screen capture from later in the day.
This is essentially the same area shown above, with the same depth and bottom composition. As you can see, there are still plenty of fish present. The big difference between the fish now and those earlier in the day is their depth in the water column. Note the nearly complete absence of dark sonar shadows associated with these fish: they are glued to the bottom. Not only has their position in the water column changed, but so has their mood: thay are no longer inclined to rise up and pop a fast-moving crankbait.
Humminbird Side Imaging was telling us to (1) fish deeper and (2) slow down to put our baits in the faces of those neutral, mid-day walleyes. So, we swapped out the cranks and made the transition to new VMC Revolution tandem hook crawler harnesses. We rigged the harnesses on 1.5 or 2 oz bottom bouncers, and pulled them through this area at 1.3-1.5 mph. Within minutes, we were hoisting the first of many crawler harness walleyes into the boat. So, while these fish were deeper and less aggressive than earlier, they could certainly still be caught, as long as we made an appropriate presentaion change...as dictated by our Side Imaging observations.
As we prepared for this series of tournaments, one of the issues we faced was wind. By midday, winds on many of these practice and competition days increased into the 20-30 mph range, creating challenging boat control situations as well as some awesome fishing. However, finding the best bite when the wind was howling meant getting out of the deep water, as our fish in 10-12 feet stopped chasing harnesses under these conditions. The walleye fishing textbook says to look shallow when the wind starts to blow, and look shallow we did....with Humminbird Side Imaging.
This was one of the few times in my fishing career that I was able to enjoy catching walleyes like they were bluegills. 15-20 fish per hour, over hours at a time, made for nearly 100 fish days and some pretty tattered hands from all of those sharp teeth, fins, and gill plates. Staying on top of those fish for the entire day required us to keep adjusting our presentations. Humminbird Side Imaging provided us the information we needed to solve the presentation puzzle, and then solve it again when environmental conditions changed. Without Side Imaging, I would have likely done what I saw many other anglers do under these conditions: move to new spots to look for fish that would bite what I forced them to bite, or put the boat on the trailer. Instead, I trusted my Side Imaging fishing system: the fish were still in the area, but their depths and attitudes had changed. To be successful, we needed to adjust to these changes....and adjust we did.
So, to answer that frequent question one more time: "Yes, Side Imaging REALLY does help me catch more fish." I know that it will do the same for you!
