Fishing deep at Francis Slocum for Walleye

[SleepySheep]

Hey y'all. Getting in a short camping trip to Francis Slocum state park soon, where I'll have my trusty folding kayak and a day of fishing time on the lake there. I'm real excited to try and catch my first walleye, which I've read live in that lake, and which I'd love to add to my lifelist. I was thinking about bringing my spinning setups for the best chance at success, but a terrible masochistic part of me now thinks it won't be as satisfying unless I catch a walleye on the fly rod.

So, is it a fool's errand to try and catch walleye on a fly? Is there any advice you experienced fly fishers out there can offer to a noob? Any idea how deep I should be fishing for them this time of year?

Thanks!

 

[jifigz]

Hey y'all. Getting in a short camping trip to Francis Slocum state park soon, where I'll have my trusty folding kayak and a day of fishing time on the lake there. I'm real excited to try and catch my first walleye, which I've read live in that lake, and which I'd love to add to my lifelist. I was thinking about bringing my spinning setups for the best chance at success, but a terrible masochistic part of me now thinks it won't be as satisfying unless I catch a walleye on the fly rod.

So, is it a fool's errand to try and catch walleye on a fly? Is there any advice you experienced fly fishers out there can offer to a noob? Any idea how deep I should be fishing for them this time of year?

Thanks!

I used to fish for walleye on the fly, but I did it in a river. I don't know how deep they'd be in that particular lake right now, but I'd say fairly deep....15-20 feet?

Sink tip, a fairly long leader, and some dumbbell eyed clousers would be a decent bet..

 

[sandflyx]

I troll lakes with my yak for eyes. try some heavy weighted leech patterns, worm patterns, minnow patterns. look for drop offs, rip rap, etc. also eyes move into shallows late in the day so casting from shore in those areas should work also.

 

[SleepySheep]

I used to fish for walleye on the fly, but I did it in a river. I don't know how deep they'd be in that particular lake right now, but I'd say fairly deep....15-20 feet?

Sink tip, a fairly long leader, and some dumbbell eyed clousers would be a decent bet..

Thanks for the tips.

I won't be able to get a sinktip before I go, but I do have a spool with sinking line on it. My only concern with sinking line is that it creates a lot of drag, so if my kayak is getting whisked along at a good pace, it might be hard to keep depth. I haven't really got a feel for it yet.

If I go the sinking line route, how crazy an idea would it be to just spool up with straight mono instead? It sounds like I'd mostly be vertically jigging for targeting these fish, and a mono line would certainly have less drag than the sinking line.

 

[jifigz]

Thanks for the tips.

I won't be able to get a sinktip before I go, but I do have a spool with sinking line on it. My only concern with sinking line is that it creates a lot of drag, so if my kayak is getting whisked along at a good pace, it might be hard to keep depth. I haven't really got a feel for it yet.

If I go the sinking line route, how crazy an idea would it be to just spool up with straight mono instead? It sounds like I'd mostly be vertically jigging for targeting these fish, and a mono line would certainly have less drag than the sinking line.

Go for it..If you're vertically jigging, straight mono is fine. Why not just tie the clouser minnow to a spinning rod then?

 

[SleepySheep]

Go for it..If you're vertically jigging, straight mono is fine. Why not just tie the clouser minnow to a spinning rod then?

I guess I've got a strange obsession with squeezing every drop of functionality I can out of a single rod/reel. I had a pretty great system going with my spinning gear, but a good "universal" setup with a fly rod is much more challenging. Having a second spool with line for fishing deep seems like a good compromise though.

Anyway, thanks for all your advice! Hopefully I will be able to translate some of that into success.

 

[Bamboozle]

I guess I've got a strange obsession with squeezing every drop of functionality I can out of a single rod/reel. I had a pretty great system going with my spinning gear, but a good "universal" setup with a fly rod is much more challenging. Having a second spool with line for fishing deep seems like a good compromise though.

Anyway, thanks for all your advice! Hopefully I will be able to translate some of that into success.

I used to fish a lot out of a float tube and used a two rod holder with a fly rod in one and a casting outfit in the other....

Because there are many times when one or the other just makes life easier but trying to it all on one on principal just sucks...

 

[poopdeck]

I would take my spinning gear. No weird fascination's about fly fishing here. Whatever best accomplishes the act of catching.

 

[tomgamber]

i wouldn't troll. I'd drift. Easier to keep the line down and I've had as much success out of a float tube on deep lake fishing as I have in the yak. In college we took a john boat up to the causeway at Pymatuning and just drifted back to camp with the current. put your face into the wind. Clousers, leeches and buggers.

 

[SleepySheep]

Well, an update: I was a coward, and used spinning rods almost exclusively. And I'm glad I did, because I caught some of the best bass I've ever hooked up with in my life! But also, I was trying to get fish in the boat for fish tacos for a camp of 5 people, and time was short. Happy to say we ate very well.

Still, in the back of my mind those big bass would have been even more exciting on a fly rod. After securing food, I did use the few remaining hours to toss some streamers in one of the reasonable productive spots from early. It was close to sunset, which is usually when some of the best fishing happens in my experience.

I caught zilch!

Earlier in the day, I was catching everything on a 1/16th jighead with a 1.5" paddle tail (both in hot pink). Bass, crappie, bluegill, all eagerly gobbled up that little jig. My closest fly equivalents were some balanced purple leeches and some chartreuse wooly buggers, both with tungsten heads. I really thought they'd do the job, and I suspect my failure might have more to do with retrieve than the exact minnow-ish pattern being used.

On a small jig + UL spinning setup, it's very easy to keep a nice steady retrieve just over the bottom, or just over the top of the vegetation. Throw in an occasionally momentary pause, and you have a pattern that will seemingly always catch fish in numbers.

On streamer with my fly rod though, my retrieve feels a lot more stop and go, which never seems to entice as many fish. I also have difficulty feeling where my fly is in the water column, so its more difficult to know if I'm at the bottom.

Guess I'm not hanging up my spinning rods any time soon. But if anyone has any suggestions based on what I've written above, I'd love to conquer that lake with my fly rod next time I have a shot. Or at least the shallower portions of it.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear SleepySheep,

Is there any way you could rig a drift sock to your kayak? It doesn't have to be anything fancy. A small plastic pail like kids use to dig around with at the beach would do an adequate job of slowing your drift down.

With sinking lines shorten your leader. Three to four feet of 12# test mono or fluoro is plenty. You also need to know the sink rate of your line. You can make a shorter cast and strip line off the reel as you drift to get your flies down.

You can also try a longer leader, like 12 or 15 feet, on a floating line with one or two weighted flies and a Thingamabobber attached to your leader to set the depth. Guys out west who trout fish lakes do that all the time in deeper water.

Just some ideas for next time.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Mike]

If you just want to stay at the park to fish, have at it. But if you are dead set on adding a walleye to your list of species captured on a fly rod, you’re close to the Susquehanna, often called the N Br Susquehanna, which is a walleye haven . Your odds will be so much better there fishing just fishing from shore in the right habitat.

 

[jifigz]

If you just want to stay at the park to fish, have at it. But if you are dead set on adding a walleye to your list of species captured on a fly rod, you’re close to the Susquehanna, often called the N Br Susquehanna, which is a walleye haven . Your odds will be so much better there fishing just fishing from shore in the right habitat.

Mike,

Does the North Branch have good natural reproduction of walleye, or is that population mostly the result of ongoing stockings of fingerlings?

 

[TimMurphy]

Mike,

Does the North Branch have good natural reproduction of walleye, or is that population mostly the result of ongoing stockings of fingerlings?

Dear jifigz,

I can tell you from having lived on the North branch that it is loaded with walleye. I've fished it from Sidney NY to below Laceyville PA and found walleye just about everywhere I've fished it. Obviously some places have more fish but when you find a hole you can usually find walleye.
In addition, all the major tributaries feeding it in NY state have at least seasonal populations of walleye and most have resident fish as well.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[SleepySheep]

Dear SleepySheep,

Is there any way you could rig a drift sock to your kayak? It doesn't have to be anything fancy. A small plastic pail like kids use to dig around with at the beach would do an adequate job of slowing your drift down.

With sinking lines shorten your leader. Three to four feet of 12# test mono or fluoro is plenty. You also need to know the sink rate of your line. You can make a shorter cast and strip line off the reel as you drift to get your flies down.

You can also try a longer leader, like 12 or 15 feet, on a floating line with one or two weighted flies and a Thingamabobber attached to your leader to set the depth. Guys out west who trout fish lakes do that all the time in deeper water.

Just some ideas for next time.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

A drift sock isn't a bad idea, and I had that on my mind the whole time because my folding kayak really gets bullied by even a light breeze. Even though I wound up doing cast and retrieve rather than any vertical jigging, being constantly pushed to one side of the lake made it a lot more difficult.

If you just want to stay at the park to fish, have at it. But if you are dead set on adding a walleye to your list of species captured on a fly rod, you’re close to the Susquehanna, often called the N Br Susquehanna, which is a walleye haven . Your odds will be so much better there fishing just fishing from shore in the right habitat.

Thanks for the tips! I didn't really have the time to explore outside the park this time around, but I'll certainly keep it in mind. My only issue with river fishing is arranging some kind of pick up once I've drifted down river, or else I've got to paddle all the way back up to my starting point.

 

[Beernut]

If you fish at Slocum you will want to drift near the dam. It's around 30' deep if I remember correctly. Lots of alewives in the lake. As mentioned the north branch at night is probably your best bet.