I do the majority of my fishing on Lake Cumberland in southern Kentucky. The lake is mainly known for the three b’s, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and the very popular hybrid striped bass that can get Godzilla sized in the deep waters of Kentucky’s biggest lake. Since I’ve done my fair share of bass fishing, with a freezer full of the three I mentioned, I decided the onset of fall would be a good time to shake things up a little, and it also gave me a good excuse to shop foe some new lures.
Not long ago, a friend of mine told me he was having some luck catching walleye with a couple of spoon models from Yellow Bird, a company I’d heard of but didn’t know much about. The combination of the words spoon and walleye brought back a pleasant flood of memories from when, as a kid, I used to love to fish with a spoon. That also forced me to think about how long ago my kid days were. That momentary unpleasantness evaporated quickly once I thought about getting a keeper size walleye for the dinner table. I couldn’t remember how long it had been since I’d had any fish other than some type of bass.
I went to Yellow Bird Product’s website and bought a dozen Doctor Spoons in varying colors. I really don’t like to troll so I rigged up four rods with spinner reels, all with eight pound test line. I really did feel like a kid again as I drove to a dock in the lower portion of the lake and eased my boat into the water.
I’ve heard a lot of theories about the best kind of places to catch walleye over the years. I’ve been around fishermen enough to know it’s usually best to figure out things by actually fishing instead of talking about it. I’ve also heard that fall isn’t a good time to fish for walleye. Over the span of two weeks in early October, I got my fishing line wet four days. On my worst day, I still caught five walleye with two that exceeded the fifteen inch size limit. I had the best most success with a Doctor Spoon in Gold that I fished by casting along a rock wall in twenty to thirty feet of water. I also had some success in five to ten feet of water along a mud flat close to the bank where the water had been churned into a muddy light beige by passing boats.
As the water temperatures cool through the fall, I’m going to try my hand at some deeper depths where walleye tend to hang out. The thing is, no matter where I catch them, they always taste great.
