Walleye are probably the most sought after fish in OZ Lake as well as surrounding lakes. They are considered by many to be one of the most delicious fresh water fish there is. Deep frying in oil with a favourite batter is the preferred way of preparing walleye but some people will grill or bake them. Walleye wraps which are chunks of walleye fillet wrapped with bacon and grilled on the BBQ is a great appetizer.

Walleye are plentiful in OZ Lake and each week and season, we have a number of trophy walleye caught. Walleye are caught in a variety of ways on OZ Lake depending on a number of factors including time of year, water temperature, water level fluctuation and forage base. In the spring after they have spawned, walleye are predominately caught in shallow bays.

We successfully catch walleye using a combination of live bait and artificial bait presentations. A successful trolling live bait presentation, is the spinner bait which is an approximately 30” long monofilament line with a hook (preferably a long shanked #2) coloured blade and several coloured beads. We will have examples of all our baits with a video presentation ( coming soon) for each under the tackle section of our web site. Small lead head jigs either plain or with hair work well and we prefer the 1/16- 1/8 oz. sizes. We use a variety of colours at this time such as chartreuse, white, orange and blue. The smaller presentation seems to be the key at this time. A variety of shallow trolling baits are successful at this time.

As the water temperature warms up and walleye move to deeper structure we still concentrate on live bait presentations. Spinners are still productive but the “Lindy Rig” which is basically the spinner without the blade works great with crawlers, leeches and minnows. We tend to use a slightly larger minnow at this time as well as an increase in weight. We use either a bottom bouncer or a variety of slip weights. Lead head jigs are one of the most productive baits at this time and again a variety of colours and a slight increase in weight depending on depth, wind, time of day and line class you will use. Deeper diving trolling baits work well depending on whether you are fishing structure or flats.

Fall fishing for walleye again revolves around the use of Lindy Rigs and Jigs (3/8-1/2 oz). Musky fisherman tend to catch some larger walleye while casting large musky baits such as Bull Dogs and Buck Tails especially after the lake has turned over and the water temperature is stratified.