BIG SUMMER WALLEYE | WHERE THEY HIDE

In this video, I break down how I target summer walleye on Georgian Bay, including where I look for them, the structure I focus on, and the baits/presentations I have the most confidence in.

Summer walleye fishing on Georgian Bay can be extremely challenging because of how massive the water is, and a lot of it can be completely empty depending on the time of year. Instead of just randomly searching, I focus on areas that give walleye a reason to be there: structure, bait, and movement patterns.

I also go over what I’m using, how I approach different areas, and why understanding walleye behaviour is just as important as having good electronics.

If you’re trying to get better at finding summer walleye on Georgian Bay or other Great Lakes waters, hopefully this video helps you put more pieces of the puzzle together.

Thanks for watching!

[YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/J_0Rbu17gv4[/YOUTUBE]

Some pics:

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Great vid and great pics!! You sure have them dialed in!!
I’m sooo jealous!!! I love big walleye!

I don’t believe you ever once showed us your jig or hook sizes, how you hooked the crawlers or whatever you were using, and on your livescope you showed views but did not comment about what you were seeing…identifying the fish being spotted, whether your jig was visible etc….was not obvious to my eyes anyway….not a great video when all you show is reeling and netting.
Lots of room for improvement with your communications. Thanks.

Tried not to be repetitive as what you mention was shown in the last video, this one was more so meant to breakdown the location. The livescope footage was more so to show the reaction of the fish, when I fish a jig and crawler and plan to have the fish pick it up off bottom im not too concerned about seeing my jig, I just want to see what the fish is doing. If I see it drops to bottom for it then I no longer need to look at the livescope, if I see the fish leaves I try to grab its attention as described in the video. The jig weight, hook size, rigging, and cadence are described here in more detail. You can skip through to the relevant chapters. Thanks for watching and for the feedback[YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/tQh7SsvKiVc?si=ZsmiMcqSFNTwrPIz[/YOUTUBE]

Thank you buddy, big walleye are the best!

It is very unusual and interesting that these videos from Informative Angler amazing walleye fishing get so little attention or responses on this forum.
And I have a guess why. For me, I even stopped watching these videos a while ago.
Why?
Informative Angler once noticed that some 90% of GB water holds no walleye. Not exactly. I would say 90% of GB water holds no fishable fish at all, and for walleye, apparently 99.9% of GB water has no walleye in it.
So, location is the key. If one spends dozens days and 100s hours on the water a year and being lucky to find good spots for the fish he is eager for, good for him. And then after if he would post a video of one or few successful days out of dozens, yes, looks impressive but the impression is usually a bit wrong.
I don’t have either these possibilities nor wishes to spend so much time in the boat.
So, what would be a reason for me to watch such videos if, of course, no location would be shared? As for the structures, currents and other ‘tips’ to which usually anglers like to refer, GB is full of structures, currents etc. If one finds fish somewhere, he could associate it with structure, current, wind, moon, weather or stars in the sky; it doesn't matter. A few yards away from the spot with all the same there is no fish and may not be forever.
Regarding front facing sonar.
This is a powerful tool to find and hook fish. First of all you can find fish much faster. Old fashioned sonars do not have the ability to see fish at speed more than 7-9 km/h. Front facing sonars, as I heard, apparently can see fish even at faster speed.
FFS is similar to video and helps to catch fish as its reaction is seen live. I know about one episode on Lake Muskoka, when four guys were walleye fishing in the same boat. Two of them casting in the front and watching FFS got about a dozen fish each. Two on the back, using the same lures and same techniques, got zero.
I don’t have FFS and I'm not going to spend 3-5K for it just to get more fish in the boat. So, watching the video where someone uses FFS and teaches how to use it, useless for me.
Aside from these, I firmly believe that catching this enormous amount of fish, even released, is very harmful for the fishery. The survival rate of released fish is way far from 100%. I heard the number is about 40-60%, but I'm not sure. Even surviving fish are likely to be stressed significantly and might need to spend some time to return to normal behavior (like reproduction, feeding, following the school etc).
In my firm and frank opinion, catch-and-release fishing (with FFS) does more harm than old days poaching. If one caught 1-2 fish above the limit and kept them, it is far less harmful than releasing dozens.
Regardless, Informative Angler is an amazingly skillful, knowledgeable, talented and obsessive angler. But - alas - watching his videos is boring and useless for me.
Sorry to say that.

Appreciate the kind words and the thoughtful response. I definitely agree with you on one thing, Georgian Bay is massive, and a huge percentage of the water is empty. It’s not an easy body of water to figure out, just like any of the other Great Lakes, but with time on the water, research, and hopefully some of the tips I try to share, it’s also not an impossible task to be successful.

While a lot of water is devoid of walleye at any given time of year, there are also areas that hold incredible numbers of fish. The challenge is that on a body of water this large, those productive areas make up such a tiny percentage of the overall lake. LiveScope doesn’t replace understanding the fishery; you still need to understand seasonal movements, bait, structure, wind, currents, temperature, and where those fish should be during specific time periods. You could spend an eternity scanning random water on GB with LiveScope and never find a walleye if you don’t have a solid starting point.

As far as sharing locations, that’s exactly why I don’t. These aren’t community holes I’m just pulling up to. A lot of these areas are found through countless hours searching, eliminating dead water, and slowly learning patterns. The goal of my videos isn’t “go here and catch these fish,” it’s to show what I look for in areas, the tactics I have confidence in, the different bites that happen during the day/night, and general location patterns for certain times of year so people can apply that information to their own waters, whether that’s Georgian Bay or somewhere completely different.

On the FFS side, I totally understand why some people don’t enjoy watching it. Everyone fishes for different reasons. For me, the coolest part isn’t just seeing a fish and catching it, it’s learning their behaviour. Seeing how walleye react to different presentations, how far they’ll move for a bait, what makes them commit, or what causes them to turn away has taught me more about these fish than anything else. Walleye have always been my favourite fish to target, even long before FFS, so having technology available that allows me to better understand the species is pretty incredible.

Regarding catch and release, I agree fish care is extremely important, especially with larger fish. I take that very seriously: quick photos, careful handling, and proper releases. The big Georgian Bay fish I catch all go back. I personally believe allowing those larger fish with great genetics to continue swimming is valuable for the future of the fishery. I actually go as far as releasing all of my Georgian Bay walleye because I have a strong appreciation for these resources and want to see them continue to thrive.

At the end of the day, everyone enjoys fishing differently. Some guys troll, some cast, some use electronics, some don’t, and that’s the great thing about fishing. I just try to share what I’ve learned after thousands of hours chasing these fish and hopefully help others understand walleye behaviour better while joining me on my adventures.

I still believe that this is the key:

And, honestly, I would appreciate your videos much more if you would start them with it: “After countless hours searching I finally got this spot and this fish”

As for this:

As I said before, all these may and most likely will work only on one day/time/location but won’t be applicable to others. And, most importantly, all of this is useless without “countless hours searching” and /or availability of the insider information. Which very few people can afford or willing to do.

And regarding this:

Even though I mostly troll, I believe that trolling is the most boring way of fishing. But it is the only way to cover the water and find fish in many situations, especially without FFS.
I don’t think there is anyone here in Canada fishing from the boat without electronics. But spending 3-5K for FFS is a different story.

Many hours on the water are what allowed me to find these areas and understand the patterns. I don’t think a single video can replace that experience, and I’ve never claimed it could.

My goal isn’t to hand someone a shortcut to years of learning. It’s to shorten the learning curve by sharing how I think, what variables I’m paying attention to, and why I make certain decisions. If someone watches my videos expecting to duplicate a trip by fishing the exact same spot or using the exact same bait on a different day, they’ll probably be disappointed. Conditions, fish location, and behaviour are constantly changing.

At the end of the day, this is Georgian Bay, the “sixth” Great Lake. People should expect that it takes a tremendous amount of time on the water to become consistently successful here. It’s a completely different beast than fishing a small inland lake in southern Ontario where fish are often much easier to locate. I will also say, the satisfaction you get when you finally put the pieces together is unmatched, I just hope to speed that process up for the viewers rather than just giving waypoints, which I have never accepted from others myself, because I enjoy the process of breaking it down, this is why during my exploration years I’ve almost always fished a new area on Georgian bay when i’ve successfully broken one down.

What I hope people take away from my videos is a better understanding of why fish are where they are and how to approach similar situations on their own waters. The hours still have to be put in, but if I can help someone spend less time fishing dead water and more time understanding fish behaviour, then I think the videos have done their job. When I started off fishing I would have loved to have videos to watch of my home bodies of water rather than watching what people down in the states were doing to find/catch them. At the very least, my videos should confirm the patterns that people can expect to occur when fishing for walleye on georgian bay, this in and of itself wouldve been a game changer for me back in the day.

And yes trolling sucks lol very boring but effective.