If you think walleyes are strictly northern fish, take a glance at the record book. The Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame world record walleye, a 22-pound, 1-ounce monster, came from Greers Ferry Lake in Arkansas. Farther down the list, you’ll find five line-class record walleyes that were pulled from waterways in Arkansas, Missouri or West Virginia. Meanwhile, Tennessee’s state-record fish, although not recognized as a world record, tipped the scales to 25 pounds!
Walleye waters don’t end in the mid-South, either. Mountain lakes in the Carolinas and Georgia support fine walleye populations, and even Alabama and Mississippi list state-record walleyes. A few of the South’s finest walleye lakes are Lake Ouachita in Arkansas, Dale Hollow Lake in Tennessee and Lake James in North Carolina.
Because many of the South’s best walleye waters are steep-sided, clear and very deep, finding and catching fish can be a challenge through at times. During the winter on Fontana Lake, which borders the Great Smoky Mountains, veteran anglers jig Cotton Cordell C.C. Spoons and Heddon Sonars over humps and river channel edges that may be 100 feet deep!
During the spring, the walleyes make spawning runs up major tributary streams, creating some of the best fishing prospects of the year. The fish also stage in the narrow upper ends of the lakes before and after the spawn, so most fishing is concentrated up lake and river arms throughout the spring.
Many anglers like the post-spawn fishing best. The walleyes pile up on major points just downstream of the rivers’ last moving waters. On lakes that are loaded with alewives, shad or blueback herring, finding big groups of baitfish often is a prerequisite for finding concentrations of walleyes. Otherwise, anglers simply work from point to point.
For newcomers to walleye fishing or anglers who don’t know a specific lake well, the most efficient way to find and catch fish probably is to troll Cotton Cordell Grappler Shads, Smithwick Deep Rouge, Jrs. and Rebel Deep Wee-Rs across points, crossing the structure at various angles, distances from the bank and speeds while watching the graph for walleyes or baitfish.
A good alternative to trolling when the fish are piled up on specific, identifiable points is to rig YUM Walleye Grubs or Wooly Hawgtails on leadheads and bounce them down the slopes. If the walleyes are relatively deep and holding in specific areas, anglers also can position their boats directly over the fish and vertical jig the same offerings, lifting the baits gently off the bottom and letting them fall again.
A 1/8-ounce leadhead is generally well suited for this style of fishing; however, deep water or current pushing in from a river may dictate using a 3/16- or 1/4-ounce head instead. Use 6- or 8-pound-test Silver Thread Fluorocarbon, spooled on light spinning reel and a light 7-foot rod. Give a walleye a moment to get the bait, taking care to not let the fish feel you, and then set the hook with a long but gentle sweep.