Walleyes are creatures of habit and of structure. That will help you catch them so embrace it as a good thing. Even in The Great Lakes, walleyes will hug tight to the bottom of the lake, in the deep, dark holes there. Perhaps they’re photophobic; perhaps they’re waiting in ambush for an easy meal to swim by. What that means for your walleye fishing is that you have to be in the right place at the right time to catch them – or more correctly, you have to pre-empt their movements.

That means that you have to know your walleye pretty well. Even subtle changes in water temperature, oxygen, bottom structure and shadows on the water can all affect where you need to seek out your walleye.

Transitional zones are a good place to start to look for fish. That can be changes in the composition of the bottom, the depth of the water, water color etc, but the most significant transition when it comes to looking for fish is in the types if weeds that you would find in the water. Knowing your weeds is the key to walleye fishing success.

Many fishermen and –women are preoccupied with thoughts of rocks, sand, drop-offs to deep water when it comes to walleye fishing.  But walleye anglers need to really have a good poke around in the weeds, especially during the fall months. Also what is great to know when you are looking for walleye to fish is that they often go to the weeds to search for food, so the bait on your line is likely to look even more yummy!

But in what type of weeds are the walleye most likely to hide? Coontail will hold a few fish but cabbage weed is great as a favored habitat of walleye. Thankfully, you’ll find cabbage weed on many bodies of water and it’s also a great habitat in which to find bass, northerns, muskies and panfish. For walleye, look particularly at the weeds on the edges of a drop-off where the weed beds extend into the shallow water.

You need to be cautious as most fish, walleye included are wary. That’s how they’ve survived as long as they have! They have superb sight and hearing, and can detect movement with their lateral line with disturbing accuracy. As if all that wasn’t enough, they have a great sense of smell. Anglers – proceed with caution!

You’ve go tot make your bait look as natural as possible and just what the fish would normally eat, in placement as well as appearance. Hunger may motivate them to bite, but so will the threat from what they see as a predator.

Backtrolling is therefore great because it allows you to present your bait right in front of the walleye's nose, essential in cold front conditions. Slow down the bait with a 15 H.P. Mercury and back into the wind along current breaks so that the walleye has plenty of chance to see it and to strike for it.

Vertical jigging is very useful when fishing for walleye so it is vital you control your boat well for this. Drifting with a drift sock and using your boat’s engine to slow down your drift is also good for walleye fishing.

Drifting and backtrolling are the best ways to fish for walleyes on large shallow flats.