Part two of a two-part MidWest Outdoors exclusive

We’d been trolling the shoreline of a large island in pursuit of gathering pike strikes on film. The lure we were using was a Gapen Flub Dub, a crankbait with a spinnerblade where the front treble is typically found. The spinner acts as a weed and brush guard and seems to help attract fish. Predator fish such as pike, muskies, stripers and salmon are drawn to this lure. And although it doesn’t have a front treble, fish always strike this bait on the back end—similar to the way a bass strikes a spinnerbait.

We had gathered seven strikes on camera when we ran out of fish. The decision was made to cross open water to shoreline habitat a quarter-mile to the north.

“Anne, just leave the underwater gear down,” I suggested, as we began the crossing.

Now, I’ll ask my readers this question: How many times have you foul-hooked walleyes, bass or pike on their sides, throat, gill plates or head while trolling or casting and retrieving?

Many, I’m sure! In my case, numerous times and I had always thought these fish became foul-hooked due to poor visual sighting on their part. But it always nagged at me, and Anne and I developed a theory that we called the “Bump and Stun,” which is where we believed predator fish used to capture their prey.

What happened during that crossing on Kagianagami Lake proved the theory viable, showing that it’s used by walleyes. Halfway across the crossing, Anne proclaimed she had a walleye following my Flub Dub.

What happened next clinched our theory.

“Dan, quick, look at the monitor!” Anne exclaimed. “It (the walleye) just hit the bait with its shoulder from the side!”

I was there in time to see the walleye make a quick turnabout, open its mouth and gather in the Flub Dub.

“There you have it Anne,” I said, as I remembered how excited I was to capture the Bump and Stun on film. And as I was speaking, the rod jerked backward due to a hard strike. I’d felt a tap just before the strike when the walleye bumped the lure and tossed it off to an irregular action. The tap had actually been the “Bump and Stun” procedure instinctively used by the fish.

When netted, we were looking at a different type of walleye. This one had a deep-colored yellow belly, a rich black back and orange-black sides.

Why? The other walleyes out of Kag had white bellies, yellow sides and grayish-green backs.

Later, we learned these yellowish walleyes were caught along shorelines, on rocky points and shallow reefs. The black fish were coming out of deep water, 100 feet or more. Time of day also had a bearing on why we engaged the black walleyes, as did the lake’s population of ciscoes, which they were feeding on.

During daylight, from sunrise to 4 p.m., you couldn’t buy one of these darker walleyes. But as the sun lowered on the horizon, they began to rise up off the bottom (as noted on our graph) to engage the ciscoes, which held typically at about 20 feet below the surface. These fish were mainly cisco feeders and their rise to feed was coming up out of what we suspected to be a bottom zone 100 feet down. It was an example of why the eyesight of walleyes affects their movement.

Our conclusion: Kagianagami has two distinct groups of walleyes.

Once again, why? It’s a question we continued to research.

Over the next four days our theory was proved time and again. Not all the dark walleyes we engaged used the Bump and Stun technique, but about 40 percent of them did. One thing did become clear: the black-bottom-hugging walleyes were larger on average. The yellowish, shoreline-oriented fish averaged 1 1/2 to 2 pounds, the normal size we had grown accustomed to catching from these Canadian waters. The black walleyes averaged 3 to 7 pounds, but we were restricted to catching them after 4 p.m. as they rose to feed on ciscoes.

Conclusions and thoughts
Thinking back, I’d caught the dark walleyes a couple of times before. This occurred while deep-water jigging a 1- or 2-ounce Ugly Bug jig for lake trout. At those times, I’d shrugged the catches off as “accidental exceptions.”

This trip to Kag did prove a couple theories.

The slow rise of walleyes off the bottom to feed on ciscoes, which we could see on our graph, weren’t lake trout as we suspected. And as hard as we fished these rising blips with jigs, we didn’t get results until they leveled out at the cisco-holding depth. These dark walleyes preferred a lure, such as our Flub Dubs, to any jig we presented. Evident on the locator and underwater gear was that a long troll was required, as black-backed walleyes tended to follow the bait a long time before performing the “Bump and Stun” followed by striking the lure. We tried casting to these fish, but failed miserably. Our underwater gear proved that the dark walleyes follow for perhaps 40 to 60 feet before engagement.

Since the discovery of the dark walleyes of Kagianagami Lake, several other deep lakes, which host ciscoes or similar baitfish such as shiners, have been fished with identical results.

We wondered: Is the Bump and Stun always used by these open-water predators?

The answer is yes and no—and only under certain circumstances, many of which we’ve yet to discover. In Kag, it was done by about every four of 10 walleyes we caught on film. And, it was not universally applied by all fish from a single school. We wondered whether all predator fish at least possess the instincts to use this technique.

So far, we’re not sure, but what a great question to study as we continue our research.

Two years ago, while trolling live shad on Beaver Lake in Arkansas with Anne’s underwater gear attached to our bait, we noted the Bump and Stun technique applied by wipers, stripers and white bass. And while ice fishing for perch and bluegills on Lake St. Clair a year ago, the Bump and Stun was employed by both species—we think of them as “panfish” and perhaps do not typically attribute this type of behavior to them.

One of the most notable things we’ve witnessed with northern pike (and a few other species) is a tendency to look over the lure they’re about to bump and stun. The underwater gear shows eye movement of these fish as they come up alongside and look over their dinner-to-be before engagement. This is a good reason to use lures that are lifelike in design.

Obviously there is still much more to learn.

In the case of carp (one of the more intelligent fish), they come up on their bait and eyeball it as they come in from behind. Their eyes have been seen to study the bait then rotate as they close in beside it. If you doubt this statement, study a carp as you handle it after the catch. It will rotate its eyes, appearing to study your every move. Northern pike possess a similar rotating eyeball function, as do most rough fish and gamefish species. This rotating eyeball, and how it affects their feeding pattern, requires more study by our underwater gear. We’ll let the readers of MidWest Outdoors in on any future tendencies we discover.

Why do I bring these facts to the attention of the readers? Maybe my need to educate the modern angler in the more fascinating things that impact fishing success and force one to learn new fishing skills is why. Or, maybe it’s just to heighten your love of this sport or to stimulate you to further explore the art of fishing after I’m gone—there will be more in the months ahead though.

Considered one of the world’s leading river anglers, Dan Gapen, Sr. will continue to recount his past and recent adventures and offer up his knowledge to MidWest Outdoors readers.