Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Take 100 random walleyes anglers, place them on a Minnesota walleye lake in June and most of them will speed off to a midlake flat, hump or bar. A few savvy anglers will move to the fresh cabbage and coontail to fish the weedline, but they'll never cast near the bulrushes closer to shore.

The walleyes eagerly feeding among those bulrush beds have no problem with this situation. They'll continue to feed, undisturbed by any of these so-called knowledgeable walleye anglers. Oh sure, a few crazy bass anglers might accidentally catch one of these walleyes, but it will most likely be quickly released and dismissed as a fluke.

What's being missed out on is one of the most underutilized and most productive walleye patterns around.

"In the northern half of Minnesota, there is typically a five- to six-week period of time when walleyes are in the bulrushes at various times of the day and are actively feeding on a wide variety of forage," said Scott Fairbairn, a pro angler from the heart of Minnesota's walleye country.

Bulrush is definitely not traditional walleyes territory, growing in water typically less than 6 feet deep. It is generally thought of as good for bass, muskies, northerns and panfish, but not walleyes. Why walleye anglers largely ignore bulrushes is tough to figure out, especially given the presence of so many other species. For whatever reason, if you fish a bulrush bed in June, the odds are good you'll be the only one there going after walleyes.

But there are a few knowledgeable anglers who you might run into, with Fairbairn being one of them. A walleye tournament angler since 1992, Fairbairn was the Professional Walleye Trail "Angler Of The Year" in 1998 and has won several major tournaments. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in fisheries and wildlife biology.

Fairbairn said the best lakes for bulrush walleyes are ones with a combination of deep, cold water and expansive areas of shallow water. Walleyes move into the bulrushes early in the season because they warm up faster and attract large numbers of baitfish. Bulrush is usually patchy around a lake and can be used to indicate a change in lake bottom. "Reeds prefer shallow areas, with a sandy or gravely bottom content. Where they begin and end shows transition areas where baitfish can concentrate," Fairbairn said.

Walleyes use submergent weeds like coontail and cabbage as ambush points, but this is not the case with emergent weeds because there is too much open space. Instead, walleyes usually hang close to the bottom waiting for periods of low visibility when they have a distinctive advantage. Low-visibility conditions are created by consistent wind and wave action, cloudy weather, stained water or the setting sun, making it a pattern you can count on almost daily.

Jim Lilienthal is an avid walleye angler and the Department of Natural Resources' fisheries manager for the Little Falls area. He said walleyes spend a lot more time hanging out in the shallows than most people think. While electrofishing the shallows for muskies in late April to early May, Lilienthal said they have come across numerous large walleyes.

"On a lake where our gill-net catches showed very few fish over 20 inches, electrofishing revealed 540 walleyes with an average size of 24 inches," he said.

Bulrush-relating walleyes are there to feed, but that doesn't mean they are easy to catch. There are a variety of techniques that should be employed, and Fairbairn said he approaches these areas with the mentality of a bass angler rather than that of a walleye angler.

Fairbairn and Lilienthal -- along with other knowledgeable anglers such as Chip Leer of Fishing the Wildside, and Terry Tuma -- said these walleyes are catchable if you adjust to the mood of the fish.