Sneaky Duck

I made a fairly major life choice this past saturday while fishing on the river in the rain (I'm being somewhat sarcastic).  I decided that after a year and a half of my fishing "career" casting random lures, hoping something/ANYTHING would bite but not really caring what it is, I want to start targeting 1 species.  I think it's going to make me a better fisherman because it'll force me to learn instead of puttsing around.  I'm hoping that when i look at a body of water, I'll start thinking... where would this fish be, what bait/lure/technique would be best instead of... ok from this dock what can i put out there that'll get something to put the hook in its mouth.

All that being said, I'd like to be a walleye fisherman.  I think the fish look AWESOME, taste great, and it's really cool to me how they can get to be 35+inches long but you really only eat them under 3lbs so I can be hoping for that big fish because it's fun, but when i catch little ones... GREAT!  I'm also interested in Walleye because bass and pan fish really aren't doing it for me and I'm not interested in Catfish.  I have a good friend who's a troller going after Salmon and Trout and he's happy for me to go out with him whenever our schedules mesh so i see little need to double up and equip for that.

What I'd like to know from the group is what's the best way for me to learn?  None of my buddies are walleye fisherman.  In fact only 1 of them has ever even caught a walleye and that was by accident.  I live on the Genesee River and I'm a member of a sailing club on Irondequoit Bay.  I've done searches online and it seams like both of those bodies of water have the fish in them.  For now, I'm going to have to fish either on the ice or from the shore because another boat isn't in the budget yet (and I'd like to know if I'm going to stick with this before i drop the coin).  I have a small sail boat which I could drift around on windless days but it's really not conducive for anchoring and fishing from and there's no way to add electronics.

With regards to equipment, I have 2 regular rods and 2 ice rods (and I'm expecting to need to get all new lures and likely new line).  my regular rods are a 6'6" medium action spinning rod and a 6'6" medium heavy casting rod.  My ice rods are a 26 inch long light action and a 27 inch inch medium action.  Will these fit the bill for a time before I can justify getting good jigging and bottom bouncing walleye rods?

Sorry for all the background.  If I'm thinking about this wrong i'd like someone to stop me  Thanks for the info!

AWESOME info!  Thanks man!  Good job on the 34 incher!  If they are as illusive as they seem you must have been pumped.  So, you say they're deep fish.  How deep is deep for trolling?  Last time I was out running with Down Riggers he had them down 80+ ft.  Would the Muskies be below that in open water?  I haven't seen anyone in any of the video's running down riggers to catch them, it's always just diving lures going down 20 or so feet.

Thanks guys.  I'm sure you're right.  I live and play in Rochester so it's probably a waste of time, energy, and equipment.  They call Muskies the fish of 10,000 casts.  Is it something that you can park yourself on a dock or pier and waste a few days?  Or is trolling from a boat really the only way to go?  I will be racing my sailboat up in Saratoga a couple times this year and I've heard they have the fish up there.  It'd be fun to go up a day or so early and try and land one.

I have been watching a TON of videos on muskie fishing on youtube lately (I'm bored and the boat wasn't in the water yet) and I now have a goal.  I want to catch one of those monsters!  I was reading the magazine that comes with my fishing license and noticed that it says that keeper length for Lake Ontario Muskies is 52 inches (at least that's what I remember) which tells me you CAN find them in the lake although judging by that SUPER size minimum, they must be VERY rare.

My question is 2 fold.

1. where on the lake am I most likely to find one? I was reading that they like to hunt and live along weed beds. Is this true?  Do they like shallow water? Warm water?...

2. I have an opportunity to do some salmon trolling this year.  If I was to get myself a Muskie rod and set it up with a big muskie lure and maybe a marlin fly or something that will trigger only a BIG bite, and run that off to the side of the boat, could that mess up what my buddy has going for his salmon fishing?  (he didn't seam to think so in that the muskie bait wouldn't run that deep and could be 20-30 ft above the salmon down riggers.) Would it be a TOTAL waste with little to no chance of catching a Muskie?  I kind of figured that if there were those fish in the lake, and I'll be out there anyway, maybe I'd give it a shot and devote 1 rod to them, so long as I'm not going to mess up the salmon program.

Thoughts?  Sorry this is a bit rambling...

Hey guys, I'm new to this board and new to fishing.  I took it up last year.  My 5 year old daughter's favorite show on TV was River Monsters and when I was looking for something to do when we didn't have enough wind to sail, fishing was the obvious choice.  Now she and I do it together and are having a BLAST! My boat is a Thistle Sailboat and it's named the Sneaky Duck.  I hope to someday have a fishing boat similar to a Alumacraft Competitor 185 Tiller (which I'll probably also name Sneaky Duck).  Right now I'm just spending as much time as I can with a fishing rod in my hand and line in the water catching what ever I can get my hooks into.  I really appreciate the information I've already gotten here and hope someday to get to the point where I can contribute back to the group.

Thanks!

Thanks guys, so I've been using all ball barring swivels.  You say to use the smallest swivel I can get away with, when choosing it do I pick one to match the strength of the line I'm using to be safe?

Hi, I'm BRAND new to this forum and this is my first post so please excuse how basic this is.  I've just last year taken up fishing and I'm LOVING it.  I'd really like to get better so I've been doing a bunch of research over the winter and it seams to me, like the guys that are really good don't use snap swivels to attach their lures. I'm not sure if this is just because they have a bunch of different rods so they are able to tie on the lure knowing that if they want to switch it up they can just grab a different rod with the different lure, or if there are times that a snap really isn't the best choice.

I'm wondering 2 things I guess,

1. in general what types of baits/lures are snap's ok to use

and,

2. If there is a lure that really should be tied, is it acceptable and a good idea to have a say... 3 ft. leader tied to the lure, that I could then tie a loop in the other end and use a snap swivel to the line of my rod so that I would in essence have the quick change of the snap, but the presentation at the lure of it being tied?  Does this work?  is there a down side?

Also as additional info incase it matters.  for the time being I'm fishing for, about anything I can catch (mostly bass) casting off of docks and the shore.

Thanks!