Back when I was a more avid walleye fisherman, I would fish heavily during May and June, then when the bite died off, I would hardly fish for walleye the rest of the summer.

Early summer was always when I did best and still is probably my favorite time of year to walleye fish. However, life changes and priorities take effect and I’ve had to pursue walleyes whenever I get the chance, even when the bite isn’t as hot.

Mid- to late-summer walleye fishing can be challenging, especially on the Allegheny Reservoir. I definitely struggle to get fish to bite consistently. I’ll mark fish all day long on my fish finder and get very few of them to hit.

Nevertheless, for me to have success later in the summer, it all comes down to mindset and expectations. I still catch walleyes, just rarely the high numbers I tend to catch earlier in the summer.

My best tactic has been finding schools of walleyes mixed with pods of baitfish on my fish finder and then continuing to troll crawler harnesses in front of their faces until some start to bite. The bite this time of year seems to be sporadic. You can bounce a bait in front of a school of walleyes for an hour and not get a hit and then as if someone flipped a switch, they will all of a sudden turn on. Patience is key.

I also find that mixing up trolling speeds seems to be another way to trigger sluggish walleyes to bite. Some days it seems like they want 0.07 or 0.08 mph and other days you need to speed it up a little more than 1 mph. I’ll also make a lot of turns, circles and s-turns when trolling around schools of walleye. Sometimes presenting the bait to them in different directions will get them to hit it. By turning the boat, you fluctuate speed as well as how the bait runs in front of them. You definitely have to work a little harder to trigger bites this time of year.

I tend to find fish deeper once we get into July and August. I rarely do well in depths of less than 20 feet. Walleyes seek deeper water later in the summer once the water warms up. Deep water provides more oxygen as well as cooler temperatures.

My favorite time of day to fish is during the evening hours, especially the last hour of daylight. Many times I’ll get on a school of fish early in the evening and as it gets closer to dark, the bite will intensify. There have been many days when I’ve struggled to hook a fish all day, then right as the sun goes down, I filled my livewell in less than an hour. The evening bite is almost always good during the summer months.

One thing I’ve noticed over the last several years is that the fishing pressure has really died down on the Allegheny Reservoir during the middle and latter part of summer. I believe a lot of this is due to many local fishermen transitioning to Lake Erie at this time of year. Lake Erie has recently become one of the best lakes in the country for walleye, with a major increase in population, at least for certain parts of it. Many local fishermen bypass the Allegheny for better fishing on the big lake. As for me, I enjoy fishing the Allegheny, even when the bite is slow. I’m a homebody when it comes to hunting and fishing destinations.

No matter what, I still believe fishing for walleyes on the Allegheny Reservoir is still some of the best fishing you can take part in here in Pennsylvania. Walleye might be a little harder to catch here than other places, but I wouldn’t say the grass is a whole lot greener elsewhere.