Bottom Walkers

Looking to fish for walleye from the kayak. Wondering what size/weight bottom walker to buy for use in the Columbia between Portland and Bonneville?

Or, is there a better way to fish for walleye from the kayak?

Anybody interested in a trip next week?

I made my own bottom walker from the Marlin Stainless Steel leader wire.   This allowed me to put on the right amount of weight for the water flow/depth I was in.   I would slip a 1 oz egg weight about half way up the lower leg of the walker and then using my pliers I would be a simple kink in the leg.  Not to sharp of kink, just enough to keep the egg weight from dropping.  Undo the kink and add more weight as needed, then rekink.

You can still do this with store bought walkers, but you may want to melt off the molded on weights so you can add your own egg weights for infinite adjustments.

So, back to your question.
From PDX to Bonneville you will experience all kinds of water speeds, depths and such that will effect how much weight you will need for where you are actually fishing.  Having the option to adjust the weight on the fly is the ticket.

I would be prepared to use at least a few ounces of lead.  We've got some decent flows in the Columbia this time of year.

Its a little early for walleye below Bonneville. This fishery usually peaks in summer. This time of year look from the Dalles upstream for good walleye fishing.

As a general rule for bottom walkers on the Columbia I look for 1 to 1.5 oz for every 10' of depth I am trolling in.