Searching for Aggressive Walleye
Walleyes & Live Bait: Some Things Never Change
Things to Think About While Wishing for Walleyes
Batting a Thousand in Walleye Land
Welcome to the Jungle - Chasing Weed Walleyes
For Quality Walleye, Find Quality Structure
Water Temperature and Walleyes
Sliding Towards Slip Bobber Perfection
Go Deep Young Man
Regardless whether rigging or jigging, the liveliest bait usually catches the most and biggest walleye.
By Mike Frisch
Late summer into fall is one of the best times of the year to be a walleye angler. The lakes are less crowded, the weather is often pleasant, and, most importantly, the fish are on the bite! In fact, not only are good numbers of fish brought to the boat at this time, but some of the season’s biggest walleye are often landed now as well.
Finding late summer/fall walleyes in lakes is often a deep-water affair. The fish often locate along sharp breaking drop-offs where flats and points plummet into some of the deepest water a lake offers. Forty-plus foot water depths are not uncommon walleye holding areas at this time.
Good electronics are important for finding these walleyes as fish can usually be “seen” easily in deep water. For that reason, I like to cruise along sharp breaks keeping a close eye on my sonar for the presence of fish that are probably walleyes. When located, I save an icon on my GPS and start fishing.
Classic jigging and rigging techniques work well for catching deep walleyes. My jigging approach usually features a big Fire-Ball Jig tipped with a medium-sized minnow. I use 3/8-, and 1/2-ounce jigs a great deal depending on water depths being fished.
I like bright colored jigs in parakeet or sunrise patterns tipped with redtail chubs if available. Other minnows like big fatheads or suckers work if redtails are not available.
A medium to medium heavy action spinning rod and reel loaded with 8/3 FireLine completes my jigging equipment needs. The low stretch FireLine offers is important to detecting deep water bites and for giving me the hook-setting power needed when fishing deep water.
Usually I start my jigging approach by holding over the walleyes and fishing the jig vertically with a pretty aggressive lift and drop approach. Often the fish hit the jig on the fall which calls for a brief pause before an aggressive hookset drives the hook into the fish’s mouth.
If my initial lift-drop approach doesn’t produce, I then go to a more subtle jigging action and have seen days where just kind of holding the jig/minnow in the fishes’ faces produces bites.
The above noted vertical jigging approach is often how my late summer and fall walleye trips start. However, I always have a slip-sinker live bait rig waiting in the wings as well.
This set-up consists of a heavy slip-sinker in the ½-, ¾-, or even 1-ounce size (again depending on depths being fished), a swivel, and a four-foot snell complete with a sharp, colored hook and colored bead. The colored hook and bead is important to the set-up because it adds attraction to the rig which is important in very deep water. I usually use an orange, pink, or chartreuse Super-Glo Attractor Hook with similarly colored bead to maximize the attraction in deep water.
A 7-foot medium to medium heavy action spinning rod and reel loaded with 8-pound Vanish fluorocarbon line completes my rigging equipment. Fluorocarbon works good for this fishing style because it is nearly invisible to the fish and also has reduced line stretch allowing for good sensitivity and solid hooksets.
My rig is again baited with a redtail chub when available. However, I often use a big 4- to 6-inch chub with this method, relying on a big, squirming minnow to attract big hog walleye from the depths.
Much like when vertical jigging, I like to hold right on top of the fish and work the live bait rig very slowly through the fish. Walleye often can’t resist a big redtail swimming and struggling right in their faces. In fact, astute anglers can often predict when they are about to get bit as they can feel the minnow start to panic through their line and rod tip.
Once a walleye takes the bait, feeding line to the fish, allowing it to get that big minnow into its mouth before setting the hook is recommended. Some days, only a few seconds are required, other days thirty-seconds or more might be required. I like to start with a few second wait and then increase the time if my initial hooksets are unsuccessful.
A final tip involves live bait care. Regardless whether rigging or jigging, the liveliest bait usually catches the most and biggest walleye. For that reason, I rely on my Frabill Aqua Life bait bucket to keep my expensive redtails fresh and lively. It’s insulated to keep the water cool and features a very dependable aeration system as well.
Dependable fishing can be had by anglers who target late summer and fall walleyes. In fact, heading for the depths in your favorite walleye lake and using the tips described here might just result in the year’s best walleye fishing!
Mike Frisch is a multi-species fishing guide in western Minnesota. He can be reached by calling (218)731-8141 or check out his website at www.fishinwithfrisch.com
Finding Deep Fish
A deep water walleye caught by one of the authors' clients.
By Jeff Hanson
Don’t waste time with your line IN the water.
As I write this article, walleyes in most lakes can be found in fairly deep water. Across the state from Lake of the Woods to Winnie, and then to my home lake Mille Lacs. Mid-summer walleyes are in the basin areas, deep reefs, flats, and humps. What this means to us is that we are looking for those fish many days in 20-35 feet of water. This is the prime depth for finding fish with your electronics. No matter what kind of unit you run, you are going to be able to see fish in these areas using your graph.
Many times, when I’m out on a guide trip, I’ll see other boats pull up on a spot, cut the engine, put down the trolling motor, and start fishing before the boat has even come to a stop. While there is a lot to be said for the “just keep the lines in the water” mindset, many times these fishermen are wasting much of their time with their lines in the water. A couple minutes spent looking at a spot with the electronics before wetting a line will save time in the long run and keep you fishing over fish and not over dead water.
My typical routine when I pull up on a deep water spot is to thoroughly look the spot over. I look first of all for the presence of fish, and then where they are at so I know where to concentrate my efforts. Are they all at the north or south end of the spot? Are they all spread across the top? Are they down at the base of the break? Answering these questions helps me to keep the boat on the fish. Other times, I may see very few fish or maybe none at all, in which case I wouldn’t even fish at all and just move right on to the next spot. Had I not taken the time to look, I may have wasted 20 minutes fishing the spot before realizing that there were no fish there…
Another time that I’ll look for fish is after I have already been fishing a spot for a while. Let’s say I pull up and find fish in 20’, start fishing, catch a few and then all of a sudden they vanish. Now what? This is actually pretty common. Fish move around a lot. They will move around on the spot and slide up or down the break throughout the day. Just because you quit seeing them as you’re fishing doesn’t mean they’re gone. Many times, I’ll just “reel ‘em up” and motor around to re-locate the school. Usually they are just a little deeper or shallower or maybe just 20-30 yards away. Once you find them again, you’re back on them and it’s on once again!
Keep this in mind on your next mid-summer walleye outing and don’t waste time with your lines “in” the water. Next time, we’ll talk about late summer shallow water walleye location.
Jeff Hanson can be reached for a guide trip, Hanson’s Guide Service, Mille Lacs Lake, MN, www.hansonguideservice.com, 763.477.8553.
Searching for Aggressive Walleye
By Jerry Carlson
When the bite is a little slow, getting your bait in front of as many fish as possible is essential for success.
One fact I have learned over my years of angling is the need to present bait to a large number of fish. Most fish are not aggressive biters and will ignore an angler’s offering. I find this especially true for walleye. However, if you can pass through enough fish, one is eventually going to see something they like and sample the bait.
This is exactly the scenario tournament angler, Brett King and I were faced with while doing some pre fishing on Mille Lacs for Outdoorsmen Adventures television crew. The walleye we found were located on a sand to mud transition line on the north end of the lake.
Although I love to work live bait rigs for walleye, these fish were not aggressive enough to show much interest. Because of this, we changed our strategy to something that would cover more water and put our bait in front of a greater number of fish.
When it comes to presentations that are designed for faster speeds, King has two favorite options. One is bottom bouncers and spinners and the other is lead core and crankbaits. Because the water temp was a little cool for a crankbait presentation, we opted for spinners.
King definitely has the bottom bouncer and spinner presentation down to a science. With two ounce bottom bouncers and two hook crawler harnesses, we were able to work the 25 to 27 foot range efficiently.
Through the use of his GPS he was able to keep the speed between 1 and 1.2 miles an hour. Although this is not fast, it certainly allowed us to cover more water than a live bait presentation would.
In addition to using the GPS for speed control, King also utilized the LakeMaster map chip for Mille Lacs (www.lakemap.com). Not only did the chip keep us on the transition line, it also identified a couple of subtle rock piles that held more fish.
As for the bait, King preferred crawlers. On days when the small perch are pesky, he will switch from live crawlers to Gulp. He rarely used leeches on his spinner rigs.
It would be nice to say the fish hammered our spinner rigs, but they didn’t. We had lots of short strikes and were getting hooks into one out of three fish.
Even though the hooking percentage was low, we did have consistent action and the number of fish landed continued to rise.
One fact we talked about over and over was the incredible number of fish showing up on the sonar. There was no shortage of walleye in this spot, just a shortage of fish that were eager to bite.
Throughout the day we worked on refining the spinner presentation. We tried big blades and little blades as well as two blade rigs. They all produced fish but a medium hammered silver was as good as anything.
By the end of the day, we were pretty confident we had the program ready for the camera crew. It hadn’t been a spectacular outing, but we did boat over 20 walleye with some quality fish in the mix.
Successful walleye angling requires versatility. There is no one best way to work these finicky fish. Presentation depends on the location of the fish as well as their preference for bait and their mood.
Often times, getting your bait in front of as many fish as possible is necessary to locate the active biters. Speeding up your presentation with bottom bouncers and spinners allows this to happen.
Cranky Old Marble Eyes
Trolling Crankbaits for Nocturnal Walleyes
By Matthew J. Breuer
Pulling crankbaits is a great way to cover a lot of water in a hurry, which will help you find them and catch them faster. Here are some recommendations on the equipment needed to get the job done.
Walter the Wall Hanger, Monster ‘Eyes, or Cranky Old Marble Eyes. It doesn’t matter which nickname you prefer, by any name the deep water walleye just might be one of the most fascinating, legendary, elusive, and exciting fish to target. Walleyes are often seen as very difficult fish to pattern, and often tough to catch in good numbers. Learn the basics of trolling crankbaits and you’ll bring more fish into the boat.
The Predator
The walleye is named for its pearlescent eye, which is caused by a reflective layer of pigment, called the tapetum lucidum. This helps the walleye see and feed during periods of low light and in murky or deep water. Come dusk, walleyes use this distinct advantage, and they become very aggressive feeders, making them easier to target.
Ironically, a lot of the best walleye waters are exceptionally clear. Walleyes in these waters often seek deep water or thick vegetation to get away from the bright daylight. The clear water makes it tough to get the fish to bite during daylight hours, and cabbage weeds are tough to navigate with a live bait rig. So to catch more fish, choose lakes with murky waters, or fish on cloudy days, or during periods of low light such as dusk or night time. Pulling crankbaits is a great way to cover a lot of water in a hurry, which will help you find them and catch them faster. Here are some recommendations on the equipment needed to get the job done.
Gearing Up
Like any other type of fishing, you need a rod, reel, line, and of course a variety of crankbaits. You can get fancy down rigging, using planer boards, using lead core line, and bottom bouncing stick baits, but sometimes it’s best to keep it simple. To do this concentrate on straight lining your bait behind the boat on a simple rig.
Rod in Hand
For a rod, use a seven to eight foot medium power, moderate action glass rod. Glass rods with longer lengths are the best for keeping an eye on a crankbaits action in the water. If the tip of a glass rod is wiggling nicely, the crankbait is running true. When it stops wiggling, you’ve got a weed or other debris. St. Croix makes excellent glass trolling rods backed by dependable customer service. The St. Croix Premier 8 foot telescoping glass trolling rod is the cat’s meow. The rod is super sensitive, and the telescoping feature makes it easy to store and transport.
Reeling In
Line counter reels are imperative for crankbait fishing success. The Okuma Magda or Okuma Convector are good choices. Line counter reels track how far behind the boat your bait is. With a line counter you can precisely put your bait behind the boat a certain amount of feet, controlling your depth, and assuring that you’re bait is sitting in the strike zone each and every time you let your line out. For example, the size 4 floating Salmo Hornet will run roughly 7 feet down when trolled 65 feet behind the boat. When you catch a fish, you can simply remember how far back your bait was, and put it back that same distance every time.
Spooling Up
The kind of line to spool up on the reel is your choice. Monofilament, fluorocarbon, braided line, super lines, and copolymer… with so many types of lines out there, the choice isn’t easy. Which one to choose depends on what you’re trying to achieve. The thinner the diameter of the line, the deeper the bait will dive. Thin lines cut through the water faster, allowing the bait to dive harder and deeper, while thicker lines make more resistance in the water, keeping the bait higher in the water column. 20 lb. monofilament is much thicker than a thin diameter 20 lb. braided line like Fireline. No matter which line you choose, make sure you’ve got enough lbs. of test to handle the resistance and fish, and make sure you know what you’ve got on each setup you use.
Box of Baits
Make sure you’ve got a good selection of various styles, types, and colors of crankbaits to choose from while on the water. Get some small, some large, some slim, and some fat ones. Having a variety of floating, sinking, and suspending cranks is also a key to success, as is a selection of baits that run at various depths. Another factor that plays a key role is color. Dark murky waters call for bright shiny baits, while clear waters often call for natural colored baits.
Pick up some floating Salmo Hornets. The Hornet comes in three sizes, which dive to various depths. The size 4 Salmo Hornet is a must in any crankbait fisherman’s arsenal. It runs at around 7-9 feet and is ideal for trolling over large cabbage beds or sand flats. The Hornet comes in numerous proven fish catching colors, many of which are extremely real and lifelike. For sinking baits, get yourself some Hornet’s in a sinking model, as well as some Salmo Minnows. Look at the depth chart provided on each crankbait box to find out how deep each bait runs. Salmo can also cover you in the “stick bait” category. Pick up some Salmo Sting’s for those late fall wall hanger walleyes. The Sting has an internal rattle, and it comes in a suspending model. Suspending stick baits catch big fish, especially in the fall. The Salmo Bullhead is a great all-purpose crankbait. It’s great for trolling break-lines and running over bars and mid-lake humps. Try Salmo crankbaits and the results will speak for themselves.
On The Water
When targeting active walleyes that come in shallow during the evening to feed, you’ll want to be on the water an hour or so before sunset. Find some shoreline structure, cabbage weeds, or a nice flat to concentrate on. Cabbage weeds are known to hold baitfish, and where there’s baitfish, there’s walleyes! Start out pulling something small, like a size 4 Salmo Hornet. This bait typically runs 7-9 feet below the surface, catching the attention of shallow water walleyes that are on the prowl. Begin trolling 1.5-2.2 mph in 9-13 feet of water getting shallower as the evening gives way to night. Don’t be afraid to pull baits in less than 3 feet if the lakes vegetation allows it.
Using your line counter reel as a guide, start out letting the bait back 50-60 feet. This should put your bait at its optimal depth, and allow sufficient slack in the turns for your bait to utilize its action. You’ll want to troll in long “S” shape. Making these turns in and out varies your depth. This allows the bait to slow down or speed up in the turns. While your bait is waiting for slack line to catch up, it will float, sink, or suspend, and this is when many of your bites will occur. On the opposing side, your bait will speed up significantly in the turn, making a following walleye more aggressive and more likely to slam your bait. If putting your bait back 50-60 feet isn’t working, let out 5-10 feet of line at a time until you get a strike.
Setting the Hook
When a fish slams a crankbait, it’s not a subtle nibble. Your rod will keel over and there will usually be a few nice head shakes right off the bat. This is how you know you’ve got a fish. The most common mistakes in crankbait fishing are excessive pumping or pulling of the rod and hard hook sets. Avoid these mistakes. When trolling, you’re not going to want to set the hook, as the speed of the boat and the trebles on the bait will do that for you. A slight lift in the rod tip is more than enough to set the hooks deep into the walleyes mouth. Reel the fish in at a slow steady pace. With all of the speed you’ve got built up, the water gushing against the fish is a lot to handle, and a steady retrieve will insure that you’re not adding to the weight, causing the fish to shake off.
Crank It Up
The key when pulling crankbaits is finding an approach you’re comfortable with. Spend some time on the water playing around with different speeds, depths, and lures until you find something that works and you’re happy with. Make sure you try a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes, and let the fish tell you what they’re in the mood for. If you put in your time cranking after hours, you will catch some fish for the photo album, frying pan, and maybe even the once-in-a-lifetime wall hanger!
Matt Breuer owns and operates Northcountry Guide Service in Bemidji, MN. He can be contacted via the web at www.northcountryguides.com.
By Jason Mitchell
The author, Jason Mitchell with an impressive Devils Lake walleye caught using a Northland hair jig.
By Jason Mitchell
We all have something we are very confident in. That confidence lure or tactic may vary from lake to lake or change over the years but we all have our go to weapon. One of the most difficult things I encounter as an angler is fishing when I have no or little confidence. I know there is more to fishing than catching fish but there is a certain gloom that shrouds the boat when you get in that situation where you no longer think you are going to catch anything. This is why so many anglers avoid new concepts or different tactics… mostly out of confidence. It is hard to stray from what has worked in the past.
On the flip side, one of the most rewarding aspects of angling at least for me is learning and mastering something new or different, especially if you did not have confidence in the tactic before. Could be as simple as catching fish on a different lure, or as complex as a different pattern that is being overlooked by other anglers. As a guide, I have to evolve as an angler and master new patterns and techniques or I get my lunch handed to me. A big advantage I do have as a guide is that I have a lot of lines in the water when I fish, get to spend a tremendous amount of time on the water and also get some things force fed to me. What I mean by being force fed is the simple fact where there are so many times when I will have a lot of confidence in a certain lure or size for example and one of my customers will start using something different… and start catching fish. Could be a much larger lure or a faster retrieve as an example, something that I wasn’t confident to try myself because I had a preconceived notion on what was supposed to work.
Over time, you see so many different things that have worked and you gain so much confidence in so many different things that you have a large amount of tools at your disposal. You don’t cling to anything specific and force yourself to try different things until you start catching fish. These lessons however often have to be relearned every season. I find myself sometimes making the same mistakes I have made in the past and find myself trying to correct my thought processes so I can capitalize on opportunities.
A lesson I continue to relearn is fishing high in the water column. My starting point is usually next to or close to the bottom. If I mark fish on the electronics that are higher, I feel good about running lures higher off the bottom but there are so many situations where the fish don’t show up on the electronics and the fish are indeed up off the bottom. In fact, a common mistake I believe many anglers make is running lures or crankbaits too tight to the bottom or too far from the boat. We often catch a lot of walleyes relating to weeds as well and as the summer progresses, the weeds grow taller so the running depths that might have worked just a week ago are no longer effective. From an efficiency standpoint, running lures where they are fouled up or dragging weeds and debris is wasted time. Pulling or casting lures high in the water column over ten feet of water might not feel right to some anglers but there are so many reasons why this particular scenario can be so effective at times. Many anglers assume that shallow running crank baits and stick baits are an early spring presentation to be used early in the season but this particular class of lures can also be incredible effective later into the summer as well as weeds reach to the surface creating a smaller and shallower window to run lures. A neat scenario where I have caught several limits of walleyes on Devils Lake this season is to cast shallow running lures over the tops of submerged cattails in eight to six feet of water. We are working the lures down a foot or two below the surface as the cattails are generally four or five feet tall. Northland Mimic Minnows and Salmo Suspending Stings have been some of the better lures worked just over the tops of the cattails. Walleyes dart out of the cattails and grab the lures. The first inclination many anglers have when they see the depth of the boat is to slow down and fish deeper but they get fouled up or snagged. I keep telling the people in my boat to reel faster and they start catching fish. That doesn’t feel right to a lot of people until they start catching fish and get confident. Once you get confident in a certain technique and analyze it, the situation makes perfect sense.
Some of the things that we think we know about walleye fishing are so engraved to our heads that it can become difficult to learn new things. There are so many times when walleyes aren’t spooked by a boat nearly as much as we are lead to believe and that is another lesson I continually relearn as the closer to the boat you can fish, the more effective you can be as less can go wrong. There are even times when it seems like the prop attracts fish. For years, I always made a point to pull up or drop the anchor down as quietly as possible believing the anchor would scare fish. I still try to lower the anchor into the water as I don’t like getting a face full of water but one thing I have started doing is to actually drag the anchor with the boat if I want to make a small move. If I want to move ten yards, I just drag the anchor with the big motor on the boat. So often, the big motor doesn’t bother the fish and the anchor dragging through the mud actually seems to stir things up and get fish moving around. When my bite slows down, I often just drag the anchor a short distance and start catching fish again. Maybe the anchor stirs up bugs in the mud or clouds the water, maybe pushing or moving inactive fish creates a short window where these fish start moving around and are alert.
Another tactic that I have had good luck with at times especially early in the season when the weather has the fish in a funk is to drive over the top of the fish right on top of shore in shallow water and try to intentionally spook or bump the fish. My philosophy is that walleyes that are not alert and cruising are difficult to catch. There is nothing harder than catching a fish just lying on the bottom. You have to hit such a limited angle at such a limited speed often repetitively that this is a tough situation. I can sometimes even see the fish spooking and coasting away from the shoreline as the boat approaches. I run the boat really shallow, sometimes in just a few feet of water and cast deep and ahead of the boat. My lure or jig is falling and running right in front of the fish as they peel out. These fish are much easier to catch as they are moving and alert. The bad part about this tactic is that you get one good pass and it takes a much longer period of time for the spot to recharge.
As anglers, we have to have confidence in order to be successful. We have to believe that something is going to work for us. That confidence however that is so necessary is also our Achilles heel when a lack of confidence prohibits us from grasping new ideas, exploring new options and learning more than what we currently know. At some point, we have to sit back and realize that we don’t have all of the answers. Ideas I currently have about fish movements and forage patterns will continue to evolve and will be much different ten years from now. As an angler, it is exciting to explore and test what we think we already know because only than do we begin to grasp some of the things that we don’t know or understand.
Editors Note: The author, Jason Mitchell earned a legendary reputation as a fishing guide on Devils Lake and now hosts the popular television show Jason Mitchell Outdoors which airs on Fox Sports Net North at 9:00 am on Sunday mornings. More information can be found at www.jasonmitchelloutdoors.com.
Walleyes & Live Bait: Some Things Never Change
Seasoned walleye guide and fishing educator Tony Roach relies on live bait for 80% of his catch. During the summer months, he’s partial to pulling Mr. Walleye Crawler Hauler spinner harnesses. But early in the season and again in the fall, it’s a Northland Fire-Ball Jig and minnow. Photo courtesy of Northland Fishing Tackle (www.northlandtackle.com)
By Travis Peterson
Today’s angler can still find the old "Five-o-Diamonds" spoon that his grandfather stocked in his tackle box. Some things never change.
Walk through a tackle shop today, though, and one sees pegs filled with a plethora of artificial lures that make sense. They are far better imitations of real forage than the lures Grandpa used. However, despite life-like shapes and scent-enhancement, artificials will never exactly replicate live-bait in terms of action. Action, the key characteristic of life, despite research and development in labs and lakes near you, has not been replicated to perfection. Sure, Mimic Minnows and Shad Raps catch limits of fish too and are convenient to use. The difference between these lures, however, and the bait in the tanks and in the refrigerators (over in the corner) is obvious. The lures on the pegs are deceased!
Anglers, including myself, are certainly buying and using more artificial bait than ever before . . . for a variety of species, to include walleyes. Personally however, whether I'm fishing for a few eaters with my family or competing in a walleye tournament, live-bait is the real deal . . . and in most cases, cannot be beat.
Guides’ Choice
Ever wonder what professional guides use for bait to put walleyes in the boat on a daily basis?
National Fishing Hall of Fame legendary guide, Tom Neustrom fishes walleye factories, Lake Winnie and Leech Lake, along with numerous smaller lakes in north-central Minnesota. While a Northland Fire-Ball Jig and minnow combination is his go-to presentation for much of the season, he rarely hits the water without leeches and crawlers loaded in his Lund. Neustrom catches roughly 70% of his walleyes on live-bait and incorporates special products from the Frabill company to keep it alive and healthy. The Aqua-Life Bait Station for example, keeps minnows sassy and saves on the bait bill.
Mille Lacs, Minnesota guide, Tony Roach, spends in excess of 100 days per year in his office . . . also a Lund, guiding customers to walleyes. Live-bait accounts for approximately 80% of the walleyes landed by Roach and company. Drifting around midlake structure with Roach Rigs and leeches is a winning combination on Mille Lacs.
Al Maas has guided on Minnesota’s Leech Lake for over 40 years and is a member of the Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame. Of all the walleyes that come aboard his Ranger, Al reported that about 90% fall for live-bait. That percentage has remained consistent for Maas over the years. Northland Mr. Walleye Crawler Hauler spinners, adorned with nightcrawlers, are killer on midsummer Leech Lake walleyes.
Another guide with an affinity for live-bait is Marv Koep. The Minnesota Hall of Fame angler operated famous Koep’s Bait Shop in Nisswa, MN for many years. Koep made a living selling bait to anglers and keeping area guides supplied with bait. He’s since sold the shop but continues to guide some regular customers. On the ends of their lines? Minnows, usually. Koep has a reputation of being a no-nonsense guide who often targets walleyes but entices a variety of species simultaneously. Whether using jigs or live-bait rigs, he has long been a fan of the redtail chub as it puts walleyes, pike, and bass on the hooks of his clients. For these veteran guides, some things never change.
Bait-Shop Beat
The smells, sounds, and sights inside a baitshop never change either. Upon entrance into my neighborhood shop, Taber's Bait in Bemidji, MN, a big whiff of mixed aromas from minnow water and crawler flats kicks the olfactory sense into "walleye drive"! The sound of gurgling aerators, the "pfffff" of the oxygen hose, as owner, Ron Bostic bags yet another dozen shiners and gives up-to-the-minute fishing reports – sweet music to an angler with a day off.
Like shops across the country, live-bait is Bostic's business. Ron is often in the back, grading minnows and cleaning tanks as he tries to balance inventory with demand. He emerges from the back when the door alarm goes off, indicating that a customer has entered the building. He towels his hands dry, and says, "What can I getcha?" In addition to bait, anglers can expect Ron to give them a pulse on the local bite, whether they want it or not. Most want it. Ron talks to guides and hardcore anglers daily and is an angler himself, getting out when time allows. Hours? Let’s just say, “early bird sells the worm.” He often extends his store hours, both early and late, during busy weekends.
Local anglers expect Taber’s to have redtail, shiner, sucker, and fathead minnows on hand, in addition to leeches of various sizes, and crawlers, too. Bostic does not see the demand for live-bait dropping off. In fact, he sees the opposite trend. "People continue to want quality bait and they want a variety of bait,” says Ron.
In most natural lakes and rivers, live-bait remains the most effective year-round presentation for catching walleyes, and most fish species for that matter. When I was a kid, my dad let me have a token Five-o-Diamonds spoon in my tackle box. I rarely used it however. I was taught to put a lively worm, leech, or minnow on the jig below my bobber. Dad knew that was my best chance for action. It was . . . and still is.
Things to Think About While Wishing for Walleyes
Surefire walleye techniques that’ll be served hot in my boat this spring and summer.
By Brian “Bro” Brosdahl
Battling wind, waves, and wetness, the author still managed to “float” a Northland Buck-A-Roo hair jig over a walleye infested clam bed. The results of his efforts are self-evident. Photo courtesy of Northland Fishing Tackle (www.northlandtackle.com).
It’s early in the season. The labor of spawning is a fling of the past – the breeders are well rested. Water temps are in that magical range – above 50 but no higher than the low 70s. Walleyes are licking their chops and under the impression that the next minnow or jig that eases by is a complimentary meal – big mistake.
The fishing IS good, so don’t over-think your approach. Trust me, if you write down these tips on your hand with a Sharpie – ala Sarah Palin’s cheat-sheet technique – you will bet bit and not blow a brain chip doing so.
Unearthing Eaters
Sort of hate the term because it implies certain fate by fryer. But you know what I’m talking about – small to midsize fish, typically males. They’re the easiest to locate and lasso this time of year. And without giving it a second thought, my initial probing starts over gravel flats. On a typical natural lake that puts you in 6 to 12 feet of water. If the water’s clearer than moonshine, though, slip out into the 18 to 22 foot range. In both instances, if weeds and or a shoreline point are involved, more power to you.
My second nod goes to a raging river mouth – something significant that walleyes either use to breed or chokes-up with baitfish. A river mouth is actually a broader, more dynamic area than the name implies, too. Relative to that reality, check the actual mouth, upstream a spell if navigable, as well as the spillway up to a quarter mile out into the lake. Watch your electronics and pay close attention for signs of a deeper river channel. Those cuts can be killer.
Satisfying Slobs
These are not for eating. Got it? Trusting that you’re an ethical angler, I’m going to give you my top terrain for finding giant early season walleyes. Ready? Rocks, big rocks. Deep or shallow, I’ve caught more slovenly, spawned out females amongst boulders than anywhere else. These sows are hungry, too, but not inclined to chase bait around. Rather, they hunker down in an ambush stance and wait for deliveries. I’m convinced that they’re waiting for me to lower a sumo-sized minnow on a rig or jig. Rarely does a year pass when I don’t pin a couple of trophies on the Minnesota Opener using Popsicle sized shiners or chubs.
Secret Structure
Rocks are regular. Sand the same. And points, well, very predictable. So here’s an arrow to add to the quiver that you might not already own. Clam beds. They’re pretty prevalent on large lakes and generally colonize in 6 to 10 feet of water inside, or just beyond the outside weedline. And with foliage not yet totally in place, now’s the time to find them. (By midsummer clam beds can get buried in greens and be virtually undetectable.)
Paramount to fishing clam beds is not dragging the bottom or you’ll get cut-off more times than a Vespa in downtown New York traffic. Clam beds are constructed of both the living and the dead. And the last gasp of a clam leaves an open shell that’s sharpened to slash fishing line.
With that in mind, I “float” a jig overhead. Close to the bottom, maybe ticking it once to get a reference point, but then maintain a lofting and swimming motion that steers clear of the cutlery. Hair jigs are the ultimate vehicle for hovering over clam beds. The plume of a marabou tail or airy hairs of a bucktail jig provide a tempting target with a relaxed fall fit for such operations. And there’s no doubt, Northland’s new Buck-A-Roo hair jig is the ultimate anti clam digger. It floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee.
Rigging Ritual
Launch and look around. There’s probably a 50/50 split between guys jigging and rigging. I have no qualms with either party, either. Both are classic methods for rolling cold water walleyes. But this year, just for poops and giggles, experiment with my hybridized presentation. It blends the best of both worlds.
Think of it like an undersized live bait rig that can be pitched like a jig. Build it this way: Space roughly 18-inches between your hook and a fixed position bullet sinker. I use Northland’s ingenious Sling-Shot Worm Weight because they affix to the line – without nicking and twisting it – and stay put without a swivel. Moreover, you can change weights without retying. To complete the rig, simply tie in a #6 or even smaller #8 hook. In this application, smaller hooks are preferred because they aren’t a prone to snagging.
Dress the rig with minnow, half a crawler, or my favorite, especially in early summer, a medium black leech. Rear back and pitch it like a jig. Twitch it back in 2-foot strides, each action followed by a 3-second settling period to let the bait fall to a potential death by walleye.
I haven’t officially named the rig yet, but will, and shortly, so nobody else claims it… Oh, and by the way, the No Name Rig is most effective over shallow rocks and for slipping through emerging vegetation.
Alive and Kicking
That Buck-A-Roo jig I just mentioned? You can bet it’ll be buddy-buddy with a live minnow in my boat. In fact, other than stroking my No Name Rig and a leech at rocks and weeds, minnows will be responsible for the rest of the dirty work. And hands-down, locally-trapped, shiner minnows are the best of show. Nothing outdoes what the lake is actually serving. The shiners are in. The walleyes are in because of the shiners. So don’t fool with Mother Nature.
Fragile as they are, the slightest scrape of a hook puts a shiner into a traumatized twist that walleyes enjoy to watch, albeit sadistically. The flashing silvery sides are like flicking a flashlight at night when you’re trying to hide in the woods playing tag. (That was a childhood reference by the way, not something I do on weekends.) A flash of a flank of a shiner and the jig is up, literally.
That delicate nature also presents a problem. Shiners are easily shocked and you can burn a lot of hard earned money if they aren’t handled with TLC. For the big transport – going from the bait store to camp, which might be hours away – I transfer them into Frabill’s 6-gallon Personal Bait Station. The insulated, highly-oxygenated container is my brother’s keeper when it comes to mobilizing shiners. Once in the boat, I’ll divide the minnows into smaller 8-quart Personal Bait Stations. The low-profile, rectangular container is stable and as easy to pass around as a cold one.
Speaking of which, I’m a tad thirsty. I think there’s one in the cooler.
Editor’s Note: Brian “Bro” Brosdahl headmans Bro’s Guide Service in North Central Minnesota. Spring, Summer, Winter or Fall, the northwoods fish stalker chases everything from walleyes and panfish to bass and perch. Bro can be reached at 218-340-6051 or visit his website at www.brosguideservice.com.
Batting a Thousand in Walleye Land
By Ted Pilgrim
What do you call it when three consecutive major league walleye tournaments are won with tackle from the same lure manufacturer? Coincidence? Luck? Domination? Perhaps trust and dependability factor in, too— at least if you ask the winning anglers themselves. Regardless of what you call it, the 2010 walleye tournament season has again demonstrated top anglers’ reliance on battle-proven rigs and jigs.
This isn’t to imply that fish in the boat are more important to competitive anglers than they are to weekend warriors. For all walleye fisherman, the main goals are bent rods and livewells full of golden fish. In all cases, making the magic happen requires tackle you believe in—stuff you trust. Which is why so many anglers from all backgrounds continue to rely on those familiar, famed presentations like the Northland Fire-Ball Jig, Rapala Shad Rap, and Northland Roach Rig. These classics scream “confidence,” and there’s no better lure than the one in which we hold faith.
Confidence in a particular presentation, of course, occurs only after consistent and continuous positive results build upon themselves, culminating in a feeling of certain success. When walleyes show a perpetual appetite for eating a particular hot lure, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll have that bait rigged and ready at all times. Confidence remains the greatest asset in your mental tackle box. It’s the same reason why those Fire-Balls, Shad Raps and Roach Rigs occupy so much space in our tackle boxes. These little gems flat out get eaten by more walleyes than anything else.
Over a thirty-year period, dozens of tournament successes have occurred across the MWC, FLW and PWT circuits using Northland products. Most recently, at a Masters Walleye Circuit (MWC) event on the Illinois River in Spring Valley, Illinois, Northland’s supremacy reasserted itself. During the two-day event (March 27-28, 2010), Wisconsin competitors Kevin Dahl and Steve Stack fed the walleyes and sauger a steady diet of 3/8-ounce Northland jigs coupled with a variety of biodegradable soft baits. Fishing in 14- to 17-feet of water, Dahl and Stack fished slow and steady, finesse-jigging their way to a two-day total of 55-pounds, capturing the win and a $20,000 payday.
Meanwhile, on the FLW Walleye Tour, anglers using Northland spinner rigs found similar success. Among those competing in the Detroit River/Lake Erie event (April 8-10, 2010) was Dean Arnoldussen, who had won two previous FLW Tour events, both on big water Great Lakes venues. Following three days of consistent catches, Arnoldussen notched a first-place victory, weighing an impressive 101-pounds, 13-ounces of walleyes on Northland spinner rigs.
Assuring Arnoldussen’s victory was a “Holographic” Baitfish Image-green spinner blade made by Northland Fishing Tackle. Dressing his rigs were short, fat nightcrawlers trolled behind planer boards. Arnoldussen trolled his rigs at 1 to 1.3-mph with his engine-mounted Minn Kota electric motor. He kept his spinners tracking about halfway down over 15-feet of water, which is where the majority of his 25 final day keepers bit. He concentrated on stained “milky” water where clarity was about 2 feet. The green blades proved to be the perfect combination of flash and vibration, as well as the right match-the-hatch realism to dominate in a highly competitive tournament environment.
Merely a week later, the MWC arrived in Trenton, Michigan, on the shores of the same Lake Erie fishery as the previous FLW event. The results were strikingly similar, even down to specific lures of choice. The back-to-back winning presentation? Northland spinner rigs and nightcrawlers slow-trolled behind planer boards. The eventual victors, brothers Steve and Dan Bodinger, worked a program remarkably parallel to Arnoldussen’s with special attention being paid to the spinner rig itself.
Plying the Michigan waters of Erie, the Bodingers turned to their “go-to” weapons— Northland Mr. Walleye Crawler Haulers festooned with number 5 and 6 Colorado blades in the holographic perch pattern. “We ran our rigs 1 to 1.2-mph at 9 to 10 feet over 16 to 18 feet of water in Brest Bay,” said Steve. “Finding dingy—not dirty—water was the key.”
Just three events into the 2010 walleye tournament season, it appears that the anglers using Northland jigs and rigs are returning home just a little richer. Going three-for-three is not a bad way to launch the competitive fishing season. After the first big walleye events of the year, three central themes persist: walleyes in dingy water, carefully managed boat control, and jigs and rigs stamped with one familiar logo. The first theme is all about finding fish—that ever-changing puzzle we call location. Number two remains one of the most important, yet overlooked factors in successful walleye fishing that the best anglers recognize the importance of boat control, and execute to perfection, whether speed-trolling, controlled-drifting, anchoring or backtrolling. And last but far from least is presentation itself. When we find a lure or presentation that works, we stick with it, right? It’s that intangible yet recognizable factor known as confidence. Trust and dependability are born out of a continuous line of successes. When walleyes show a constant appetite for eating certain jigs, rigs or baits, wise anglers pay attention. They gain confidence, turning to the same hot presentations time after time. Soon, they find themselves in the winner’s circle, returning to the center stage more often than anyone else. Which is exactly the same way a good lure becomes a legend with tournament types, as well as the weekend warrior.
The hair transplant was a success: Bucktail Jigs make a big comeback with the walleye bigwigs
By Tom Neustrom
Photo courtesy of Frabill
Hair jigs, like the Northland Buck-A-Roo, work magic on cold-water walleyes. Here, author Tom Neustrom hoists a late spring monster after legendary angler Gary Roach scooped it up in a Frabill landing net.
I was a twelve-year-old dock boy living the dream at a resort in Northern Wisconsin. By day, I’d hang out with minnows and men who tell fish stories, while earning a little walking around money for my efforts. It was there one summer that I met Hans, an unassuming Swede and regular at the resort.
Without fail, he’d motor back to the dock after sunset with walleyes to show. Oftentimes, he was one of several successful anglers returning to camp. But there were plenty of other times when Hans was the only one who walked the hallowed path to the fish cleaning house. The “skunked” guys claimed that the fish simply weren’t biting.
Well, I was biting. Hans knew something they didn’t. Whether it was a sixth sense always knowing where the active walleyes schooled, or a secret lure, I needed to find out. Luckily, the journeyman angler appreciated my inquisitiveness. Without making me beg, he produced the magical morsel – a yellow haired jig.
He called it “bear-hair”. Looked like deer-hair to me, but who was I to question the man who just turned over the Colonel’s secret recipe. Hans said the secret behind the secret was how it moved in the water. It pulsated, breathed, didn’t just bounce around like a piece of metal. And the proof was in the pudding, or more precisely, the consistency of his catches.
Thinking back, my guess is that the sagely Swede hand-tied those jigs. But not long after, a handful of similar patterns popped up on bait shop walls. There was the “Jack Crawford Jig” and the original Pinkie Jig out of the Chicago area, as well as a few other garage-job versions. Hair became pretty popular in the 60’s and 70’s, but ultimately lost the limelight to soft plastics – so-called more “technological” and “advanced” replications. (I’ll save discussions about that myth for another time…)
In my opinion, natural fibers simply move more fluidly in water than plastics. Don’t get me wrong, I fish plenty of plastics – especially for bass and panfish – but when spring walleyes are the main course, I’m going with either a hair-jig or some type of meat, like a minnow on a live bait rig, or maybe even a combination of hair and meat.
(Something I forgot to mention about Swede’s undefeatable hair jig was that it didn’t always act alone. Often, he’d thread half a crawler up the hook shank. He said the natural scent made the difference when fish were finicky. I have a hunch the walleyes liked the taste and squishy feel as well.)
Fast forward to 2010… There’s a retro movement afoot. Hair jigs are reappearing. And this time, technology is actually improving the classic lure. For instance, what were once crude shaped lead heads are now artfully sculpted to resemble actual baitfish. The head of the new Northland Buck-A-Roo Jig, for example, features realistic eyeballs, mouthparts, gills, and even fish scales.
Now throw in some color. Not just one or two shades, either, but a realistic multi-tone treatment with distinct contrasts, just like an actual baitfish. Study the head of a live minnow. You’ll never see a solo brush stroke. Even if the head is essentially one color, there’ll be shades, and definitely light to dark contrasts.
Looking past the sculpted head, these contemporary jigs also feature hair colors and combinations of colors that are not only remarkably ornate, but also mimic the hues of native baitfish. Consider the Silver Shiner pattern in Northland’s Buck-A-Roo lineup. The authentically patterned head blends into a body of color-coordinated fibers. The jig’s tail is a complex mixture of white, grey, black and silver fibers. Hold the jig at an arm’s length and the unique fibers bond into the perfect composite of a shiner minnow. Move it around in the water and it’s as if you’ve created life. I’m not joking.
There is something else I need to mention that’s specific to the Buck-A-Roo series. Each of the eight unique patterns is darker on top than the bottom. Grab that live minnow again. The belly is lighter than the back, right? Same is true of everything from shiners to suckers and chubs to crappie minnows. It’s a thing of nature.
Having such natural looks and action make hair jigs amazingly versatile, too. They’ll catch fish in 5 to 50 feet of water and are great for connecting with suspended fish, too. I’ve trolled and drifted them with success – even dangled one under a cork with a live leech and caught fish.
When push comes to shove, though, the prime periods for throwing hair jigs are spring and early summer when walleyes feed in 15-feet of water and less. True, that’s a big window of time. But the bushy jigs are simply that adaptable. Hair jigs effectively slither through emerging weeds – a favorite feeding ground for early season walleyes – as well as along established weedlines. Hair jigs, especially crawfish patterns, are nasty on walleyes and smallmouth bass over rocks. And for casting current, there’s no better presentation for capturing the water’s natural motion and converting it into true-to-life baitfish action.
That flowing baitfish action is easily mimicked in a lake, too. In fact, that pulsing, almost innocent action is at the crux of the retrieve. Rip out the page on traditional jigging from your fishing playbook. There’ll be no “jigging” here. Rather, the retrieval motion is a soft lift and drop, lift and drop, lift and drop. Snaps and spastic twitches don’t do the jig justice. That just creates a stiff and unnatural look. It’s the slow rising and falling that lets the jig pulse. Imagine a jellyfish propelling itself through saltwater, or the fluid tentacles of a squid. That’s the look.
Depending on depth, and overall fish aggressiveness, go ahead and experiment with the height of each lift. Try a foot, and then two. Sometimes, a walleye responds best to a hair jig that’s delicately dragged and occasionally paused inches above the bottom. It won’t take long to figure it out. The fish will send you a signal.
Although plastics are off the table as an additive, meat has meaning. No matter how fantastically accurate its profile, color, and motion, a live minnow can be a tremendous closing tool. To that point, if you’re uncomfortable fishing a naked jig, stick a minnow on that hook. Be selective, though, because the benefits of adding scent and taste can be nullified if you screw up the action by using too large a minnow.
I like smaller inch and a half to two inch minnows, shiners if available. Nose hooked, they’ll nestle in the center of the plume, the minnow’s tail poking out just a hint, adding even more realism. I’ve been known to trim the hair, too, shortening the overall length to make sure the minnow’s tail is fully visible. If you do decide to shorten the jig, cut the hairs at an angle. A blunt cut actually diminishes the desired pulsing action.
Despite the jig’s peaceful action, strikes are often brutal. A hair jig can bring out the worst in a walleye. With that in mind, I fish relatively heavy 8 or 10-pound test mono, Suffix Siege to be exact. There’s no waiting period on the hookset, either. Often, the hair jig is pretty much buried on the initial strike after a quick zing of the rod tip. Take that, Mr. Walleye.
Author Tom Neustrom is a professional fishing guide, educator, and recent inductee into the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. Learn more about Tom, as well as his sponsors (Frabill, Northland Fishing Tackle, Rapala, Humminbird, Minn-Kota, Lund and Mercury) and guide service (Minnesota Fishing Connections) by visiting www.mnfishingconnections.com.
By Carl Madsen
Devils Lake guide, Jason Mitchell finds that stick baits are incredibly effective when worked over weeds and catches impressive walleyes in shallow water all summer long.
On many types of water, walleye anglers have embraced suspending stick baits. This particular class of lures are particularly effective early in the season but many seasoned anglers have discovered situations where this style of lure can out perform many presentations through out the open water season.
Unaided with just a super line or monofilament, suspending stick baits are typically a shallow running lure. Most traditional baits might run down to five feet when trolling and two to three feet on a cast. Popular lures include Smithwick Rattling Rogues, Rapala Husky Jerks, Rapala X Raps and Salmo Stings.
Presentation techniques, patterns and the locations of fish can vary from region to region and of course the methods can vary amongst several top anglers.
Spring
On the Missouri River near Bismarck, North Dakota, Mike Peluso is considered one of the top river aces. Peluso was a former NHL hockey player and pro angler fishing tournament trails as prestigious as the PWT. According to Peluso, suspending stick baits shine on the river early in the season and seem to work more consistently than shad profiled lures until after the spawn. Big fish in particular often locate along the shallow current seams that come off of the many sand bars found on the Missouri River.
Some of these current breaks are fairly small, some are quite large but a tactic that Peluso and many top river anglers use to fish crankbaits and stick baits in these tight spots is to use a spinning reel for trolling these lures. “Line counters and level winds just take too long to get out behind the boat, a spinning reel allows you to set up on these spots so much quicker,” explains Peluso. Fish often spook from the boat however in this shallow water so anglers are advised to cast the lure a considerable distance behind the boat. Inline planer boards are also often use to get the lure a short distance to the side of the boat up into even shallower water. Peluso is often running the boat in three to six feet of water and believes anglers are much more productive by getting the lure away from the boat. “Long line trolling is usually most effective as casting just doesn’t keep the lure in the zone long enough and planer boards are harder to distinguish if the lure is fouled up,” adds Peluso.
On many rivers, debris floating in the current or on the bottom can make trolling lures ineffective. “I am often more effective by keeping the lure behind the boat, letting out a lot of line so I can feel how the lure is working and this is why spinning reels works so good for me is that I can cast these lighter lures a considerable distance and also get the lures back to the boat quickly,” Peluso describes. According to Peluso, several lures and colors will work well on the Missouri River with many anglers using Rapala Husky Jerks and Original Floaters but a new bait that has really impressed him is the Salmo Sting. “The Sting has really caught a lot of fish for me and it does put out a little bit more vibration that seems to help in this often dirty water we are fishing. Because of the action, I can also tell if I am fouled up easier. The hooks are also a little bit bigger on this lure and I think that helps wrestle some of these fish in,” explains Peluso.
Peluso typically holds at least one rod and often fishes with just one rod, imparting a lot of additional action to the lure by snapping the rod tip. Often, the fish seem to hit when the lure falls back and stops in the current. Typically, working the lure with the rod will trigger many more fish.
Mid Summer
Devils Lake in north eastern North Dakota is considered one of the hottest walleye fisheries come mid summer. One of the top guns on this lake is legendary fishing guide, Jason Mitchell whom also hosts a popular fishing show (Jason Mitchell Outdoors) that airs across the Midwest. According to Mitchell, many walleyes never leave the weeds. Pondweed or cabbage is particularly attractive and often holds walleyes. Until the weeds reach the surface, active walleyes often cruise just above the weed beds.
Come mid summer, many traditional crankbaits often run too deep and foul up digging into the weeds and stick baits really shine as they can be worked right over the tops of these weed stands according to Mitchell. “As the weeds grow towards the surface, we find ourselves using really shallow running lures to work the tops of these weed beds,” explains Mitchell. “These walleyes will often be positioned just a few feet under the surface in five feet of water right in the middle of the day if good weeds are present.”
Mitchell often casts stick baits over the tops of these weed beds and uses plastics or deeper diving crankbaits to hit the edges. “During stable weather, the bulk of the fish are often right on top of the weed bed in that shallow water,” stresses Mitchell. The retrieve is often interrupted with plenty of quick snaps and pauses to trigger fish. Mitchell will experiment with a straight retrieve at times but usually finds that extra flash, variances in speed and stops are necessary.
Mitchell openly admits that he has had great success with many of the popular stick bait choices on the market but is also partial to the Salmo Sting because of the more distinct vibration and larger hooks which he feels aid anglers when using braided line to put extra pressure on the fish when necessary. Mitchell was also involved in many of the color pattern selections as Salmo is one of his primary sponsors for his television show. A tip Mitchell offers anglers for casting stick baits is to be able to match retrieves and cadences quickly when fishing with other anglers. Watch the rod tip stroke and retrieve and attempt to match. This is much easier and more accurate if all of the anglers in the boat are using the same rod and reel with the same gear ratio. This retrieve tempo is often much more important than color, according to Mitchell.
Fall
On many natural lakes in Minnesota, stick baits often work extremely well after dark. Many of these patterns begin during the late summer period and become even stronger as fall progresses. Rocky shorelines and points or reefs that have rock and gravel often hold walleyes into the fall and under the cover of darkness, these walleyes feed aggressively in this shallow water.
Anglers often experience phenomenal action for walleyes after dark. On many lakes, some of the biggest fish caught each season are caught on this pattern. There are some situations where anglers can reach fish by using waders and casting. Other locations require a boat and anglers troll over these shallow reefs. Moon phases are often important with the full moon often peaking this after dark activity. Clear skies under a full moon are ideal conditions.
Welcome to the Jungle - Chasing Weed Walleyes
By Matthew Breuer
“How do you do that without getting snagged in the weeds?” I hear it all of the time. People assume that because I’m fishing deep in the middle of a weed-flat that I must be getting tangled up in masses of cabbage or coon-tail. I admit, sometimes it gets frustrating, and sometimes I reel in more green leaves than I do fish. However, it never fails, if I tinker around with enough techniques, eventually I find something seamless, and the fish seem to turn on. Below are a few techniques to try when the walleyes inhabit the jungle.
Pitching Jigs
Casting jigs is probably the most common way to cover weed beds. When using minnows, leave the round-head jigs at home and tie on something in a stand-up style. Phelp’s Tackle Half-Faced Jigs “stand up” at a 45 degree angle, keeping the hook off the bottom. With the hook semi-upright, your chances of getting caught up in the weeds are much less likely. With the shank of the hook so upright, the minnow sits higher in the strike zone, much more visible than if it were buried in the forest floor. Cast the jig out, let it settle, and then jig the bait back to the boat, letting your bait hit bottom on occasion.
Getting Pushy
There are times when you get so upset with the weeds, that you just want to ask something to swim through them, making a path for your bait to slide through… then you remember that you’ve got bottom bouncers in your tackle bag! Running a bottom bouncer in front of a crawler harness is a sure-fire way to get fewer messes and catch more fish. The 7” long bouncers work great for keeping your bait up off the bottom and for pushing enough water to separate the plants, allowing your crawler harness to burn through without getting caught up. Try to use as little weight as possible. Since you’re fishing the weed-beds, you’re likely going to be in less than 15’ of water, so lighter bouncers are needed. 3/8oz. seems to work well. Instead of a 6’ lead on your harnesses you can shorten them up by 18-24”. Troll at higher speeds through the weeds, up to 3mph, this will allow your harness to get through the gap created by your bouncer before it closes, and will also trigger reaction bites from cruising walleyes.
Slipping Past Them
Slip-shot or shooter rigs work well in the weeds when casted. Thread on a bullet sinker above a swivel, and then attach a crawler harness or a lead with a Phelp’s Floater. Be sure to put some air into your crawlers with a blower or needle allowing it to float when using a harness. When using a floater, you won’t need air as the floater will lift your bait for you. Leeches often work best with a Phelp’s Floater. The bullet sinker will hit the weeds while retrieving the bait, allowing your spinner rig or floater to move through the weeds with ease. Lengthy casts allow you to cover large weed beds without spooking those shallow fish. Let your bait hit bottom, then start a steady retrieve back to the boat.
Cranky Weeds
If you find a large weed flat where the cabbage thins out toward the top, or the weeds only come up about ½ to ¾ of the way to the top, cranks will excel. Pulling or casting small baits with a tight wobble like the Salmo Hornet allow you to keep the bait up above the weeds, just tickling the tops. The size 4 Hornet’s run between 5 and 9 feet down, the perfect depth to be casted or trolled over large beds of cabbage weeds. If you’re dealing with fish that spook easily, you can even pull cranks on planer boards, to be sure you’re not running over the schools of fish.
Floats or Corks
Slip-bobbers are time-tested, and they rarely fail. If you find walleyes in shallow and they’re buried in the thickest weeds you can find, a leech under a float will often times dig them out! A simple size 4 octopus hook with a leech is irresistible to walleyes during most of the summer. Add a split-shot about 12” above the hook, and hang it all under a cork and you’re in business. Try to keep the bait hanging within the bottom 3’ of the water column. Being in contact with the bottom isn’t necessary, as walleyes often suspend while chasing bait in the weeds.
Go In After ‘Em
Hopefully these methods make you more comfortable when chasing walleyes deep into the jungle. Don’t get frustrated when you’re pulling weeds off your hooks. When you’re dealing with weeds, you’re dealing with baitfish, and if you’re dealing with baitfish, you’re dealing with walleyes!
By Mike Frisch
Here is a look at how the Sling-Shot Worm Weight works.
I have been presenting live bait like minnows, leeches, and night crawlers for walleyes with the traditional slip-sinker live bait rig just about my whole fishing career. During that time, variations of the rig and some new products designed to make this method more successful have appeared. A couple years ago, a new sinker was introduced that this fishing guide thinks is “the deal” when it comes to rig fishing.
Called the Sling-Shot Worm Weight, this sinker has its roots as a weedless cone-head worm weight for use by bass anglers. However, its design also makes it a great weight for presenting live bait slip-sinker style for walleyes. Here is a look at how this weight works and its advantages.
Tying a rig with this new weight starts by threading the small, sliding rubber sling-shot included with the weight on the main line above the swivel. Below the swivel, a traditional live bait snell with a hook and small colored bead can be used. Once on the line, the sliding sling-shot can be pulled allowing the slotted weight to be placed on the line. The sling-shot /slotted weight combination is the ultimate in quick-change design allowing an angler to quickly change weight sizes or colors in just seconds without having to cut and retie the line.
Quick-change sinkers are important to live bait rigging because when we do change fishing depths or speeds, we often need to change weight sizes to match the fishing conditions. Additionally, when moving from fishing spot to fishing spot, the weights can be quickly taken from the line avoiding the line twists and tangles that often occur during runs when sinkers are left on lines and allowed to swing freely.
Another benefit to the these new weights also involving the quick-change design is in the available colors. Many traditional walleye slip-sinkers come in bright, fish-attracting colors. In some cases, especially in low-light conditions or when fishing off-colored waters, that is an advantage. However, lots of the lakes that I rig fish are clear water environments where the fish have seen numerous slip-sinkers. In this situation, I prefer having a sinker that blends into the bottom so the fish can‘t easily see it. The new Sling-Shot Worm Weights come in three colors that closely match common bottom types. The bullhead color is my choice on mud bottoms, crawfish matches sandy areas, and watermelon is a good color for rigging along weed lines. Again, the quick-change design allows me to quickly and easily match bottom conditions when I move from spot to spot.
As was just alluded to, rigs are used for fishing for walleyes holding along weed lines. Their weedless cone-head shape makes Sling-Shot Worm Weights the perfect sinker for pulling leeches, crawlers, and minnows along the edges and even up into the various types of weeds that walleyes call home. In fact, I find my guide trips revolving more and more around weed line areas because this sinker allows me to better present bait to fish holding along these areas.
As was also illustrated previously, the rubber sling-shot is vital to this system. Not only does it provide for quick-change capability, but it also eliminates line abrasion and nicks that can mean broken line and lost fish. The line also slides effortlessly through the sling-shot, meaning a biting walleye can be “fed” line without feeling resistance which is one of the real advantages of live bait rig fishing.
One final advantage of these new weights is in their available sizes. Traditional slip-sinkers for walleyes often come in 1/8-, ¼-. 3/8- and ½-ounce sizes. Sling-Shot Worm Weights come in these sizes, but also are available in a 3/16-ounce version. This is the perfect “in-between” size when a 1/8-ounce is a bit light and a ¼-ounce is a bit heavy.
Live bait rigs have been a staple of walleye fishing for decades because they put fish in the boat. If you are a walleye fisherman who uses live bait rigs, you really ought to give Sling-Shot Worm Weights a try. They made this fishing guide a more efficient and successful angler and they can do the same for you. As always, good luck on the water!
Mike Frisch is the owner/operator of Fishin’ With Frisch Pro Guide Service. Check out his website www.fishinwithfrisch.com
For Quality Walleye, Find Quality Structure
By Jerry Carlson
Spending the time to find good walleye structure often pays big dividends.
I have heard it said that 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water. I would have to admit there is some truth to this comment. However, on some lakes I fish, I believe the 10% factor may be a bit generous, especially when I am pursuing walleye.
No matter what number a person picks, walleye are notorious for being super selective about choosing their haunts. Because of this, anglers must also be super selective about their choices for fishing.
It is important to note that walleye, like other fish, do not do things by accident. They don’t live in a haphazard manor. They are very particular about where they hang out and make sure they are never very far away from their next meal.
Once the spawning period is over, food is a driving force for walleye. In the early season, this desire to be close to food often keeps walleye in the shallows for a short while.
After spawning, there is little incentive for walleye to move very deep. Since baitfish are also up in the shallows to spawn, shallow water areas harbor the most food. In reality, there is very little food in deep water.
Once baitfish finish their spawn, they start the gradual transition to deeper water. Naturally, walleye follow. It is at this time that mid lake structure begins to be productive.
When walleye start moving into deeper water, I love to focus my attention on points that run out from shallow food flats. These deeper points are a natural gathering area for baitfish once they start to disperse from their shallow spawning sites.
After a preferred depth is determined, it is a pretty safe bet that walleye will be at about the same depth on all of the similar pieces of structure in the lake. If the walleye are running between 20 and 23 feet on one point, use that as a focal point at other locations.
As the water warms, plankton and insect larvae become more plentiful in deep water. Once the bottom of the food chain resides in deeper water, baitfish disperse throughout the lake. At this time, mid lake humps are ideal.
Whether I am working a deep point or a mid lake hump, I will typically cruise the edges of the structure in search of fish. If I find lots of baitfish showing up on my electronics, I may fish the area even if I am not marking many bigger fish.
Walleye love areas of their underwater environment that are different from the general surroundings. Although I will motor a long distance to check out a mid lake hump or reef, I still look for points and turns on this isolated structure as a focal point. The hump itself is different from its surroundings, but if fish are located on the hump, it is often on a unique feature of the hump.
Once a potential hotspot is found, there are different ways to work it. A standard live bait rig is often hard to beat, but so is a jig. When fish are scattered over a large area, spinners can be deadly.
No matter what presentation is preferred, anglers can’t catch fish if they can’t find them. I suggest using all methods of collecting data to get information about the body of water being fished. Quality sonar and GPS, along with mapping chips, are absolutely imperative for success on complicated bodies of water.
I have caught many walleye in unusual, nondescript locations. However, when it comes to consistently locating fish, quality structure equates into quality fishing.
The Ultimate Live Bait Rigging Solution?
By Tony Roach with Doc Samson
In the “Roach world” pretty much everything revolves around convincing walleyes and other fish to bite. Even when I’m not in the boat doing what I need to do to make that happen, I just can’t stop my mind from swimming around different possibilities. It occurs to me now that I’ve lately been relying on slip-float rigs (also known as slip-bobber rigs) more and more when walleyes absolutely need to be caught, like when I’m guiding clients.
These little buoyant stems of balsa are really so much more than bite-indicating devices, though. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching a walleye pull a cork down—going-going-gone. Reel steadily against the bulk of a big fish, and then drive the hook home. Just like connecting on a big league homerun. But truthfully, the main thing with floats—and this gets continually overlooked—is that they remain one of the finest precision live bait delivery tools in existence. It’s easy to discount corkin’ because the method sometimes feels too simple, too elementary to be taken seriously.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
A skilled float fisherman will many times fish circles around even the best riggers and jiggers on the lake. Consider two big tournament wins by my friend, Bruce “Doc” Samson—both on precision float methods. On Ottertail Lake in Minnesota in 2006, Doc was the only angler in the field using slip floats. Coupled with Northland Fishing Tackle Thumper Jigs (a small-bladed spinner jig) and lively ribbon leeches, he walked away with the title.
“Slip bobbers let me do things I just can’t accomplish any other way,” Doc told me recently. “A properly rigged float system places a lively leech, minnow or nightcrawler right in the sweet spot. While a jig or slip-sinker rig presents bait with precision, these tools only keep bait in front of the fish for as long as boat control allows. When the wind is up and you’re attempting to drift down a breakline, how often do you think your bait is really in front of fish? In truth, it’s only positioned “right” for a few seconds at a time.
Quick side note… Realizing the significance of presenting “lively” bait under a slip-float, I rely on Frabill’s masterfully designed bait management products, like their Bait Stations and worm care systems to keep bait in fighting, walleye tormenting form.
Doc continues: “Particularly early in the season, walleyes like to swim all around a bait, inspecting it from many angles, before moving in to eat. A slip bobber keeps me in the zone for as long as necessary. Plus, when I anchor on a structure during a tournament, I’m better able to protect my spot from other fishermen. If I were just drifting along with a jig or rig, I’d be unable to protect my spot. On lots of today’s crowded waters, this is sometimes a must.”
From his tactical boat-bow position, Doc pitches floats with an 8-1/2 foot medium-light steelhead spinning rod, a large capacity Daiwa SS 1300 reel and 6-pound test mono. “Like a lot of top pros out there, I’ve been experimenting with the new “Super Pro” Northland Lite-Bite Slip Bobbers. They’re just a nice sensitive float that never fails to perform. I also like the Lite-Bite because it sports a slick little brass grommet at the tip of the stem, which lets line pass freely through the float. With a lot of other floats out there, line often wears a groove into the stem tip. This can cut your line, or prevent the float from sliding properly up and down. I also like the bright red stem with a bulb indicator at the tip. The bright color makes it much more visible than most bobbers. Usually, I use the non-weighted version, which tips over on its side to tell me when my jig has touched bottom, keep me out of snags.
“Another tool that’s key for my slip bobber fishing is a LakeMaster digital map. Coupled with my GPS chartplotter, I can measure precise distances from the boat to the edge of the structure, so I can anticipate exactly when my bait reaches the fish zone, and then hold it there.”
As Doc has explained, corkin’ is much more than just soaking bait below a floating beach ball. It’s a precision live bait system that shines in typical walleye scenarios because it simply lets you hover bait in front of fish with sustained accuracy.
Here’s a personal example: Last season on Minnesota’s Mille Lacs, and several other lakes I fish, walleyes were very well fed, surrounded by never-ending schools of baby perch. Fishing was extremely tough if you insisted on showing walleyes baits or lures that sped along in traditional fashion. Most of the fish simply let these baits pass right on by.
It’s comparable to what happens after you feast on a big Thanksgiving dinner. When you’re full, you’re not likely to get up from the table, walk all the way to the kitchen, and cut yourself a piece of pumpkin pie. But if that same slice of pie should land fortuitously on your plate, well, sometimes you just can’t resist, right? Likewise, if you place a delectable bait on a walleye’s plate, and let it swim and struggle there for a while, good things can happen. That’s exactly how fishing played out last year on many of these forage-rich lakes. The riggers, jiggers, and trollers struggled. But those of us who pitched bobbers to specific areas never failed to get bit.
Certainly, you’ll do well anchoring in wind and pitching float rigs to fish on prime sections of structure, such as the inside corner of a rock reef. And you can use floats to move baits into shallow snaggy positions where other presentations falter. But floats aren’t just for shallow water or for use over rocks or weeds. One of the sweetest applications is something I call “power corkin’.”
It means driving over a structure, or even a mid-depth flat, and sonar scanning for baitfish, emerging insect plumes, and larger walleye arcs. When I spot a walleye or two on sonar, I hit neutral and immediately slide my Lite-Bite Slip Bobber over the stern beside the transducer—bait drops right in front of the walleye’s face. I can also rewind the sonar screen, and note fish depth, setting my bobber stop just a foot or so above them. The boat gradually drifts away from the fish, but the float stays put as you feed it line, holding the bait tight to the fish. Soon, the walleye’s seen all she can stand and takes a bite. Once you get the system super dialed in, you can even watch the whole drama unfold on-screen—bait drops in front of the walleye, which quickly rises up and eats.
Now that’s precision fishing—almost like a video game. With the right floats and live bait, you almost always score.
Water Temperature and Walleyes
By Jason Mitchell
Legendary walleye angler, Jason Mitchell believes that swim baits like the Northland Slurpee Swim Shad are very effective early in the year.
Factors like water temperature and wind seem increasingly important during spring. Often, the most important piece of equipment is a temperature gauge as activity often revolves around water temperature. A temperature gauge also enables an angler to gauge the influence of wind. Water temperature is relative in the sense that there is no magic water temperature to find. Rather an observation of where warmer pools of water are located within a system.
Some locations just heat up better during the spring and this difference in temperature often seems to hold and attract fish. Many of the most productive spots we find are bays within bays within bays… small protected coves that are shallow and protected from the fluctuations of the main basins. These protected pockets will tend to warm up regardless of wind direction. Dark bottoms tend to warm up even more and some of these protected spots might only be five or six feet deep but these shallow spots can and will hold a lot of walleyes.
A general rule of thumb is that the fishing typically gets better in these locations during stable weather. As long as the water temperature continues to rise, these spots get more consistent to a point. Also early in the year, afternoons and early evenings are sometimes better as the water temperature jumps a few degrees during the day. Typically, a falling temperature often slows the bite. Triggers that might cool the water include changes in wind direction where cooler water gets pushed into the location from a cooler part of the lake, cold fronts or cloud cover. The fishing can still be good but anglers typically have to make some adjustments.
When the water temperature is stable or rising, pitching crank baits or swim baits is extremely effective. Both crank baits and swim baits allow anglers to cover some water looking for the active fish. “Go to” lures that we have caught a lot of walleyes on across Minnesota and the Dakotas include the Salmo Hornet and the Northland Slurpee Swim Shad. I like to switch back and forth between the plastic swim bait and the crank bait. Often starting with the crank bait as the lure can be worked faster but we can often pick up a few more fish with the swim bait as it touches different parts of the water column and can be worked slightly slower and different to trigger a few extra fish.
From our experiences, crashing water temperatures usually require a change in tactics. The best is to move or avoid the dropping temp. Find a pocket of water somewhere that was spared. If that is not possible, a few changes are usually required on the presentation. Lures can still be effective, especially for finding fish but longer casts often work better as turned off fish often follow the lure longer before hitting. Live bait in combination with sit and wait presentations can sometimes shine. Live bait rigs or slip bobbers for example will still trigger fish. Camping out on the sweet spots and waiting for fish to move through can be a good strategy. When things do get tough, go where you know there are fish and work it long and hard. We often anchor up on the best locations.
Wind can also play a significant role in walleye location but the reasons aren’t so simple. The old cliché about following the windy shoreline is only right about half the time… so there are no hard rules. Let me explain. If wind is pushing warm water into an area and there are already fish present, wind will often turn the spot on, turnkey. Wind can also muddy up the water, crash the water temperature and basically ruin a good bite so we sometimes find the fish out of the wind, focusing on the calm side of the lake. Often as well, we might be more successful fishing “yesterday’s wind” as a hard blow from a certain direction from a few days previous might be the ticket after the fact. Sometimes wind doesn’t make a spot good that day… but it can turn the spot on a few days down the road. Often as well, we might not find walleyes right up in the chop of a real hard wind. A good starting point for shallow fish seems to be “double the height of the wave.” In two foot waves, try four feet of water. This general rule of thumb seems to work really well for us early in the season. In other words, we seldom find walleyes in one or two feet of water if four foot waves are crashing on shore. The only exception I have ever seen is big fish.
Catching walleyes on many natural lakes early in the season often comes down to small subtle factors and variables. More often than not, location usually boils down to the relationship between wind and water temperature.
The author, Jason Mitchell earned a reputation as a legendary guide on North Dakota’s Devils Lake before hosting the television show, Jason Mitchell Outdoors. More information on this popular television can be found at www.jasonmitchelloutdoors.com.
By Brian “Bro” Brosdahl with Mark Courts
The author, Brian “Bro” Brosdahl, spent many of his formative years experimenting with jigs and various soft plastics near his home on the Upper Mississippi River. He was one of the first to connect the dots between jigs and jerkbaits.
Admittedly, I’m a meat and potatoes sort of guy. I’m eyeing the porterhouse steak on the menu long before the canary food, organic “meals under 500 calories”. In fact, I’ll take the whole right side of the menu, please. This instinctive weakness for hearty meat translates to my walleye fishing as well. Nine out of ten times I’m elbowing my way to the biggest minnow, not thinking much about soft plastic alternatives.
Give me minnows, or give me death…or perhaps something less dramatic, but along those lines.
With that said, I mean no disrespect to guys who put their trust in plastics, sometimes choosing them over live minnows, leeches, and crawlers. Professional walleye angler and educator Mark Courts is one of those guys I respect enough to cut some slack. When it comes to walleyes on plastics, he’s one of the savviest on the FLW Walleye Tour. And to give soft plastic its day in court, I questioned Courts…pun intended.
“Walleyes crush them,” began the Harris, Minn. resident and native. “When a walleye eats a plastic, it’s game over. I’m digging in there with pliers to pull the hook out of the roof of their mouths.”
A certified proponent of live bait, too, Courts knows that plastic have their time and place. And without hesitation, he named springtime fishing on rivers and reservoirs as the foremost situations for busting out the plastics. Courts explained: “Usually, rivers run darker than lakes in the spring. Because of the turbidity, you need to offer them a big target, something with major profile. Plastics fill that role.”
Any broad generalizations about soft plastics end here. Courts is particular about his shapes and sizes. As far as spring walleyes go, nothing does a better job of imitating natural forage (baitfish) than a fluke, sometimes referred to as “soft jerkbait.” Typical to soft plastics, they come in more colors and variations than jellybeans at the candy counter. I’ve seen them as long as a ruler for oceangoing stripers and as miniscule as a blue moon in a box of Lucky Charms to imitate young-of-the-year baitfish.
Relevant to walleyes, Courts’ preferred size falls somewhere in the middle. This is a direct reflection of what foodstuffs are being preyed upon. Typically, you’re dealing with some variety of shiner, shad, dace or sucker from an inch to five inches in length. To no great surprise, the marketplace bares numerous makes and models in those sizes and shapes.
So recognize the general shape and size of the baitfish and you’re half way there. The other component, which Courts said is equally as important, is finding “the right body to jig ratio for the current conditions at hand.” Essentially, you want to hitch the jig and plastic to create the most natural presentation possible.
“With too heavy a jig it’ll lock in the bottom,” said Courts. “Too light, and it’ll tumble downstream and never make contact with the bottom.” In a perfect world, Courts’ properly paired combo “tics the bottom every six inches to a foot.” Now that sounds more like the true behavior of a live, river running minnow...
In order to achieve equilibrium given a wide range of current speeds and depths, it’s only logical to tote an array of jig sizes. And Courts does. “I’ll throw jigs as light as 3/32-ounce and go all the way up to 3/8 ounce if the conditions call for it.” Again, the goal is to keep contact with the bottom without becoming part of it.
A guy who competes professionally on the bass side, too, Courts is super particular about jig styles. “It must have an extra long shank for reaching back into the plastic body,” he stated leaving little margin for error. “A wide gap is necessary as well. The more hook point exposed the better for sticking walleyes in dark and fast moving water. Small hooks are easily missed.”
Last but not least, Courts’ jigs are required to keep a solid grip on the plastic. His top performer is the Northland Slurp! Jig Head. “A double-barb, BarbWire™ collar holds plastics better than anything I’ve ever fished. They hang-on for cast after cast and walleye after walleye.” Slurp! Jig Heads also feature the long-shank and wide-gap that Courts demands.
Maintaining holy matrimony, Courts couples his jig with a soft jerkbait that was designed to wed a Slurp! Jig Head. “Can’t get a better match than the Slurpies Smelt Minnow. The profile is perfect. The material is supple yet durable. And I have eight unique colors to choose from.” Additionally, the Slurpies Smelt Minnow is available in both 3- and 4-inch sizes, yielding even more match-the-hatch flexibility.
Rigged and ready for deployment, Courts discusses specific fishing situations where the jig and jerkbait tandem is especially effective. “After the spawn, walleyes, especially big fish, settle into current seams. A number of structures form seams, too. Wingdams are a good example. Shoreline brush and rocky points and fingers also produce seams that hold walleyes.
Best of all, most seams are visible on the surface.” Courts says to watch closely for speed changes on the surface, either fast to slow, or slow to slack or even reversing – an eddy. It’s all about fishing those edges, or transitions.
Wide berthing river bends are worth a look, too. Current sweeps hurriedly along the outside bend while the shallower inside is slacker and more conducive to post-spawn feeding activities. Keep this information in your back pocket in case the typical current seams aren’t holding fish.
Once a spot’s been identified, Courts anchors or “slips” downstream across from the target. Slipping is a method of boat-control in current whereby the operator inches ever so slowly downstream while running the motor – gas or electric – upstream to manage speed. Yes, it’s effective, but it also takes skillful navigation. Anchoring is the easier choice and lets you focus more on fishing.
Anchored or slipping, Courts casts upstream of ground zero at a 45-degree angle and “walks” the jig and fluke downstream. He holds the rod at the 9- to 11 o’clock position and maintains a taut line to feel every bump of the riverbed and hopeful wallop of a walleye.
This wicked jig and plastic combo isn’t limited to current-going walleyes, either. I’ll often throw it in flooded backwater areas. Later in the summer, on natural lakes, jigs and flukes can be very productive along deep weedlines for walleyes and largemouth bass. And if you’re into smallmouth bass fishing, there might not be a better one-two punch out there.
Okay, Mr. Courts, I get it. I’ll save some space in the tackle box for jigs and plastics. But don’t try talking me into dumping the minnows. I consider them comfort food.
By Tom Neustrom
The word positioning is a rather awkward way to begin a fishing article, but there is no better word to describe the cross meaning of the word edge.
For years, anglers in the know, have been fishing edges of every feasible type of structure imaginable and have found places fish inhabit that have amazed even the non-believers. Make no mistake, that fishing the edge of structure, no matter how big or small, will enhance your success and give you a better understanding of being consistent wherever you fish, and for about every species.
For decades, when the father of structure fishing, Buck Perry, tried to drill it into our heads that fishing structure was relatively an easy equation, no one could understand why certain species of fish inhabited different types of specific locations. Buck was way ahead of his time and to this day he passed on to many of us the theories that we live by today.
The Lindners understood the mechanics of edges better than anyone and were mopping up on fish where ever their fishing caravan took them. Fishing Facts Magazine and In-Fisherman were the angling Bibles of the industry for ions and they filled our heads full of ideas and theories that have created the foundation of why we put so much emphasis on locating and fishing edges of structure.
As a professional guide and one of creations biggest fish heads, I have always been intrigued by places that fish will position themselves. I realize that time of the year and food sources can throw a monkey wrench into the entire process, but edges of structure have helped me to be consistent. Walleyes, Bass, Northern Pike, Muskies and Panfish all relate to structural edges at one time or another, but knowing when and where to fish these primo locals, and for what species, will always be a challenge.
I love to catch any fish, but walleyes have always been my trademark and have haunted me at times with their attitudes. Years ago, there were thoughts of walleyes locating themselves in relatively deeper water and only coming out at night to feed. Those nonsense theories have come and gone and we know that walleyes are very adaptable to countless locations at many different times of the day. Excellent examples of structural elements where edges significantly play an important role are sunken islands, weed beds, points, inside turns, shoreline breaks, rock piles, standing timber and even open water areas that can define locations of walleyes. Forage is a significant factor that can at times dictate specific edges that we fish.
Early and late in the season, jig fishing is my bread and butter when it comes to fishing edges of most structural elements that I chase walleyes. It can be a search weapon when setting up on the edge of weed beds, a long protruding point, back trolling a break line, or fishing a specific spot on a spot. A Northland Fireball or Gumball Jig, tipped with a minnow, half a crawler, or a plastic Slurpie Tail, can be a tough hombre when it comes to quickly checking out specific edges for active walleyes. My second choice is most often a shallow or deeper diving crankbait like a Rapala Husky Jerk, a #7 or #8 Shad Rap, X-Rap Shallow, or an X-Rap Shad. Crankbaits are also great search baits and can trigger strikes in any given situation. Keeping your boat away from the edge that you want to fish is critical and in many situations can make the difference in being successful. Deeper edges where I may be backtrolling chasing walleyes are less susceptible to cause fish to be spooked because of the depth.
I use my electronics like a surgeon dissecting every nook and cranny of structure that I encounter. With my Humminbird 997 SI , I can pick apart the locations of different species of fish on edges, mark their locations, and then come back and fish them. Except for deep structure, many times I will cast to the edge believing that the species of fish I intend to catch are located in heavy vegetation or rocks that are at times impossible to read fish accurately. Edges have been ambush points for fish from their existence and provide just what is needed for the fish and angler alike to make contact.
Don’t ever get caught up in the statement “they just weren’t biting today”; for there is nothing further from the truth. One of my good friends and mentor, Al Lindner, told me a long time ago, “ there are always fish biting somewhere we just have to find them”. Have you ever noticed at a tournament or working with a professional guide there are always exceptions to the rule on a slow or adverse fishing day, and someone finds the fish that are biting. The good ones can react to change and have backup plans to inject into their game plan that make them successful.
Fishing the edges of structure, no matter their location or makeup, will put fish in your boat. Proper presentation and the right bait is important, but” living on the edge” will create a better understanding and increase your odds of angling success.
Sliding Towards Slip Bobber Perfection
Electronics play an important role in locating potential fish holding structure for slip bobber fishing.
By Jerry Carlson
When it comes to precision fishing, there are many thoughts and opinions on what real precision might entail. If you are fishing the great lakes, precision fishing might mean getting the most out of your snap weights and planer boards. However, if you are fishing finicky walleye, precision fishing may mean utilizing slip bobbers.
Over the years, I have successfully implemented a slip bobber presentation on many different lakes. It has helped me target northern on the weed line, crappie in deep water and tightly schooled walleye that are not in the mood to chase.
My most recent slip bobber fishing adventure took place on Mille Lacs Lake in Central Minnesota. During a fishing trip based out of Hunter Winfield’s Resort in Isle, I had a chance to spend a day with fishing guide and resort owner, Mike Christensen.
Although Christensen was adept at many aspects of walleye fishing, he had refined the slip bobber presentation to perfection. His coaching definitely helped me take the slip float concept to a higher level.
Let’s start with equipment. Not surprisingly, Christensen believed in using long, limber poles. His rods were all eight feet or longer and spooled with six-pound-test mono. Long rods are great for picking up line when setting the hook. They are also very forgiving when fighting feisty fish.
The floats Christensen used were fitted with a metal grommet in the top. The grommet reduced line wear in the float and allowed the line to slip through the center of the float quickly and efficiently.
For a weight, Christensen used a rather large split shot. He felt the heavier weight not only dropped his bait into the fish zone faster, it also slowed the drift on windy days.
The hook was also important. Instead of a single hook, he utilized a small 32nd ounce jig head. He believed the jig head not only added fish attracting color but more importantly, greatly reduced the number of gullet hooked fish he had to deal with.
Many times, slip bobber presentations are done in areas that are too rocky and snaggy to be fished in other ways. Rocks will not only eat sinkers and jigs, they will also devour anchors. For this reason, serious bobber anglers purchase a water-spike style anchor that can always be retrieved.
The specialized anchor was not the only adaptation Christensen made use of when anchoring in the rocks. He also used anchor rope that would float. This allowed him to motor over to where the anchor was and then lift the floating rope off of the water and concentrate on the anchor. The floating rope really simplified the process.
There is one more consideration when anchoring a boat. Technically, one anchor drop allows anglers to fish three spots. By changing the rope from the bow eye to a side cleat, a boat will shift to one side or the other. This allows repositioning without lifting the anchor.
Although Christensen targeted shallow water at certain times of the season, he really liked working deep rock for much of the year. By utilizing GPS and the LakeMaster chip (www.lakemap.com), we were able to concentrate our efforts on small, insignificant rock humps far out from shore that were identified on the LakeMaster chip.
Christensen went on to explain that the pattern he has found works like this. First he cruises one of these subtle humps to locate the depth at which the fish are holding. Once that depth is established, he will follow that same depth contour in search of more fish.
For example, on the day Little Falls angler, Mike Wood and I fished with Christensen, we located fish at 18 feet on a hump that topped out at 15. By watching the GPS screen, we were able to see the map of the area we were fishing and could follow the 18 foot contour line around the structure to locate isolated pods of fish.
Contrary to what most anglers think, Christensen did not believe the wind had to be blowing in order for him to catch fish. In fact, he believed he caught more fish on calm days because he had better boat control.
Although the wind forced us to anchor over most of the fish we located, there were times when Christensen would simply back the boat into the wind as we would toss our rigs over the side. As a general rule, active fish would bite within the first few minutes of dropping down.
When it comes to slip bobber angling for walleye, leeches are definitely the main stay for bait. However, on this particular day, crawlers produced as well as leeches.
To many anglers, slip bobber fishing may seem like a simple approach with limited capabilities. Although it does seem simply at the outset, a precision slip bobber presentation is very sophisticated and will often produce fish when other methods fail.
The best way to discover the merits of slip bobbers is to use them. Experience is the only means that one can move this precise style of fishing closer to perfection.
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