The Live-Bait to Plastics Transition for Walleyes
By Tony Roach
from The Fishing Wire

Perhaps the single quickest abandoned pattern in a walleye angler’s arsenal is the shallow jig bite, and I plead “guilty” to the above charge. Anglers that have six boxes with nothing but jigs in them for opener, forget what part of the garage they’re now in collecting dust. Early in the season, shiners are purchased not by the dozen or the scoop, but by the gallon, as the simple act of just threading one on the correct-sized jig will instill confidence throughout the north-country and beyond. One week later, anglers flee the shallow shorelines, developing weedlines, and near-shore rockpiles for the hope of greener pastures out deep, and more familiar, longer-lasting summer patterns. Rigging, slip-bobbering, pulling crankbaits, anything but jigs seem to get the nod as temperatures rise and fishing heats up. Yet, there’s plenty reason to keep those jigs around, and even tip them with minnows in the weeks after opener. What’s more, is that there are a number of developing shallow bites right now that keep jigs in play, just maybe with some different meat threaded onto the business end.

I asked famed guide Tony Roach what was getting him bit, and his response was simple. “Everyone sees me up shallow in 4 -8 feet of water. They think I’m bass fishing, but I’m whaling on walleyes right now with a simple jig and plastic combination.” Truly, there are strong segments of the walleye population in most lakes that never leave the shallows for the entirety of the year. That’s news for technical fishermen that use electronics to pick apart deep water structure and dissect off-shore features during this time of year. As the lake system ramps up biologically, fish need food, cover, and oxygen, with the greatest limiter being food. Developing weeds, especially cabbage, are magnets when interspersed with rock or other hard bottom. These locations always hold some bait, and typically always hold some walleyes throughout the season.

My experience has seen some good shallow bites going right now too, with the best being a river run in 5 – 7 foot of water. Current is the great equalizer, as high skies, bright sun, and no wind still translates into a great day when fishing current seams, eddies, and riffles in rivers. The same conditions that absolutely kill other patterns, especially in clear water natural lakes, don’t seem to hassle the river fish that are taking advantage of current that sweeps unsuspecting invertebrates, bait, and terrestrials downstream and into their gullets. Long-lining and leadcore staples that typically produce good numbers of fish during this time of year were poor in comparison. The bite ebbs and flows, with low-light periods still shining brightest, but moving water is a great savior to an otherwise weary day of walleye fishing.

In both scenarios, the classic pitch and run technique utilizing jigs and shiners were tweaked if only slightly. “As the water warms up, there’s a transition to where plastics become just-as, if not more effective than shiners or other minnows,” mentions Tony. “It’s something I see every year. As people move to the mud or mid-lake structure to rig, I simply switch to jigs with a Northland Impulse Smelt or Paddle Minnow to get these fish to chase a bit more,” explains Roach about his shallow techniques. Honed on the big waters of Mille Lacs, Leech, and Winnie, Roach is a big fan of this pattern, “Plastics allow me to fish more quickly, cast further without losing bait, and keep on a hot bite without pausing to re-bait.” Those valuable bite windows can be small and precious, especially in unfavorable conditions, so staying with the heavy part of the bite and not missing out on fish becomes crucial to making a decent day into a great one. Visual cues put off by paddle-tails, ringworms, and even minnow shaped flukes go well beyond your average minnow, especially in the colors and hues available. Nowadays, our choices for colors to pique a fish’s curiosity are nearly limitless, and often we can mimic forage that doesn’t even resemble our offering just by switching colors. For example, an orange jig and grub combination looks nothing like a rusty crayfish, but don’t tell that to Lake of the Woods walleyes that were coughing up blaze-orange crustacean parts all over the live well last summer. Those fish happily engaged that offering crawled near bottom on many of the rock reefs and points that we fished.

Plastics design has come a long way since varieties from days gone by. Color and flash give way to vibration, flicker, and quiver all throughout the very lifelike baits on the market today. The end-result is an attraction based not just on visual cues, but key components in the way a bait pulsates that trigger fish’s predatory instincts. As walleye’s lateral lines pick up these distinct tremors in the water column, I’m convinced that the heavy thumpers truly call in fish from a distance to warrant a close investigation at the very least.

Fishing a jig is a rewarding way to get bit, and offers a few more weeks of great near-shore fishing for walleyes. Just remember that as a lake’s “metabolism” gears up for the best fishing of the year, the bite becomes both more effective AND efficient when pairing those jigs with plastics.

Summer Fishing Tips for Walleye from Champ Scott Glorvigen
from The Fishing Wire

Forget the bank for summer fishing success

A variety of gamefish gravitate to offshore feeding grounds in the summer, giving savvy anglers ample reason to abandon the bank in favor of deep-water hotspots.

“This time of year, many walleyes, bass and other types of fish move away from shoreline areas that held fish in the spring,” says noted fishing expert and tournament champion Scott Glorvigen. “The good news is, they don’t scatter aimlessly. More often than not, the fish relocate to main-lake cover and structure that offers reliable feeding opportunities.”

While more than a few anglers are intimidated at the prospect of searching for fish in the blue-water abyss, Glorvigen says finding and catching your favorite quarry is a simple process, provided you follow an easy yet effective plan of attack.

“The first step is using your electronics to find likely areas and scan them for fish,” he begins. “The sport’s pioneers used simple flashers to quickly sweep structure as they hunted for walleyes on massive bodies of water like Lake Oahe. They had the discipline not to fish until they saw them on their electronics.

“The concept still applies,” he continues. “And today we’re blessed with cutting edge sonar and GPS chartplotters with built-in mapping that make our searches far easier and more efficient.”

For his part, Glorvigen rigs his boat with Lowrance HDS Gen3 units stationed at the bow, helm and stern, networked together for seamless shifts between presentations including trolling, backtrolling and live bait rigging. “I can share waypoints and maps, and even select multiple transducer locations, all without missing a beat,” he explains.

And no matter how promising a spot may appear, Glorvigen doesn’t linger if no fish are marked. “Too many times, anglers are guilty of fishing areas that look good, even if fish aren’t present,” he says. “That’s a waste of precious fishing time.”

If you’re tempted to try a fishless spot based on memories or how it looks, he encourages you to reconsider. “Think of it in hunting terms,” he says. “If you were spotting and stalking whitetails, and glassed every inch of a field or valley without seeing anything, would you still sneak out there on your hands and knees just because it looks so good?”

Watch this video to see more of Scott’s finesse fishing tactics.
When fish are marked, Glorvigen uses sonar to gauge their mood, or activity level, so he can select a presentation to match it. “For example, walleyes suspended a foot off bottom on the top or crown of a breakline are most likely active and will respond to more aggressive tactics like crankbaits or spinners,” he explains. “Bottom huggers lying on the side or base of a break usually need more finesse with a Roach Rig, Lindy Rig or some sort of snell and live bait.”

Fish that move around also dictate different presentations than those content to hunker in one area. “Spinners and cranks help you keep up with cruisers,” he says. “Jigging or slowly dragging a crawler on a live-bait rig is better for fish that stay in one spot.”

He also advocates a more vertical approach when fish are concentrated in a small area. “People have a tendency to make long drifts or trolling passes, even when all their bites come from one spot,” he says. “You’ll catch more fish by staying on top of them.”

Deep water or stained conditions such as algae blooms allow anglers to position themselves over a school of fish without spooking them. “Use your sonar to watch the bait and how fish react to it, similar to ice fishing,” Glorvigen says.

If you have trouble holding the boat over a sweet spot, he suggests throwing a marker buoy for reference or dropping a waypoint on your GPS plotter. “Hands-free options like the Spot-Lock feature on Minn Kota’s Ulterra bowmount trolling motor are a big help, too,” he says. “They allow you to focus on fishing, not boat control, and keep the boat in place even when you’re tending to a fish or otherwise preoccupied.”

As he formulates a fishing strategy, Glorvigen also considers mitigating factors like the prevailing wind. “Fish are usually more active where the wind or a wind-driven current meets cover or structure,” he says. Places where migratory baitfish such as smelt, shiners or ciscoes bump into a piece of structure when moving in from open water can also be hotspots, he notes.

While fishing an area, Glorvigen also pays close attention to which trolling passes and casts trigger the most strikes. “Predators are often conditioned to baitfish, wind-blown insects or other forage coming at them from a certain direction, such as deep to shallow,” he says.

By piecing together such pertinent clues after locating fish on main-lake structure or cover, Glorvigen guarantees you’re well on your way to enjoying successful offshore adventures all summer long.

‘Eyes of Spring

by Chip Leer

Spring Walleye

Winter’s demise signals the beginning of an annual rite of spring, as schools of prespawn walleyes surge upstream into rivers across the Walleye Belt.

Although the water is cool and fish location often changes day by day—even hour by hour—savvy anglers can enjoy some of the year’s best fishing.

My favorite scenarios are rivers that flow into larger bodies of water, such as the Rainy River at Lake of the Woods or Detroit River at western Lake Erie. In these situations, walleyes from the main lake gather at the river mouth in late winter, then move upstream toward spawning areas as the ice recedes, boosting the river’s walleye population to its highest point of the year.

I typically start my search at the river mouth and work my way upstream, checking channel edges and a variety of current breaks. Main-channel holes are among my favorite stops, because they attract waves of migrating fish and often “recharge” several times during a day of fishing.

Current seams and shoreline eddies also hold fish, but don’t overlook anything that blocks the current or offers winter-weary walleyes a chance to rest and feed.

Top tactics include vertical jigging, either from an anchored position or while slipping your boat downstream with the trolling motor, keeping your line as vertical as possible.

Long-shank leadheads like Northland Fishing Tackle’s Slurp! Jig and round-headed RZ Jig are hard to beat because they hold live and artificial tippings well, while yielding solid hooksets. Northland’s new Swivel-Head Jig is another great choice, because the rotating hook gives plastics and live bait extra action you don’t get with fixed-position hooks.

Tip jigs with a 3- to 5-inch scented soft plastic trailer, which gives walleyes a target in the turbid, relatively dark waters common in spring river fishing. A variety of softbaits attract fish and trigger strikes, including Northland’s Impulse Paddle Minnows, Ringworms, Smelt Minnows and even old-school creature designs. Sweeten the presentation with extra scent and flavor by skull-hooking a shiner or fathead minnow on top of the plastic piggy-back style.

Since the water is still very cool, keep jig strokes to a minimum. Often, a slow and methodical lift-drop cadence within a few inches of bottom is all it takes, but sometimes simply holding the jig as still as possible an inch or two off bottom is the best approach.

As the water warms, walleyes often shift into shallower water near shoreline spawning areas. Pitch the same style jigs and tippings toward the bank and swim, drag and pendulum them back to the boat, keeping the jig close to bottom on the retrieve.

Based in Walker, Minnesota, noted fishing authority and outdoor communicator Chip Leer, www.chipleer.com, operates Fishing the WildSide, which offers a full suite of promotional, product development and consultation services. For more information, call (218) 547-4714 or email Chip@fishingthewildside.net.

Make Some Noise to catch walleyes

Get loud, catch more walleyes

Anglers across the Walleye Belt keep commotion to a minimum to avoid spooking skittish walleyes. But there are times when silence isn’t so golden. In fact, making a little noise can often help you catch more fish, year-round.

“We’ve been taught that stealth is critical to success, but there are many situations where using sound to attract walleyes can increase your catch rates,” says veteran guide and tournament champion Scott Glorvigen.

Nice Walleye

Glorvigen likens the art of using fish-attracting rattles to calling game in other outdoor pursuits. “When I duck hunt, I use a call to bring the birds into my decoys,” he explains. “And a rattle bag or antlers are standard gear for serious whitetail hunters hoping to rattle up a big buck.”

Rattling Spoons Walleye

In a similar manner, he says rattling lures pique a wandering walleye’s curiosity and encourage it to move in for a closer look.

Such tactics aren’t new, of course, but they’re still underutilized among the vast majority of walleye anglers. “Especially in the open-water period,” he notes. “But even in winter, people don’t take full advantage of how a rattling spoon or lipless rattlebait can bring in walleyes from the surrounding area.”

Besides luring fish within visual range of your wares, Glorvigen says rattling tends to attract the most aggressive ‘eyes in the neighborhood. “The ones that are most active and likely to strike,” he adds.

“And even if they don’t hit the noisy jigging presentation, incoming walleyes will often slam into a more sedentary bait positioned a few feet away, like a live minnow on a dead rod,” he continues.

Northland Buck-Shot Flutter Spoon

Glorvigen has been a firm believer in the power of sound ever since watching Northland Fishing Tackle founder John Peterson use a prototype of the Buck-Shot Rattle Jig during an In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail tournament years ago.

“We were up on Lake of the Woods, and John absolutely put on a clinic, catching fish after fish amidst a crowd of other anglers who were struggling to get bit with traditional silent jigs,” he recalls.

Following Peterson’s lead, Glorvigen used sound to win the 2004 PWT Championship on Houghton Lake, Michigan. “Using rattle beads on my nightcrawler rigs was key to catching enough fish in the lake’s turbid water to win the tournament,” he says.

The $100,000-plus payday confirmed the importance of sound under the right conditions. “Whenever visibility is compromised, due to low light levels, stained water, vegetation or other factors, rattling lures can be a huge factor,” he explains. “They can also help you call walleyes from a distance in clear-water conditions.”

For example, when pulling crankbaits in summer, Glorvigen relies on lures with internal rattle chambers like Rapala’s Down Deep Husky Jerk to widen his trolling spread’s sphere of attraction in the underwater world. “Same thing when pitching jigs into weedy cover,” he adds. “A rattle helps walleyes home in on the bait.”

Troll for Walleye

When jigging, Glorvigen recommends a slow, shake-rattle-and-roll approach that gives fish time to move in and locate the jig. “In more open water, you can move a little faster,” he notes.

He also encourages anglers to experiment with lure styles pigeonholed to a specific season or situation. “For example, we use lipless rattlebaits like Rippin’ Raps, Cordell Spots and Rat-L-Traps through the ice on big-water fisheries like Lake Winnipeg all winter long,” he begins.

“But come summer, how many fishermen would think of vertically fishing a rattlebait? Not very many. Same thing with a rattling jigging spoon like Northland’s Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon or the Buck-Shot Flutter Spoon. Yet these rattling lures are every bit as deadly during the soft-water season.”

Toward that end, Glorvigen advises anglers transitioning from late-ice to early open-water opportunities to keep their winter weapons handy.

“Next time you go out jigging in a river this spring, don’t keep the rattle spoons on the bottom of your tackle box,” he says. “Tie one on and give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised at how well they work at the ‘wrong’ time of year.”

CONTACT INFORMATION
Glorvigen & Glorvigen LLC – 29 County Road 63, Grand Rapids, MN 55744
sglorvigen@wired2fish.com – 218-301-9072

Fish The Weedline In The Fall

by Bob Jensen
from The Fishing Wire

Weedlines are great places to find and catch fish all during the open water fishing season. Lots of anglers even work the weedline while ice-fishing. Simply put, there is almost always a fish somewhere along the weedline that is willing to get caught.

Doug Veldhuizen

In the autumn months a variety of fish will be in the vicinity of the weedline. You might have a school of crappies suspended just off the edge of the deep weedline, there might be a group of largemouth on a corner of the weedline, and just a little farther down the weedline where the vegetation juts out a bit and forms a point, there could be some walleyes. And it’s not unusual to find a bonus musky or northern pike roaming over the tops of the weeds or along the deep edge. Although there may be more fish grouped tighter in different areas, the deep weedline in the fall will often provide a smorgasbord of fishing action.

Lots of techniques will take fish along the weedline in the fall. If you’re after walleyes, try the largest Mimic Minnow or Mimic Minnow Shad. Move it aggressively: Lots of hops will trigger the most fish until the water really cools off. Then a redtail chub worked slower on a jig or live-bait rig will produce.

If largemouth bass are the target, tie on 6.5 Hornet and work it parallel to the weedline. Work it a different speeds and with your rod held at different angles to get the bait to run at different levels along the weedline. Sometimes, especially on warm, cloudy days, the bass will be over the tops of the weeds. Throw the bait over the weeds, keep your rod tip high, reel slowly, and hang on. If they bass are there, they’ll let you know.

Another outstanding way to catch largemouth bass when they’re over or along the weedline is with a spinnerbait. Use one with a big blade. Tip it with plastic, something like an Impulse Paddle Shad or Paddle Minnow. You want some tail action, but not a lot.

Cast the spinnerbait over the tops of the weeds and work it back to the weedline. When you think it’s near the deep edge of the weeds, let it fall. Keep your line tight and watch and feel for a tick. The strike won’t be hard, but it will be distinct. Reel down and set hard. After a few fish you’ll know if they’re over the tops or along the edge, and sometimes they’ll be in both places.

If it’s a calm late afternoon or early evening when you start fishing, and you see fish dimpling the surface near the weedline, move very quietly toward the dimpling and throw a sixteenth ounce Thumper Crappie King jig/plastic. Swim it slowly through the area being dimpled and you’ll probably catch some crappies. The dimples are created by crappies sucking bugs off the surface. Since the crappies are feeding on the surface, you’ll want to swim your bait just a couple of feet below the surface of the water.

Another crappie killer we’ve been using a lot the past couple of years is a #4 Hornet. If the crappies are home, they’ll hammer this bait aggressively.

The weedline can provide lots of fall action. Make sure you’re fishing healthy green weeds. Keep moving until you find the fish. When you find them, they’ll usually bite. You’ll see Mother Nature at her best and you’ll have the opportunity to have a good time: What more can you ask for?

To see all the newest episodes of Fishing the Midwest television, new fishing related tips, and fishing articles from the past, visit fishingthemidwest.com If you do Facebook, check us out for a variety of fishing related things.

Ten Top Tricks for Walleyes

By Ted Pilgrim
from The Fishing Wire

Nice Walleye

Every walleye angler worth his or her salt has one. You know, that sneaky trick up the sleeve that always gets rods thumping with action. Cold fronts, Jet Ski conventions, breathless summer days, or August blizzards (it could happen); the conditions are almost beside the point. You want a plan of action that works for walleyes, especially when the going gets tough and you’re fresh out of fish-catching ideas. Consider . . .

1) Deadsticking a Minnow

Big frisky minnows like creek chubs or golden shiners appeal to walleyes on basic, animalistic levels. It’s why anglers often rig an extra rod or two for minnow duty, placing them in rod holders while they cast with more active presentations. A long, soft spinning combo, such as a 7’6″ St. Croix Legend Tournament Walleye rod, outfitted with a slip-sinker rig allows the minnow to struggle freely, while a #1 circle hook safely self-hooks fish, even if you’re not paying attention. Always exciting to suddenly realize one of your rods is folded over and pounding under the weight of a big ‘eye.

2) Working the Weeds

Particularly in stocked walleye waters, submerged vegetation provides these white-tailed predators with prime habitat: cover, oxygen and a ready-made supply of food. When it comes to walleye weeds, variety matters. Preferred plant species include large leaf pondweed (cabbage), elodea, chara, and coontail, with patchy, intermingled forests usually providing the most favorable environs.

Crankbaits and jigs can score within deep or sparse vegetation, while 3/8- to ¾-ounce jigs dressed with specialized soft plastics, such as BFishn Tackle’s 4-inch Moxi and Paddle Tail yield wonderful results, often throughout the summer. Cast and simply do a nice steady retrieve, and hang on for arm-wrenching strikes.

3) Make a Map

High tech has become a big part of the walleye game, and one of the neatest new developments allows angling adventurers to create their own custom contour maps on previously uncharted water. Imagine the advantages of possessing the only depth map in existence of your local river or favorite backwoods lake? Discovering that sweet little sunken island no one knew existed?

Make your own map

Humminbird offers Auto Chart Live, specialized mapping software that couples GPS waypoints with corresponding depth to instantly build never-before-seen contours on your chosen waterbody. Lowrance also offers Insight Genesis, a DIY map program requiring computer processing in addition to on-water reconnaissance.

4) Drop a Bomb

Previously deployed primarily by ice anglers, heavy jigging-style lures such as the Jigging Rapala and Custom Jigs & Spins’ RPM Minnow (new for fall 2016) have become new classic walleye lures, especially in open water. The anvil-like weight of these compact baitfish imitators allows them to be cast or jigged in deeper water, giving the angler complete contact and control. A simple snap, drop, pause presentation makes the lure dart, glide and stop on a dime—moves that have lately scored boatloads of big ‘eyes all season long, winter notwithstanding.

5) Fish . . . Nowhere

Keep your live bait healthy

Walleyes like structure, right? Not always. With apologies to Buck Perry, the truth is, walleyes go where the food goes. In many lakes and reservoirs, that means featureless open water. From late spring through summer, some of the biggest walleyes in many waters (not just the Great Lakes) suspend 10 to 25 feet down over much deeper water. Sonar and surface-feeding birds help unearth schools of pelagic bait—ciscoes, shad, smelt, alewives, and shiners. Baitfish clouds also point to the presence of predators. Trolling baitfish imitating cranks or casting with spoons can each produce a surprising quantity of outsize ‘eyes.

6) Find the ‘Cline

One of the most overlooked fish-finding factors is oxygen and an aquatic phenomenon known as the thermocline. This thin layer of water can be a walleye-holding goldmine. The thermocline is the region offering a precipitous change in dissolved oxygen levels. Below the thermocline, oxygen may be too scarce to sustain fish life. But above is an ample supply for healthy fish activity.

Easiest way to find the ‘cline is to drop an underwater camera armed with a depth and temperature probe, such as the Aqua-Vu 760cz. When the temp starts dropping fast—often going from the 70s to upper 50s within several feet— you’ve hit it. You can also ID the ‘cline with a well-tuned sonar, which may display the thermocline as a continuously line of “clutter.” Focus on or just above these depths, especially along structural intersections, and you’re likely to put on a walleye-catching clinic.

7) ‘Yak a Small River

Another delightfully overlooked option, small rivers can offer ideal walleye habitat that often see scant few hooks all summer. Constant current means walleyes are always actively feeding somewhere. And a fishing kayak, such as Old Town Predator XL, can be the perfect way to float a sizeable stretch, surveying some alluring flora and fauna and sampling some potentially amazing fishing.

Fish from a Kayak

Grab a medium-action spinning rod and a small box of tackle; small minnowbaits and ¼- and 3/8-ounce jigheads alongside packs of your favorite softbait. Among masses of super twisters and a profusion of paddletails, BFishn’s 4-inch Ringworm has become a go-to option among seasoned river rats. Swim lures through shallow riffles above deep holes, or jig behind any type of current break—from downed logs to boulders to inside bends of small points.

8) Go “Video Fishing”

Use an underwater camera

Many modern depth finders allow anglers to observe their lures as they’re worked below the boat, and show fish reacting to and biting them, right on screen. Humminbird units offer a special “jigging mode” that auto-selects a specific ping pattern for easily observing vertical bait presentations. Other units can be tuned to operate with narrower cone angles to help display

small lures and fish below the boat. For vertical jigging suspended walleyes or fish in tight clusters in deep water, this sort of interactive fishing can become addictively fun, and is often an effective way to gauge fish activity and response to different lures.

9) Pitch a Cork

Folks tend to write bobber fishing off as simplistic, juvenile, and only effective for sunfish. Actually, a slip float rigged above a lively ribbon leech is among the deadliest of all walleye presentations. And it is simple, which is the other part of its charm. With the addition of a stop knot, you can deliver bait to any depth, or keep it hovering enticingly above snaggy rock or vegetation. In wind, slip-bobber fishing while anchored near a rocky point can yield remarkable results. And at night, a lighted cork has been known to produce many a walleye monster.

10) The Carp Cure

Some days, the walleyes just don’t want to bite. Other times, they seem as scarce as Sasquatch. No problem. There’s always something biting. Why not carp? Blimp-size carp thrive in many top walleye waters, as do channel catfish and bowfin—two more freshwater rogues with lots to love. These unconventional sportfish like to bite, pull like freight trains and can be caught with simple rigs and tackle; often the same stuff you use for walleyes. Many times, the opportunity for pure fishing fun is but a cast away—swimming right before your eyeballs.