25 Tips on Catching Walleye
1. In late winter or early spring, walleyes in many lakes make spawning runs up major tributaries. This occurs when the water rises into the lower reaches of the 40-degree range. Not all fish make these runs, but enough of them do to make them worth targeting. They may migrate for miles or just a few hundred yards, depending on the type of feeder stream they're ascending. Sometimes rapids or dams will concentrate them on these runs, usually just slightly downstream from the obstruction and in calmer water.
Try bucktail or marabou jigs on these spring-run fish. White, yellow, chartreuse and pink are good colors; the proper sizes can range from 1/8 to 1/2 ounce, depending on the current and depth. Both plain jigs and those adorned with either a soft-plastic tail or a pork-rind strip are deadly. Cast the offering out and across or slightly upstream, let it sink near the bottom and reel back slowly and steadily with an occasional twitch or lift of the rod tip. If strikes are slow in coming, add half a night crawler or a live minnow as enticement.
2. One of the best ways to catch spawning-run walleyes is with a floating/diving thin minnow plug rigged with extra weight. Tie the lure onto an 18-inch leader off of a three-way swivel with a few split shot trailing on a short 6-inch dropper leader fastened to the third eyelet. Cast and retrieve this offering slowly and steadily near or just off the bottom. If you hang up, you'll usually lose just the split shot and not your expensive lure.
3. Try a plain live minnow for spawning-run walleyes. Yes, jigs and plugs are fun to fish, but sometimes - particularly in clear, cold water - a plain live minnow is the way to go. Hook a 2- to 4-inch minnow through both lips from the bottom up on a size 1 to 4 hook and add a couple of split shot a foot or so up the line. Cast across and slightly upstream and allow the bait to settle near the bottom. When you think it's close to bottom or it actually touches, begin a slow, pumping retrieve. Reel a turn or two, lift the rod and let it settle back down. Don't expect dramatic strikes, but rather sudden extra weight on the line followed by a slow bucking as the walleye feels the hook and comes to life.