Fantastic Tactics Produce Fantasy Walleyes

Present blades and spoons on about 10-pound test with either spinning or casting gear. A 6- to 7-foot medium-heavy casting or spinning rod spooled with 10/6-pound Berkley Fireline allows you to feel the bait work and to detect bites.

Drop a spoon to the bottom, then engage the reel, taking up slack until the line is tight and the spoon is just off bottom. Beginning with your rod tip pointed down at an angle (about 8 o’clock) toward the water, lift your forearm slightly while modestly snapping your wrist upward to about 11 o’clock. Use aggressive lift-drops of perhaps 12 to 18 inches. As the lure begins to descend, follow it downward with the rod tip. Keep slight tension, concentrate, and be prepared to set the hook immediately when you feel any resistance.

Vertical Jigging Plastics-Only—Tipping jigs with plastic tails works as long as you’re confident it’ll work, which is mostly a matter of negating our ingrained dependence on lacing our lures with livebaits. Pro walleye angler Andy Kuffer has acquired the confidence it takes to catch walleyes using plastics-only.

“Jigging with plastics is one of my favorite presentations,” Kuffer says. “I basically try to imitate the action of a minnow with plastic. Soft plastic shad-type bodies with a heavy boot-like tail really thump and swim in the current. Mister Twister Sassy Shads, for instance, have a side-to-side wobble on the fall, which I think triggers more strikes.”

Use a jig heavy enough to keep the presentation vertical. Kuffer favors a 3/8-ouncer. In rivers, a 3/8-ounce jig stays fairly vertical under most conditions, so long as the boat moves at the same speed as the current. In heavy current or in depths exceeding 35 feet, a 1/2- to 5/8-ounce jig may be required to stay vertical. “Getting a plastic shad tail to wobble on the downstroke seems to be the trigger. I thread the plastic on the hook so the body is angled slightly downward, which seems to give the bait more wobble on the fall portion of the jigging stroke. It’s also important to keep the knot positioned on top of the jighead so it falls better through the water.”

Kuffer prefers 6-foot extra-fast baitcasting or spinning rod-and-reel combos spooled with superline, like 10/4 Berkley FireLine. Superlines offer better sensitivity than mono and produce less drag in current. To reduce line twist, Kuffer uses a swivel to connect a 10-pound mono leader to the superline.

“I typically lower the jig about half as fast as I lift it on the upstroke. Free fall the jig and you’ll miss a lot of fish. I try to get into a steady rhythm, slowly waving the jig up and down. Touch bottom, lift up, and slowly lower the bait on a tight line. The key is to give the bait enough action to attract fish, yet work it slow and steady so the fish can time their attack.”

A Case for Vertical Swimming Lures—Originally designed for ice fishing, swimming lures are becoming popular for vertically working walleyes, particularly in rivers. Swimming lures are designed to look like baitfish—so fish are often fooled into believing the lure is food by the body shape. A #7 Rapala Jigging Rapala or Nils Master Jigging Shad, molded from lead, is heavy enough to keep vertical, even in deeper water and current, which keeps the bait hovering over fish, teasing them with the realistic-looking lure. The key to using swimming lures in open water is to work them subtly instead of aggressively.