Fantastic Tactics Produce Fantasy Walleyes

A few years ago, walleye pro Kim “Chief” Papineau, an avid ice angler, decided to launch one of his favorite ice fishing lures over the side of his boat. “While prefishing a tournament, I opened my jig box to get another jig and noticed a #7 Rapala Jigging Rap mixed in with my jigs. So I thought, what the heck, grabbed it, tipped the lower treble with a minnow, and lowered it to the bottom,” explains Papineau, “then raised it up about 6 inches and caught an 8-pounder. I put it down again and instantly caught a 10-pounder. I used the ice lure the entire tournament and finished in second-place. Since then, I’ve used them all over the country, and under the right conditions, they produce walleyes everywhere—but especially in rivers.”

Swimming lures are designed to swim, but Papineau doesn’t jig the lure much at all; rather, he shakes the bait ever so slightly, which adds a little extra action to the already realistic looking minnow lure. “In rivers, I simply lower the bait to bottom, then reel up and hold the bait anywhere from 3 to 6 inches above bottom. Definitely stay down near bottom in rivers. River fish are bottom-orientated, so it’s where you should position your bait—right in their faces. The key is to just shake the bait slightly, either with your wrist or by just barely bouncing the rod tip, but resist the temptation to overwork it and swim it. Just hang it in their faces and add a few shakes to trigger strikes.

“I primarily use a #7 Jigging Rap, but I’ve also caught fish on the #5 and #6, and I’ve used the Nils Master Jigging Shad, too. I like tipping the lower treble with a minnow for added scent, but a lively minnow also adds action to the bait. When fish hit, they totally engulf the lure.

“I prefer drifting with the current in locations that have a constant depth, so I don’t have to keep checking or feeling for bottom, which reduces snagging,” he says. “I may find a stretch where the fish are holding in 12 feet where I can drift with the current, keeping the boat positioned at that depth,” he says.

Three-way rigging—The strength of three-way rigging is the ability to hold livebait or lures just above bottom, regardless of depth, current, or speed. Simply select the proper size weight depending on depth and current speed and the best bait (livebait or artificial) to trigger walleye strikes.

Three loops of the swivel provide attachment points for your main line, dropper line, and leader. Varying the length of the dropper line moves a lure or bait closer or farther from bottom. Changing the snell length positions your lure or bait farther or closer to the hardware and affects how far the bait is off bottom. In general, the longer the leader, the farther your offering will droop toward bottom unless a float is added to increase its buoyancy.

Again, use sufficient weight to match depth and current. A properly weighted rig should lift-drop under increased tension when you lift the rod tip, slipping slightly downcurrent before settling to bottom again. Bell sinkers in the 1- to 3-ounce range are most common, although other styles work, too.

A standard three-way livebait rig, for instance, holds a minnow in place just off bottom, whether you’re hovering, anchored, or trolling. As the weight settles to bottom, the rig pulls tight and the bait or lure extends downstream, swinging, swaying, dancing in current. A minnow swimming in the current does all the attracting and trigging for you as it struggles and swims side to side, facing the current.

Cranks run behind a three-way swivel wiggle and wobble in current, even when the sinker is at rest in an anchored position. Shallow-diving cranks excel for rivers. Typically, small to medium minnow-imitators (2 to 4 inches) tend to produce best, particularly if the fish are a bit inactive.