The Major Alternative To Jigging For Walleyes

Other Slashbaits

Whenever walleyes respond best to a steady retrieve, such as in cold water, sinking or “countdown” baits excel. Wide, erratic wobbling lures can intimidate walleyes in cold water. Something with less action or a subtle wobble tends to produce more strikes in water temperatures below 48°F, though fairly quick retrieves often work better than most anglers realize. These baits are prime for covering 4- to 7-foot depths in tight corners along weedlines where trolling can’t reach them. Larger models can be worked effectively to about 10 feet.

“Hold your rod tip high in shallow water, low in deep water,” Stange suggests. “Vary the retrieve speed to slightly modify the running depth of countdown lures like the #5, #7, #9, and #11 Countdown Rapala. On limp 8-pound mono, a #5 or #7 can be pitched to a lipped shoreline or worked over a bar 2 to 5 feet deep at the right speed with the right rod angle. The #9 works well in water ranging from about 4 to 7 feet deep, the #11 down to 10 feet. Worked correctly, these lures can outproduce longline trolling at night when fish are concentrated in hard-to-reach spots.”

Stange also prefers doctored minnowbaits to suspending baits for shore casting at night. “For me, achieving absolute neutral buoyancy has never been the key to catching walleyes at night,” he says. “Depth control is critical, not the ability to suspend a bait or work a lure. In my mind, the best lures barely float at rest. Speed, action, and depth control are more important than the ability to suspend. Something that wobbles right at a slow, steady pace allows walleyes to zero in at night.

“A Rapala Husky Jerk, for example, doesn’t have quite the wobble that a well doctored #13 Husky Rap has on a straight retrieve. The Husky Jerk also dives deeper, which gets you into trouble with sandgrass and rocks in those 3- to 5-foot depths that are so key when fishing from shore. Similarly, whenever a straight retrieve is critical, I wouldn’t count out the old countdown-style lures.”

Stange doctors the #13 Husky Rapala by drilling two holes deep enough to add five 3/0 Water Gremlin round shot. He drills the holes in the side of the lure about halfway between the head and tail of the lure, but slightly closer to the head. Cover the holes with epoxy. He also reduces the buoyancy of injected-plastic minnows by heating a sewing needle, using it to poke a hole in the lure, injecting about 2 to 4 cc of water (depending on the make and size of the lure) with a hypodermic needle, and then using the heated needle to melt the hole shut.

Though it took 25 years to reinvent the wheel with regard to suspending baits, slash-bait tactics have been with us for a long time and continue to produce hot early-season walleye action. The key is applying them in the right times and places. Wherever walleyes gather there will be hot spots too shallow or corners too tight to troll through.

Heavy concentrations may require a slash mentality, too. Where trolling might produce four or five fish, slashtrix can pull double-digit numbers of ‘eyes from a small spot. No time lost reeling in and turning around or working unproductive water. This is the major alternative to searching in slo-mo with a jigging approach.