Hard Facts About Hard Baits

Bass fisherman call ‘em crankbaits; you cast ‘em out and crank ‘em back in again. But amongst walleye anglers, hard baits, body baits or, yes, even crankbaits aren’t just for casting. Depending on region, trolling may prevail. But wherever hard baits see action, the action’s mighty good—especially for big walleyes.

Speaking of action, the various shapes of crankbaits create a range of wiggles and wobbles that trigger strikes from many species of gamefish. The most popular and widespread models are the fat round-bodied lures originally referred to as alphabet lures—Big O’s, Little N’s, Model A’s—named for letters of the alphabet. While these hard-wobbling lures catch loads of bass and definitely produce some walleyes, crankbaits of other general shapes tend to outproduce fat alphabaits when the specific target is walleyes.

Minnow Imitators

Foremost among walleye trolling baits are long, thin, straight-backed lures generically referred to as minnow baits or minnow imitators. They resemble long, thin forage like minnows, shiners, ciscoes, or smelt. Classic examples, in no particular order, include Rapala Floating Minnows, Storm ThunderSticks, Smithwick Rogues, Bomber Long A’s, Arbogast’s Snooker, Poe’s Cruise Minnow, Rebel Spoonbill Minnows, Bagley Bang-O-Lures, Cordell Red Fins, Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier Minnows, and Rebel Minnows and Fastrac Minnows.

Most are short-lipped shallow runners, achieving only a foot or two of depth when cast and retrieved, perhaps 3 or 4 feet when trolled on an unweighted line. A few deep-diving versions like Storm Deep ThunderSticks, Rebel Spoonbill Minnows, and the larger Bomber Long A’s may dive into the 20- to 25-foot ranges when longline trolled. Otherwise, adding weight ahead of the lure takes minnow imitators down into the 30- to 70-foot levels—the staple walleye presentation for open-water trolling on the Great Lakes and in large inland lakes and reservoirs.

A recent offshoot of the minnow-imitator family might be referred to as humpies or simply bent minnows, due to their pronounced humpback bend in an otherwise minnowlike body. The Reef Runner Deep Diver, and Ripstick and new Little Ripper; Fenwick Wobbl’n Minnow; and Yo-Zuri Wobbl’n Minnow fall into this category. Place them in the water side by side with traditional long, thin minnow imitators and you’ll notice that humpies display more action. Walleyes notice it, too. Not that humpies are consistently better than minnow imitators; they simply provide a different action to at times trigger more fish.

Whether constructed from balsa or injection molded plastic, minnow imitators typically exhibit a shivering wiggle as opposed to the wide side-to-side wobble of rounder-bodied baits. On the average, walleyes tend to prefer the reduced action over the more aggressive wobblers. Perhaps this explains the general preference for solid minnows over their jointed broken back counterparts with more inherent wiggle. Yet even within the minnow-imitator category variations exist—a Rapala is thinner than a ThunderStick and a ThunderStick thinner than a Rebel minnow, for example. The rounder-bodied Nils Master Invincible, often hard to find in America even though it outsells the Rapala in Europe, also is effective on walleyes. Thus action can be fine-tuned simply by shifting lure families, while staying with the same basic size and color pattern.

Some lures rattle to different degrees; others are relatively subtle and silent. In general, open-water trollers seem to prefer a bit of added sound and vibration, while anglers trolling shallow water at night may lean toward stealth and reduced noise. Once again, experimentation is the best selection method. Let the fish tell you what they want.

Color patterns vary among lure manufacturers, though the natural forage theme predominates among walleye lures. Dark-backed flashy (silver-sided) lures produce best for open-water trolling in clear water and at night in the shallows. Daytime fishing in clear water calls for matching forage like perch, shiners, crayfish, rainbow trout, or white bass. Turbid water favors lures with a splash of orange or chartreuse for added visibility in murky water.