Suspending Baits Before Your ‘Eyes

Develop specific jerk-and-pause rhythms that seem to trigger more strikes, rather than just randomly jerking and pausing the bait. For instance, pause a suspending minnowbait, drop your rod tip slightly back toward the lure, then snap the rod tip back, making the lure roll and turn sideways. Play with the speed of the sweep and the length of the pause. Vary the length of the jerk from 6 inches to 2 feet. Some days, walleyes won’t commit to the lure until it sits still for 20 seconds or longer; other days, short pauses are the trigger. When you contact fish, note the precise motion that triggered them and stick with it.

Below Floats—Float fishing is one of the best ways to suspend livebait at precise depths and spots. It’s a deadly tactic for catching walleyes along riprap, rocky shorelines, points, reefs, weededges, flooded timber, or over deep flats. In fact, it’s so effective that many In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail (PWT) anglers use float tactics to catch walleyes in natural lakes, rivers, and reservoirs throughout the country.

According to walleye pro Bruce Samson, “Floats are just a great tool to suspend livebait in key spots. For instance, I often use floats to position livebait over structure. Sometimes I anchor and cast to the exact spot where I marked fish with my sonar. Other times, like on a flat, I just drift the float over the area trying to drift the bait past any active fish. Either way, floats allow you to position the bait dangling right where walleyes can find it.”

Anchoring is probably the best boat control method for float fishing because you’re often targeting a specific spot walleyes seem to be keying on. Simply anchor close enough to make an easy cast, sit back, and wait for the float to disappear. Anchor upwind of the spot you’re fishing and let the float move the bait up and down over the area you’re fishing. During light winds, however, drifting over the tops of weedbeds with floats also is productive. Simply let out enough line to get your floats away from the boat as you drift key locations.

Slipfloats, compared to fixed floats, are preferred because they’re easy to cast and the desired depth can be adjusted simply by sliding the bobber stop on the line. Ideally, bring a selection of both tall-thin and short-chunky floats for calm or windy conditions. In heavy wind or waves, a larger, more-buoyant float may be needed. As wind subsides, use smaller floats that fish can’t easily detect.

Ultrasharp hooks that appropriately match the size of the livebait you’re using increase your hooking percentage. Aberdeen or Octopus-style hooks work well under floats. Kahle-style hooks or wide-bend hooks have unique bends that are great for float fishing, too.

Rod length and line diameter also are important float-fishing factors. Using a longer rod allows for casting floats a long distance and also ensures that you get a good hookset. A 61⁄2- to 81⁄2-foot medium-power medium-fast-action spinning rod combined with a spinning reel spooled with 6- to 8-pound mono will suffice for most situations. Thin-diameter mono, such as Berkley SensiThin, easily slides through a slipfloat. Using hi-vis Trilene Solar line allows you to see the bow in the line on the surface. So when the float goes down, you know exactly where the line is, which allows you to remove all the slack to ensure a good hookset.