Three Strikes On Your Route

“At times, you can even move up onto the intervening flat between the shoreline rocks and first drop-off, longline a lightweight livebait rig while drifting or creeping along with your electric trolling motor, and find areas with spooky walleyes holding in relatively shallow water. It depends if the cover is sparse enough, or the snags manageable in number. Rigging lets you cover water a bit quicker than casting, but you always have the option to stop and cast if the fish appear concentrated, or if they seem to be spooked by the boat’s passage.”

Crankin’ at night—Two-time PWT winner Mark Martin is perhaps best known for his nighttime guiding exploits and the inordinate number of huge walleyes he and his clients catch after dark. “I’ve caught a lot of big walleyes over the years, day and night, but the percentage is way, way in favor of night fishing. At my seminars, I tell people that if they’re going to invest six hours fishing, do it at night, and chances are you’ll soon catch the biggest walleye of your life.

“I like to longline troll crankbaits at night to locate areas that hold walleyes, using an electric trolling motor for stealth, rather than spooking the fish with an outboard. Once you locate a good area, you have the option to stop and cast. Depending on how deep it is, I use anything from a #13 Rapala Floater, to a Husky Jerk, to a Shad Rap, but much of the time, I’m fishing so shallow at night—like 3 feet—that a floater cast on 6-pound FireLine will reach deep enough to catch fish. A deeper diver, in fact, will snag up too often.

“Use a dying flutter-type retrieve—reel, pull, pause; reel, pull, pause. The pauses don’t have to be long; just long enough to interrupt lure action to make your bait look vulnerable.

“I’m a big believer in doctoring my crankbaits to enhance their effectiveness; I add Dr. Juice Scent whenever I fish crankbaits, for example. But for night fishing, I always catch more fish by adding WTP tape to my lures. I place a ring of glow tape around the eye and the tail, then a little prism tape on each side to imitate the lateral line. It makes an amazing difference. Put the lure down a couple feet, even in dirty water, and you’ll notice those tiny bits of color or flash. Walleyes notice it, too. You don’t need to charge the tape with a flashlight every few casts, either. Just the subtle bit of light emitted by the tape is sufficient.

“Night fishing is great around spawning time, when fish may lay low during the day but be particularly active in the shallows at night. And the nice thing is, they’re often clustered in limited spots. Perfect conditions for catching numbers of large ‘eyes on cranks after dark. I’m not big on fishing full moon nights in clear water conditions unless there’s a little wind or cloud cover to reduce the brightness. But if the water has a little color to it and the moon is bright, hang on tight.”

Where will you be on opening day, and what’ll be your best pitch? Depends on where the fish are and what they’re hittin’. If a sinker (riggin’) isn’t workin’, try a changeup; a slider (jig) or fastball (crankbait) just might do the trick.