A Lively Option For Fussy Walleyes

“When a fish strikes a livebait rig, the only way to know how much time to let it have the bait before setting the hook is to experiment. Sometimes you can set right away—as soon as you take up the slack. Other times, the fish force you to wait. In many cases, however, folks tend to wait too long, causing the fish to either drop the bait or be gut-hooked. Try to find a happy medium where hooksets are successful.

“In some instances, you don’t even need to use a slipsinker for livebait rigging; a bottom bouncer and 4-foot snell is sufficient and lets you cover water quickly, although not as fast as when trolling a spinner. On the strike, all you need to do is drop the rod tip back, and once the line tightens, sweepset forward. If you miss fish when using crawlers, substitute a two-hook harness (no spinner), and you’ll hook ‘em almost every time. Perfect when boulder snags are bad and you can’t afford to set a slipsinker down and pause without snagging. It’s just common sense.

“Some of the best advice I can offer is to believe what your electronics tell you. If they show fish in the area, seeing is believing they’re there, even if they don’t bite right away. Try different components or switch baits to trigger a bite. If they’re fussy, hold the rig dead still and let the bait’s natural attraction work for you. If walleyes are suspended off bottom, simply lower your rig to the right depth and hold it there, rather than dragging it across bottom beneath them. Do everything you can to tune into the walleyes’ location, depth, and mood. Conditions vary on a daily or hourly basis, and so does the right combination of components, livebaits, and speed. Find it, and you’ll catch fish.”

PWT pro Dan Stier is perhaps best known for his livebait rigging abilities with big chubs. “When the tournament’s on the line and fish are fussy, you just can’t be a large, lively creek chub wiggling in a walleye’s face to trigger a strike. There’s just something magical about it. As soon as the minnow draws near the fish, it begins to panic, wiggling and sending vibrations up the line that tell you big fish are around. Even if you don’t get bit right away, let the bait sit and soak in their faces. Pretty soon, all that wiggling and struggling becomes too much to resist, and a walleye will engulf the minnow. It’s the ultimate for triggering tough biters—especially big ones. And it’s the only way to effectively present a large lively minnow in deep water, unless you sit in one spot with a slipbobber.”

Livebait rigging is an art form. Sure, you’ll catch fish on standard rigs, mediocre livebaits, and at trolling speeds too quick or too slow for conditions. But when you experiment with the variables and fine-tune your approach, their effectiveness is scary. Even the largest walleyes can never become fully conditioned to livebait, because that’s what they eat. Present it in a subtle, natural fashion, and you’re rigged and ready for action.