Staying One Step Ahead of the Conditioning Factor

As the young fisherman became old enough to fish for walleyes on his own, two primary tactics prevailed in his walleye arsenal. Early forays to the Mississippi River, and reading the teachings of the venerable jigmeister Bill Binkelman, proved leadhead jigs to be indisputable walleye killers. Pretied hair and feather jigs were the norm, but Binkelman’s plain-head concept, often in fluorescent colors, was superb when tipped with a minnow, crawler, or leech.

Second, as the soon-to-be-legendary Lindner brothers were getting their fledgling Lindy Tackle company off the ground, the slipsinker livebait rig hit the walleye world. Elegant simplicity—hook, line and sinker—presented livebait naturally on almost invisible light line. Finesse to the max, applicable to nearly any and every lake, river, or impoundment. All thoughts of using anything besides jigs or rigs for walleyes were swept away. They were the hot lures—the secret lures of the ‘70s—putting everything else to shame. Teamed with the introduction of depthfinders and Buck Perry’s concept of structure fishing, probing the depths with rigs and jigs seemed the ultimate approach for walleyes.

When he first moved from the big city to the northwoods, he chuckled at seeing a boatload of grannies and grandpas slipbobber fishing atop a shallow reef, as if they could possibly outfish his sophisticated tactics. Lo and behold, that particular day, the oldtimers kicked butt, enlightening him once again. Right time, right place, a tiny livebait dancing across a shallow windswept reef was more attractive than his fancy rigging and jigging. Not that he’d abandon them; he’d simply expand his repertoire.

Jigs and rigs dominated his walleye scene throughout the ‘80s. Hard to imagine they’d ever go out of style—particularly in heavily fished waters demanding finesse presentations. But his travels introduced him to other tactics better tailored to certain situations. Like bottom bouncers, spinners, and crawlers on western impoundments. Darn things crawled up and down contours without snagging, and they triggered walleyes. Tried ‘em in Canada; same deal for rocky reefs, not as finesse-oriented as rigs or jigs, yet nevertheless deadly under the right conditions. Heavier versions even worked for drifting shallow basins on the Great Lakes.

Speaking of the Great Lakes, his expeditions to the Western Basin of Lake Erie made him a believer in weight-forward spinners dressed with nightcrawlers. These versatile lures performed admirably for drifting across and casting ahead of the boat for suspended walleyes. On “Grandad’s” final walleye trip, he caught the most and the biggest walleyes by casting a weight-forward spinner—something he often reminded everyone of. He’d certainly seen changes in his lifetime—from horse and buggy days to the space shuttle, from braided black dacron and heavy hardware to finesse tactics with light line. Never did like trolling, but casting for big walleyes was his fondest fishing desire.

Jigging spoons began making their mark for walleyes in the ‘80s, first through the ice, then for open water. Touted as the new secret lure, they really weren’t—just another more aggressive option. Cast or jigged, they showed walleyes something different than slow rigging or jigging, which almost everyone else was using for walleyes. So he popped a few in his tackle box for times when his methods of preference weren’t taking fish as well as he expected.