Give The Fish What They Want & How They Want It

As efficiency becomes a most important component of fishing, spinner rigs remain a top choice among the best walleye anglers. With miles to fish, the pace of a spinner ticking along behind a bottom bouncer—daring, tempting, exploring, searching—is to be appreciated.

Spinners in their many variations might be the ultimate in versatility and the best compromise between ultraslow and ultrafast. Add more weight and you can get on your horse and ride 2 mph. Nothing preventing you from slowing down, either, until the blade barely spins. If it’s flickering finesse the fish want, give ‘em a tiny blade and a sparse tie. If the situation demands bulk, show ‘em a big blade and make it really thump.

This family of presentations also includes relatives, like a plain hook, bottom bouncer, and livebait. Tuck a lively leech into a specific spot and stall it out for as long as it takes a fish to react.

“Other than in rivers,” says In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail (PWT) veteran Chad Hall, “spinners are my favorite overall technique. They work on lakes and reservoirs, whether they’re weedy, have a snaggy rock bottom, or both. I can work them for suspended fish or keep them close to bottom. If I can’t go through the weeds, I tick the top of them with spinner rigs weighted with split shot or bullet sinkers.”

Time and tournaments have proven spinners universal in their appeal to walleyes. No longer dubbed a western approach applicable only to sprawling reservoirs, spinners catch walleyes wherever they swim. If you’ve stubbornly held to the notion that they don’t work on your waters, toss out that tenet. The world is round. Spinners work everywhere.

The Importance of Boat Control

No matter how perfectly your spinner matches what the walleyes want, it’s only as effective as your presentation. Boat control is an important part of the equation. Selection of the right rig for the situation along with boat-control skills are, in fact, inextricable.

First, establish a starting speed. We hear about speed ranges, such as 1 to 1.5 mph, as being “spinner speeds.” Don’t get hung up on them. Instruments on most walleye boats aren’t precise when indicating boat speed, especially at slow speeds. Surges from waves when running downwind, and the counter forces of wind or current when you buck into them further complicate this issue. And some devices measure trolling units rather than miles per hour.

The bottom line, according to PWT pro Don Wood, is getting a good look at the blade while it’s boatside. Wood adjusts throttle, under prevailing conditions, until he sees what he likes, then he notes Speed Over Ground on his Raytheon GPS.

“Don’t get hung up on what the speed says,” Wood stresses. “It doesn’t matter so much what the unit says, so long as it’s consistent under different conditions. Also pay attention to the angle of your line, what the motor sounds like, and the bend in your rod. It takes time, but even without a speedometer, it’s possible to know when you’re speeding up or slowing down.”

One standard means of experimenting with speed is to make turns, both left and right. How far you move to the side depends on whether you’re trying to follow a tight contour or cover an expansive flat.

“When you turn,” Hall says, “if a rod on the inside of the boat catches a fish, that might mean the fish want a slower presentation. If an outside rod goes, the fish might be telling you they want it faster.”