Walleyes in Cover—The Hidden Dimension

In southern highland impoundments, the sparse, rocky terrain greatly resembles the granite-rimmed waters of the Canadian Shield, and walleyes can and do relate to rocky points, submerged rock humps, and areas of open water. Yet they also may suspend in standing timber during the day, often moving out to the deeper edges to feed on suspended shad at night. Such waters also tend to have flooded brush in creek arms or in the main feeder river, which can attract walleyes at least during upriver spawning runs. So despite their barren appearance, woodcover in these waters can be a factor for walleyes.

Many of these habitats are not natural walleye waters, although walleyes expanded into some of them when rivers were impounded, causing the walleyes to spread out into the new lakelike environment. In some cases, walleye populations continued to be self-sustaining, while others are bolstered by or depend upon stocking. In essence, the walleyes in such waters inhabit what could hardly be considered natural habitat. And the more unnatural the habitat, the more likely walleyes seem to need to relate to cover.

Even in the massive plateau impoundments of the central and western prairies, where vast numbers of walleyes roam the length of the reservoirs, relating to classic points and humps, they relate to areas of standing timber or flooded terrestrial growth during periods of high water. And even in the Great Lakes, a portion of the walleye population using bay areas relates to weedbeds along the shoreline.

In essence, weedcover and woodcover is not an unnatural attraction to walleyes. When walleyes enter such areas, traditional open-hook presentations like livebait rigs and jigs often fail. The frustration of frequent fouling, snagging, and losing lures fosters an unwillingness to explore areas of cover, which have a reputation for not holding walleyes in the first place. Thus the ingrained avoidance and preconceived prejudice against weeds and wood.

Snag-Resistant Solutions to Weeds and Wood

Progressive walleye anglers have adapted traditional walleye presentations to fish the fringes of cover, sometimes penetrating it. Like bass presentations, weedless jigheads and hooks, modified sinker shapes, and other tactics have helped unlock the weed and wood domain. Unlike bass tackle, however, the hooks, lures, and riggings used for walleyes tend to be smaller, often designed to present livebait in a natural fashion and are fished on lighter tackle.

Ripping—Ripping tactics offer the least snag resistance, but often the best triggering capacity, when fish are in a neutral mood. Ripping is a good tactic for sparse weeds like cabbage, but is prone to snag in heavy weedgrowth (coontail) or timber.

The basic concept is to use an open-hook jighead, dressed with either a minnow, piece of crawler, or plastic tail. In general, plastic best withstands the abuse of ripping through thicker weeds. The line functions somewhat as a weedguard, but the hook point and the junction of the hookeye and jighead tend to hang up slightly on weeds, often requiring a substantial tug to free them.

Cast out, let the jig fall to rest atop the weeds, then tighten the line and use an upward wrist snap of the rod to rip the jig free of the cover, sending it scooting, until it loses momentum and falls to rest again. Pause before resuming. If weeds are sparse enough, let the jig fall down between stalks. When the jig reaches the outer edge of a weed clump or weedline, let it free fall down the edge, coming to rest on the bottom. Roundhead 1/16- to 1/4-ounce jigs are commonly used on spinning tackle with about 10-pound monofilament; lighter jigs with small livebaits; heavier jigs with plastics or plastic-livebait combos.