Walleyes in Cover—The Hidden Dimension

Once again, walleye jigs tend to be smaller than bass jigs, with hooks more like a #4 and #2 rather than a 2/0, unless you’re rigging plastic grubs Texas style. If so, larger bass-sized hooks are necessary to accommodate the bulk of the plastic dressing. In all cases, weedless jigs allow you to effectively fish in and around cover that would snag open-hook jigs in a heartbeat.

Wriggling—We’ll call it wriggling because it involves livebait rigs, but it could just as well be termed tickling or slithering. It incorporates slipping snag-resistant livebait rigs between weed stalks, alongside weed clumps or distinct weedlines, or along the edges of timber, but not digging down deep inside.

Weedless rigs feature a sinker resistant to snagging. Rather than a traditional walking sinker designed for rocks, switch to a bullet or egg sinker to reduce or eliminate weeds hanging on the sinker. Next, shorten the snell to minimize line wrapping around sticks or stalks. And finally, use a small weedless hook. When the hook point is protected, the assembly tends to slide through cover at slow speeds, even with pauses, lifts, and falls.

Lindy-Little Joe’s curved No-Snagg sinker twists and crawls over snags, partly due to its shape and partly because it has flotation in the top to resist lying down and tangling. Lindy’s No-Snagg wire weedguard livebait hook is about the best we’ve tried. For livebait rigging above a low-lying carpet of sandgrass or moss, try switching a traditional rigging to an egg sinker and floating jighead to suspend livebait above the weedtops—like a Carolina Rig used for bass, except with livebait.

Suspending—When you just can’t penetrate heavy weeds or wood, a slipbobber hangs livebait above the tough stuff, perhaps even allowing it to slip a bit between the upper fringes of cover if you use weedless rigging. It’s the perfect way to dangle a lively leech, crawler, or minnow around and above cover that would defeat traditional riggings.

Try a traditional splitshot and hook setup if you like, but around cover, a weedless hook might be better. Or switch the hook to a lightweight jighead—either an open-hook version for hanging above cover or a weedless one for tickling brush and brushing weedtops. Slipbobber or ice fishing jigs often work well in these applications, although a simple 1/32-ounce round jighead adds a spot of color to attract and focus the strike and anchor the presentation at the proper depth. Drifted across the tops of submerged weeds or cast and teased along the perimeter of submerged brush and timber, it’s hard for walleyes to avoid the temptation of livebait dangling in their faces to tempt ‘em out of their lair.

Discovering Cover

Armed with weedless riggings, those pesky walleyes using shallow cover have nowhere left to hide. The proper tackle, a patient approach, and confidence are equally essential to the equation. Put ‘em together to uncover hiding places, catch fish, and avoid snags and frustration.