The Plastification of Walleyes

Art imitates life, and so does soft plastic. In recent years, innovative manufacturers have molded a wealth of body configurations in an ever-expanding rainbow of colors and patterns. Some closely imitate natural livebait, such as a minnow, worm, crayfish, salamander, centipede, baitfish, or other tasty delight. Others just plain look fishy while resembling something natural and edible, like traditional and popular curlytail grubs or marabou-tail jig bodies—perhaps the two most popular walleye plastics. And then consider those wild-eyed wigglers and squigglers that defy imagination and classification; who knows what they’re supposed to be, but boy, they sure look good enough to eat. To the fish, anyway.

With the wide array of soft plastic baits available today, and more looming on the horizon, it’s not only impossible to list them all, but virtually impossible to classify them into categories of where and when to use what. Instead, we’ll discuss basic principles of plastics, and let you draw your own conclusions as to their best use. Let’s start with basic actions, reactions, motions, and commotions.

The More Wiggles and Jiggles—Larger, bulkier, or wilder bodies with enhanced action are geared to active fish, speedier and erratic retrieves, and strike triggers.

The More Slide and Glide—Smaller or more subtle bodies with less inherent action are designed for reluctant to neutral fish, slower retrieves, longer pauses between jigging motions, and for tempting bites.

Shapes and Sizes

The classic, plastic walleye tail is a short 3-inch curlytail or marabou-tail grub body, dressed on a jighead. This perhaps stems from an attempt to appeal to anglers more than to walleyes. Jigs dressed with bodies of such size are easily tipped with livebait—minnows, leeches, pieces of crawlers. The resulting combo package is of an approximate size that “looks right.” And catches fish, instilling confidence in the user.

Tubes, popular with bass anglers, also are incredibly productive for walleyes; their subtle slow-falling or gliding characteristics appeal to fussy fish. Some anglers even confidently interchange them with more traditional body shapes, although typically still tipping them with livebait. Others may rely on 3-inch tubes alone, although truth be told, more walleyes likely are caught on tubes by accident while fishing for other species than caught on purpose.

It’s only when you explore the untipped, unbaited dimension of plastic that expanded sizes really come into play. Unfettered by the addition of livebait, a plastic tail now requires added heft to once again “look right.” Four-inch grubs fit the bill, but may not appear as walleye-appropriate as their smaller cousins, unless you switch from a standard round-bodied grub to a taller, thinner shad body. Something about it just “looks right”—a common theme, rooted in confidence.

A relatively new and productive addition to potential walleye plastics are jerk shads, which have a bulky shad-type body but taper to a thin tail. Some have a small fin at the back. While they can obviously be jigged or glided in traditional fashion, their strength appears to be in snapjigging-type presentations, either across shallow flats in lakes or trolled upstream in rivers. The swift, erratic dart resembles a minnow dashing upstream or panicking across the shallows.