Walleyes Inc. Action packed adventures in walleye fishing on the internet.

PWT Champion Mark Martin

Right now, as winter starts to yield to spring, I'm straightening out my tackle box, making a list of new lures and checking it twice. By the time open water unfolds, I¹m going to be ready with walleye offerings both naughty and nice. For simplicity¹s sake, I¹ve come up with three of the most effective lure and bait styles that will do the trick wherever you fish; plus, I¹m adding in the most effective ways to work them. But until the moment arrives when you¹re actually out there, you can bide your time plotting and planning your tackle selection. Sometimes, it seems, the anticipation is almost as fun as the action.

Northland Fire-Ball. Jig

Of all the jigs on the market, none is more effective or versatile than the Northland Fire-Ball. They come in sizes from miniature to magnum, giving you the ability to cover all depths and drop speeds. And they¹re perfect for snap-jigging, vertical jigging in rivers and lakes, casting and dragging ‹any way you want to fish them. Though they are round jigheads, they excel even in current because of the slight keel shape of the head, which makes them track straight running water.

Northland Whistler Jig

Another jig from Northland that has an important place in my tackle box is the Whistler. It has a streamlined head and a small propeller for added sound and flash. If normally I'd fish a 1/4-ounce round jig, I boost up to a 3/8ths with the Whistler because of the added lift you get with the propeller. Whistlers are great for casting the shallows, around creeks, rivers and shorelines. When I pitch it out, I often work it almost like a crankbait.

Berkley Power Jig worm Berkley Power Minnow

Berkley Walleye  Scent

Try small tubes or Berkley Power Jigworms or Minnows. Sometimes I add an extra squirt of Berkley Walleye Scent. One of the more offbeat offerings depends on nothing but plastic‹in fact, it's a double-barrel plastic presentation. On a standard jighead with a keeper to hold the plastic, I put a Berkley Power Minnow and then cut an inch or so off the back of the hook, as if I were tipping it with live bait.

Blue Fox-ee Jig

Finally, this spring I'm going to put a few more Fox-ee jigs from Blue Fox in my box. They come in standup and bullet heads, both of which are great in early season around emergent weed beds. Pitch them out, and they snake their way surprisingly well through weeds because of their streamlined shapes.

Shad Raps

Ever since their debut in the ¹80s, Rapals Shad Raps have been catching fish of all species from coast to coast. For me, they¹re go-to baits in walleye country, especially in spring, when I start with a No. 5 in water six feet and less.

Shad Rap RS

A new weapon in my arsenal is the Shad Rap RS, a rattling, suspending bait. Once, while doing a Bass Pro Shops seminar and casting into one of the fish tanks, I had walleyes‹which, as we all know, ignore almost every bait or lure in such captivity‹racing after the suspender.

Like all crankbaits, don¹t just cast them out and reel them in. Rather, reel it down, tick bottom and pause. The lure will just hover there, not float up, and walleyes will
grab it. There¹s something about a lure stopping in a walleye¹s face that it
can¹t resist. With either type of Shad Rap, I like to add a little extra flash with thin
strips of Witchcraft holoform tape. I also experiment with the company's adhesive eyes you can stick to the bait. Sometimes it makes a difference. On Wisconsin¹s Lake Winnebago, for instance, I've found the walleyes have a definite preference for yellow eyes and black pupils. I don't know why, but I do know they work.
But there¹s a lot more to a Shad Rap than just casting. Raps are excellent trolling baits, and I have the depths they track almost down to a science.
 

Berkley  20-pound FireLine

Without weight and with Berkley 20-pound FireLine (the diameter of eight-pound monofilament), I can get a No. 5 down six feet with 63 to 73feet of line, a No. 7 down seven to 10 feet with 100 to 110 feet of line, a No. 9  down nine, 10, even 12 or 13 feet with 140 to 150 feet of line. Trolling speed is important, and I almost always run 1 mph to 1.3 mph. If you do go faster, your lures are going to dig deeper. Try trolling Shad Raps around tight contours when you want to get a bait into small places on a short line or when you want to get out and over bottom on lake basins.

And, lest I forget, when casting add an extra rod, where legal, with live
bait to pick up another fish or two or three. More on that in a moment

The Dead Rod
A dead rod, or one that¹s basically unattended, will liven up the action
many days. 

Northland  Bottom Bouncer

A dead rod, or one that's basically unattended, will liven up the action many days.When I'm moving along a contour jigging or tossing a Shad Rap, I¹ll put another rod out with a Northland Rock-Runner bottom bouncer and a Northland Gum-Drop Floater with bait.  Northland Gum Drop Gum-Drops are particularly effective in spring due to the fish¹s slower metabolism. And they¹ll work pulled upstream in a river or on a flat in a lake while you¹re fishing another rod. I put a fast-action rod in a holder with a bouncer, a leader up to threefeet and a Gum-Drop in small, medium or large. If fish are tentative I'll use a smaller one. If they¹re more active, I'll boost up in size, or if I'm around bigger fish. The spongy material of the floater keeps the bait just above the tops of emergent weeds. It also helps to keep the bouncer a few inches from bottom. When you get a strike, the rod will start to bend; pick it up and set the hook. Any bait ‹a leech, crawler or minnow‹will do the trick, but I prefer minnows in spring. Some Gum-Drops come with stinger hooks, but I don't put the stinger into the bait. Since the stinger is tied on stiff mono, it will lie right next to the minnow and help you nail short-strikers.