If you’re a walleye angler, then we’re sure you are feeling like winter has been holding on a bit too long this year. By now you’ve no doubt worn out your favorite fishing videos, read all the latest walleye articles until the pages are tattered and you’ve organized your fishing tackle so many times you’ve begun to name each individual lure. Face it, you’re just plain ready to get out on the water and go walleye fishing. Good! Because it’s almost time for the spring walleye bite!
Traditionally it’s been thought that fishing with slow, methodical, vertical jigging or casting techniques are the best way to go in the cool waters of spring. Well… think again! Consider what’s going in the walleyes’ world for a minute. This is the time when walleye’s are consumed with the rituals of spawning. During this period, you could have fish in one of three stages … pre-spawn, spawn or post-spawn. Now, while that can be a factor that makes catching these fish more difficult, going at it with the attitude that you are fishing for the most active walleyes in the system can actually make things much easier.
We’re not trying to suggest that you totally abandon such time-tested spring patterns such as jigging shallow structure or live bait rigging deep holes near spawning areas. Those tactics are going to produce fish this time of year. What we are suggesting is that you try a more unconventional approach to begin with, and see how many active walleyes you can pick off first.
For instance, pre-spawn walleyes often stage on the edges of rocky flats, reefs or rip-rap where they will soon move up to spawn. That means there will be large numbers of fish in concentrated areas, which tends to create competition among the fish and makes it a good scenario for a more aggressive presentation. This is a numbers game, meaning the more fish in a given area, the more likely there will be active individuals in the mix. Now, even though the calendar may say its spring and the water temps are leaning toward the cool side, this is a scenario where warm-water tactics can be deadly.
Let’s begin on that shallow flat mentioned earlier. While you may be tempted to drift the area with a jig and minnow combination, you’ll cover more water and contact more active biters if you work the flat with bottom bouncers and spinners. Since you’re dealing with fairly shallow water (6 to 10 feet typically), its best to lighten up on the size of bouncer you use. A half ounce bouncer is just about perfect for this, because it allows you to run the rig a little further behind the boat, thus lessening the chance that you’ll spook fish.
The bait you choose to dress your spinner is also an important consideration in the spring. While nightcrawlers are usually the top choice, this is the time of year that minnows and leeches can often be better choices. Some anglers prefer single hook spinners when using anything other than crawlers, but even leaving the back hook unattached to the bait and dangling behind can help hook up those short biters that are attracted to the lure.