In spring, an angler’s fancy turns to walleye. Which is why a recent series of seminars at Bass Pro Shops turned up loaded with experts for whom that ol’ bug- eyed fish is life.
If you were present and paid attention to the presentations of Tom “Doc” Johnson and Jack Winters, you now are much better prepared for a successful season. If not, then here’s the condensed version.
What this loses in the first- hand emphasis of the authorities, it compensates with the brevity and convenience of consumption along with breakfast coffee.
Johnson, vice president of fishing operations with Matzuo America and a 15-year veteran of the Professional Walleye Trail, held sway on the most effective way to rig with live bait. For openers, he left no doubt as to the importance of the method.
“Some people say they can catch as much on a lure as with bait. I take exception to that,” Johnson said. “I work for a tackle manufacturing company and our whole effort is to make a lure that works like the real thing.”
But when it comes to a combination of the two, that’s a different matter. Johnson demonstrated how to make a crawler harness that incorporates the color, motion and sound of a lure with the raw protein appeal of bait.
The key is to use a blade and beads that best imitate the target baitfish. Johnson favors a red rattle bead at the front, followed by a glass bead that reflects light like an eye, then another rattler followed by a series of beads that complete the color package. He acquires beads at hobby shops.
Typically, the beads extend to about 3 ½ inches. In water where pike pose a problem, Johnson strings the beads on wire rather than monofilament.
Johnson chooses a Colorado Spinner blade, size 3 or 4. “The deep cup creates greater vibration and rotates at a very slow speed.”
He uses a twin-hook trailer for a crawler, a single hook to impale a leech or minnow – the latter through the lips, bottom to top.
“The most important thing is to let a crawler’s tail swing free.”
For the clincher, he chooses a new sickle hook by Matzuo that features a patented elbow bend to keep more fish on the line.
The tournament veteran is acutely aware of the colors a walleye sees best – yellow, red and chartreuse – as well as the shades of baitfish common to the water he plans to fish.
He rigs his harness with all these in mind: Firetiger for perch, red for crayfish, blue/silver for smelt, white/silver for shad, black/silver for other minnows, green/gold for bass and other small fish. He favors gold and silver for blades, except when rigging for precise baitfish combinations.
Winters made his contribution with an aquarium demonstration of jigging techniques, specifically with a Buckshot jigging spoon and an ordinary jig head rigged with either a leech or crawler.
“Pick six or seven different places you want to fish before you start based on structure and temperature before. Locate dropoffs. I like places with rocky shorelines or sandy bottoms – both if possible.”
With his location settled, Winters chooses his lures to match depth: 3/8th-ounce for his jigs and spoons up to 40 feet.
“Locate the bottom, then bounce it up about 6 or 8 inches. If you don’t get a bite in a few minutes, move to a new spot.”
Winters favors a stiffer action rod tip for spoons, softer to feel the pickup on a jig.
