Walleye fishing with lures gives you the ability to fish quickly and cover a lot of water. It’s also an exciting way to fish. Most fishermen attach them to a worm harness rig and retrieve them slowly, either on or just above bottom. Leeches are most popular in the Midwest, where they are fished in a manner similar to nightcrawlers. Nightcrawlers are most commonly hooked on a worm harness rig, which typically has one or two hooks, along with series plastic beads and one or two spinning blades for flash and vibration. Nightcrawlers can tempt walleye any time of year, but most fishermen turn to them in summer, when the walleye bite tends to be a bit slower. Minnows can be jigged, fished beneath a slip bobber, or rigged on a worm harness rig. Most minnows in the 3- to 5-inch range are effective, including shiners, fathead minnows and chubs.
Where allowed, minnows work best during spring and fall, the seasons in which walleye are most active and prone to chase a lively bait. The most commonly used live baits for walleye are minnows, nightcrawlers and leeches, although note that using live fish for bait is not legal in some states. Live bait fishing is a favorite tactic among many walleye anglers for the simple reason that it works nearly any situation. Keeping your presentation within a few feet of the bottom is usually the best way to find them. One thing to keep in mind, no matter what type of bait or lure you choose, is that walleye are almost always bottom-oriented fish. At other times, walleye become so inactive that you must slow your presentation to a crawl to tempt bites. As the old saying goes, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is thinking ahead of time that you know what the fish want.Īt times, walleye feed so voraciously that fast, flashy and brightly colored baits can trigger a “reaction strike” out of pure aggression. Generally speaking, it’s best to hit the water ready to try a wide range of tactics, tackle and techniques. That natural diet makes minnows and minnow-imitating lures a great choice for walleye fishing, but they’re far from the only options. Shad, ciscoes, smelt, yellow perch and a variety of minnows may be on the menu, depending on the available forage in any given body of water.
The overwhelming majority of walleyes’ diet consists of smaller fish. Photo courtesy of the Oregon Bass & Panfish Club
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