WALLEYE FISHING SPRING & EARLY SUMMER (May- End of June)

Season begins Mid May.

Early season I am mainly using light tackle and small jigs tipped with small minnows. Occasionally we will cast small crank baits like Roques and Smithwicks. 6 to 8-pound test with ultra light - medium light rods, 6-7.5 ft. 1/16th oz. to 1/8th oz. jig heads, multiple colors, sometimes plain lead heads.

We are tossing minnow-tipped jigs in shallow water in the 4 to 10-foot range and close to spawning grounds. This is a trophy Walleye period as many of the big females are headed out of the spawning grounds after spawning. This period can produce some 50 - 75 fish per day. It's definitely one of the best periods for numbers of fish.




MID SUMMER (July - Mid Aug.)

I am still using jigs and tossing them along shorelines looking for schools of migrating Walleyes. This time of year we are using minnows and leeches on jig heads. We also start to work some of the weedbeds casting a variety of artificial lures. Roques, Smithwicks, Rapalas, and some plastics are all effective. 8 to 10-pound test line, either mono or light braided lines, medium light to medium rods are used.

We begin to do some trolling with inline spinner rigs with light weights and also bottom bouncers with artificials on 4ft. florocarbon leaders. Trolling over larger sand-flats locates a lot of fish. We will often find schools of both Walleyes and Northerns in areas feeding on Perch and other minnows. Hang on because the hits are usually aggressive and arm-jolting. This trolling technique also works well when trolling the edges of long weed lines as well with crawler harnesses.







LATE SUMMER (Mid Aug. - Oct.)

This is one of my favorite times of the year as the fish begin to school up on main lake basins that have a lot of sunken rock structure with deeper water all around. These reefs usually top out at 15 to 25 feet deep below the surface and very often we can catch Walleyes and Northerns around the same reefs.

As fall approaches, mid September to the end of October, the Bass will start to school around the reefs as well so now we can catch all 3 species on some days around these reefs.

We are mainly vertical jigging with 1/2 oz. jigs tipped with minnows or leeches and Lindy Rigs with 1/2 oz. walking slip sinkers and 4-foot florocarbon leaders. The hooks we use for the Lindy Rigs are usually #2 to #4 Snell Hooks. We use medium-light to Medium 6'6" - 7'6" rods and a variety of jig colors. The most popular colors are chartruse, yellow, fire ball orange & chartruse combos.

This time of year also produces some very big fish as they are feeding on the schools of Ciscoes and other baitfish that are hanging around the structure. This time period is very popular with my repeat customers because of the great variety of fish we can catch. There is a real possibility of catching some huge trophy sizes of all 3 species.