I love to catch big walleye, and I'm sure most advid fishermen do as well. There are many factors to look at when trying to locate these big brutes. Spring fishing is a good place to start with.
This is where we find the walleye getting real close up to the shore where there are sandy areas and sand bars, rocky points and weeded areas that have sandy bottoms nearby. Walleye also love to be in rockie areas for spawning and protection.
These areas can be tough to fish. You could lose a lot of tackle. Of course the spring spawn brings out all us die hard walleye fishermen. The males tend to be smaller and are easier to locate because they come in close to shore. The females being the big fish stay out in deeper water.
Spawning walleye are very aggressive and ready to bite just about anything, and they do spawn in current, so give these areas a good workout, they are usually key to walleye fishing success in the early spring months.
Walleye Fishing Lures
My favorite lures to use are jigs, try using 1/4 or 1/8 ounce jigs with black, green, yellow, or white twister tails. If you are looking for one all purpose twister tail, choose white, because I find it does the trick for you, through out the year.
Stick a glow bead on the front of the jig head. This seems to get the walleye's attention. It also works great with live bait. I also like to Troll with crank baits, as well as fishing jigs, and slip bobbers.
All these methods will catch you fish. Nothing seems to beat harnesses though. On natural lakes, try trolling the weed edges and break lines. I like to use mainly leeches, Mr Twisters in White or Black near the bottom.
Erie Dearies using a large night crawler (worm) if your fishing for trophy sized walleye it's best done at night, try trolling slow, right next to shore, especially where there are weedy areas with nice sandy bottoms.
Trolling with spinners (night crawler harnesses) is probably the most productive way to catch these walleye. When fishing in the summer and fall I like to use bigger baits or lures. Small ones in the spring.
Using White Twister tails is one of the best softbaits, but in the spring the Walleyes are more aggressive and will hit crazy colors like chartreuse, pink, yellow or orange.
These colors are all great because in the spring the Walleyes are hitting them to defend their spawning grounds and not just feeding.
You can also add a leech, worm, minnow or Walleye gullet to the jig to get more action but it's usually not needed. Another tip you can try, is fishing on the bottom from one hour before dark until after dark. This will help produce those results for big walleye.
