FISHING with Soft Plastics

26″ walleye

The evolution of soft plastic baits has greatly advanced over the years virtually giving anglers a wide variety and selection for all game fish. Soft plastics offer many advantages over hard bodied lures such as crank baits and spoons that does not have the soft texture as real food. When a fish strikes a soft plastic bait it feels natural so fish will mouth it longer giving the angler extra time to set the hook. In making soft bait’s the plastic is heated into a liquid form then poured in a mold to replicate the shape, grub, worm, bait fish, crawfish, lizard, frogs, and insects.

During the bait making process additional ingredients can be added to appeal to the fish’s senses such as, scents, layered colors, metal flakes, and flavors. Other significant details of soft baits today in manufacturing is to add life-like realistic features like crescent rings on worms and grubs, floating claws on crawfish, web feet and feelers on amphibians, holographic and translucent flash on shad and minnow baits replicating the scales of bait ish.

Other benefits in fishing with soft plastics are rigging the hook, the point can be buried into the body of the bait where it cannot snag underwater obstructions such as dense weeds, rocks, brush and logs, but yet the hook will penetrate through the soft bait when you set the hook. Another is scents, they can be treated with bottled-paste attractants or purchase them already molded in. Soft plastic’s will hold scents much longer than hard bodied lures that wash off quickly.

Fishing Set-ups with Soft Plastic’s

In casting or vertical jigging the smallest soft plastic lures for perch use ultra light spinning gear spooled with 4-6lb test monofilament. Species such as walleye  with a mid-sized plastic’s use a medium light to medium spinning gear with 6-10 lb test monofilament. In using larger plastic’s with hooks buried into the bait that requires a strong hook set for large mouth bass and northern pike use medium to medium heavy bait casting gear spooled with 14 to 20lb test low stretch monofilament line. For pike that have the largest plastic’s up to and over 1lb use heavy to extra heavy bait casting gear spooled with 50 to 80lb low stretch abrasion resistance braided line. Many rod manufactures specializes in making powerful fast action rods dedicated for soft plastic fishing.
The popular use by anglers of soft plastics has skyrocketed over the years by the increased number of new products introduced annually by lure companies this is evident with fishing tackle pro shops in store displays, catalog pages for online and print buyers guides.

As a reference listed below are a few of the most commonly used soft plastics in order to help you identify each type.

Worms

The invention of the plastic worm spawned more variations of soft plastic baits than any other in fishing lure history. Grubs, jerk worms, crawfish, tubes, lizards, swim/bait fish all were developed based on the introduction of the soft plastic worm technology back in 1949 by a Ohio lure maker. Worms come in sizes from a few inches for perch up to 12 inches for walleye and pike. The types ( floating and sinking) and the colors of worms made today are in hundreds of thousands with the multitude of color variations and scents. The main fish attracting action components of worms are the texture (ringed, ribbed or smooth) affecting the sink rate and the tail (ribbon, twister, paddle, or straight) which provides vibrations when the worm is moved. In rigging a worm, there are two options pre-rigged with a hook or series of hooks, or using a Texas rig the most common, Carolina rig, wacky rig and the drop shot rig.

Grubs

Fishing with soft plastic grubs has been a longtime favorite among anglers for all species. Grubs are composed of soft plastic round body either ringed, ribbed or smooth, combined with single curly tail, double curly split tail, paddle tail, or straight tails for various actions. Grubs come in various lengths from 1″ up to 12″ and hundreds of colors combinations. The most common use for grubs is tipped on a jig, or as a trailer on an inline spinners and spinner baits. Grubs are also popular to fish using a drop shot rig, split shot rig and Carolina rigs.

Bait Fish

Soft plastic bait fish come in numerous sizes and colors to mimic forage fish. Determine what bait fish are in the waters you’re fishing and select a profile size and color to match, for a natural presentation. Usually the smaller the better. Many soft plastic bait fish baits feature a paddle tail that wiggles when retrieved, but others have curly tails and forked tails that give them swimming action. Fishing soft plastic bait fish imitations are an excellent choice jigged along the bottom or brought in on a straight retrieve.

Tubes

Tubes are rounded hollow soft plastic bodied bait open-ended with a series of tentacles on the base. The main body is usually smooth but some have a ribbed exterior. The interior hollow design works well with holding liquid or paste scents. Tubes range in sizes from 1″-2″ for perch 3″-6″ for walleye and up to 14″ for big pike. Most often tubes are rigged using a weighted tube jig placed within the tube’s body or to make a tube weedless anglers use a wide gap hook threading it through the nose and securing the hook into the body on the outer wall of the tube. Upon casting a tube it will display a spiral action on the fall with the tentacles undulating providing an injured bait fish look, in jigging the tube off the bottom it will appear as a crawfish imitation especially good for feeding walleye. Tubes can be rigged as bait using a Texas Rig, Carolina Rig, or on a drop shot rig.

Crawfish

The soft plastic crawfish or crawdad is a deadly on walleye at certain times and when presented along rocky bottom area’s. The main feature of an imitation crawfish is the pinchers when tipped on a jig it gives the bait a realistic defensive posture by raising its claws that sends bass a signal to feed. Crawfish soft plastic’s are available from craw trailers to the highly detailed featuring pinchers, antennae, legs, abdomen and tail.

Lizards

Although not widely used for walleye these have been known to catch walleye at certain times during the summer.   Lizards come is a wide variety of colors, scents, ribbed, smooth, floating and sinking. The most common fishing techniques are similar to fishing plastic worms, using Texas and Carolina rigs or tipped on a jig for flipping and pitching.

Leeches & Reepers

Leeches and reapers are a basic variation of a soft plastic grub, rounded head and body leading to a soft thin membrane sides. The smaller reapers resemble a leech while the larger reapers mimic bait fish. The sizes start from 3″ for walleye and bass up to 12″ for pike. Most anglers rig a leech/reaper tipped on a jig head inserting the hook through the head or use a split shot rig and a single hook. Reapers are a good bait to use on waters that receive a high amount of angling pressure.

Frogs

Using a floating soft plastic frog around heavy weeds for pike is exhilarating as the pike comes out of the water and gulps your lure. The advantages of soft-plastic surface frogs are, they are weedless with the hooks positioned against the body, they feel natural with their soft spongy body, so the bass will hang on to the lure longer giving more time for the angler to set the hook. The best fishing tip we can offer while using a top water frog is fish slow. After a cast let the frog sit until the ripples subside now pop or twitch the frog once or twice, then let the frog sit for a few seconds and repeat. To change-up the presentation upon reaching weed pocket or opening let the frog sit and just barely twitch the frog so just the legs quiver. Summertime pike laying in the weeds aren’t active at these times, but can be enticed by an easy meal.

Magnum

From the 1950’s through the 1970’s the soft plastic bait industry was focused on worms and grubs used for walleye. That changed in the 1980’s when small basement lure companies started producing larger soft plastic lures designed for pike. This spawned a revolution in the 1990’s regarding the soft plastic lure market as larger companies began taking notice and adding larger soft plastic baits to their product line. Today there are hundreds of variations, colors, combinations of hard bodied soft tail baits, some even weighing 1 lb and 15 inches in length. Fishing with super sized soft plastic’s opened a new chapter and presentation for pike anglers throughout the world.

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FISHING with Soft Plastics

The evolution of soft plastic baits has greatly advanced over the years virtually giving anglers a wide variety and selection for all game fish. Soft plastics offer many advantages over hard bodied lures such as crank baits and spoons that does not have the soft texture as real food. When a fish strikes a soft plastic bait it feels natural so fish will mouth it longer giving the angler extra time to set the hook. In making soft bait’s the plastic is heated into a liquid form then poured in a mold to replicate the shape, grub, worm, bait fish, crawfish, lizard, frogs, and insects. During the bait making process additional ingredients can be added to appeal to the fish’s senses such as, scents, layered colors, metal flakes, and flavors. Other significant details of soft baits today in manufacturing is to add life-like realistic features like crescent rings on worms and grubs, floating claws on crawfish, web feet and feelers on amphibians, holographic and translucent flash on shad and minnow baits replicating the scales of british.
Other benefits in fishing with soft plastics are rigging the hook, the point can be buried into the body of the bait where it cannot snag underwater obstructions such as dense weeds, rocks, brush and logs, but yet the hook will penetrate through the soft bait when you set the hook. Another is scents, they can be treated with bottled-paste attractants or purchase them already molded in. Soft plastic’s will hold scents much longer than hard bodied lures that wash off quickly.

Fishing Set-ups with Soft Plastic’s

In casting or vertical jigging the smallest soft plastic lures for perch use ultra light spinning gear spooled with 4-6lb test monofilament. Species such as walleye  with a mid-sized plastic’s use a medium light to medium spinning gear with 6-10 lb test monofilament. In using larger plastic’s with hooks buried into the bait that requires a strong hook set for large mouth bass and northern pike use medium to medium heavy bait casting gear spooled with 14 to 20lb test low stretch monofilament line. For pike that have the largest plastic’s up to and over 1lb use heavy to extra heavy bait casting gear spooled with 50 to 80lb low stretch abrasion resistance braided line. Many rod manufactures specializes in making powerful fast action rods dedicated for soft plastic fishing.
The popular use by anglers of soft plastics has skyrocketed over the years by the increased number of new products introduced annually by lure companies this is evident with fishing tackle pro shops in store displays, catalog pages for online and print buyers guides.

As a reference listed below are a few of the most commonly used soft plastics in order to help you identify each type.

Worms

The invention of the plastic worm spawned more variations of soft plastic baits than any other in fishing lure history. Grubs, jerk worms, crawfish, tubes, lizards, swim/bait fish all were developed based on the introduction of the soft plastic worm technology back in 1949 by a Ohio lure maker. Worms come in sizes from a few inches for perch up to 12 inches for walleye and pike. The types ( floating and sinking) and the colors of worms made today are in hundreds of thousands with the multitude of color variations and scents. The main fish attracting action components of worms are the texture (ringed, ribbed or smooth) affecting the sink rate and the tail (ribbon, twister, paddle, or straight) which provides vibrations when the worm is moved. In rigging a worm, there are two options pre-rigged with a hook or series of hooks, or using a Texas rig the most common, Carolina rig, wacky rig and the drop shot rig.

Grubs

Fishing with soft plastic grubs has been a longtime favorite among anglers for all species. Grubs are composed of soft plastic round body either ringed, ribbed or smooth, combined with single curly tail, double curly split tail, paddle tail, or straight tails for various actions. Grubs come in various lengths from 1″ up to 12″ and hundreds of colors combinations. The most common use for grubs is tipped on a jig, or as a trailer on an inline spinners and spinner baits. Grubs are also popular to fish using a drop shot rig, split shot rig and Carolina rigs.

Bait Fish

Soft plastic bait fish come in numerous sizes and colors to mimic forage fish. Determine what bait fish are in the waters you’re fishing and select a profile size and color to match, for a natural presentation. Usually the smaller the better. Many soft plastic bait fish baits feature a paddle tail that wiggles when retrieved, but others have curly tails and forked tails that give them swimming action. Fishing soft plastic bait fish imitations are an excellent choice jigged along the bottom or brought in on a straight retrieve.

Tubes

Tubes are rounded hollow soft plastic bodied bait open-ended with a series of tentacles on the base. The main body is usually smooth but some have a ribbed exterior. The interior hollow design works well with holding liquid or paste scents. Tubes range in sizes from 1″-2″ for perch 3″-6″ for walleye and up to 14″ for big pike. Most often tubes are rigged using a weighted tube jig placed within the tube’s body or to make a tube weedless anglers use a wide gap hook threading it through the nose and securing the hook into the body on the outer wall of the tube. Upon casting a tube it will display a spiral action on the fall with the tentacles undulating providing an injured bait fish look, in jigging the tube off the bottom it will appear as a crawfish imitation especially good for feeding walleye. Tubes can be rigged as bait using a Texas Rig, Carolina Rig, or on a drop shot rig.

Crawfish

The soft plastic crawfish or crawdad is a deadly on walleye at certain times and when presented along rocky bottom area’s. The main feature of an imitation crawfish is the pinchers when tipped on a jig it gives the bait a realistic defensive posture by raising its claws that sends bass a signal to feed. Crawfish soft plastic’s are available from craw trailers to the highly detailed featuring pinchers, antennae, legs, abdomen and tail.

Lizards

Although not widely used for walleye these have been known to catch walleye at certain times during the summer.   Lizards come is a wide variety of colors, scents, ribbed, smooth, floating and sinking. The most common fishing techniques are similar to fishing plastic worms, using Texas and Carolina rigs or tipped on a jig for flipping and pitching.

Leeches & Reepers

Leeches and reapers are a basic variation of a soft plastic grub, rounded head and body leading to a soft thin membrane sides. The smaller reapers resemble a leech while the larger reapers mimic bait fish. The sizes start from 3″ for walleye and bass up to 12″ for pike. Most anglers rig a leech/reaper tipped on a jig head inserting the hook through the head or use a split shot rig and a single hook. Reapers are a good bait to use on waters that receive a high amount of angling pressure.

Frogs

Using a floating soft plastic frog around heavy weeds for pike is exhilarating as the pike comes out of the water and gulps your lure. The advantages of soft-plastic surface frogs are, they are weedless with the hooks positioned against the body, they feel natural with their soft spongy body, so the bass will hang on to the lure longer giving more time for the angler to set the hook. The best fishing tip we can offer while using a top water frog is fish slow. After a cast let the frog sit until the ripples subside now pop or twitch the frog once or twice, then let the frog sit for a few seconds and repeat. To change-up the presentation upon reaching weed pocket or opening let the frog sit and just barely twitch the frog so just the legs quiver. Summertime pike laying in the weeds aren’t active at these times, but can be enticed by an easy meal.

Magnum

From the 1950’s through the 1970’s the soft plastic bait industry was focused on worms and grubs used for walleye. That changed in the 1980’s when small basement lure companies started producing larger soft plastic lures designed for pike. This spawned a revolution in the 1990’s regarding the soft plastic lure market as larger companies began taking notice and adding larger soft plastic baits to their product line. Today there are hundreds of variations, colors, combinations of hard bodied soft tail baits, some even weighing 1 lb and 15 inches in length. Fishing with super sized soft plastic’s opened a new chapter and presentation for pike anglers throughout the world.

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FISHING with Soft Plastics

The evolution of soft plastic baits has greatly advanced over the years virtually giving anglers a wide variety and selection for all game fish. Soft plastics offer many advantages over hard bodied lures such as crank baits and spoons that does not have the soft texture as real food. When a fish strikes a soft plastic bait it feels natural so fish will mouth it longer giving the angler extra time to set the hook. In making soft bait’s the plastic is heated into a liquid form then poured in a mold to replicate the shape, grub, worm, bait fish, crawfish, lizard, frogs, and insects. During the bait making process additional ingredients can be added to appeal to the fish’s senses such as, scents, layered colors, metal flakes, and flavors. Other significant details of soft baits today in manufacturing is to add life-like realistic features like crescent rings on worms and grubs, floating claws on crawfish, web feet and feelers on amphibians, holographic and translucent flash on shad and minnow baits replicating the scales of british.
Other benefits in fishing with soft plastics are rigging the hook, the point can be buried into the body of the bait where it cannot snag underwater obstructions such as dense weeds, rocks, brush and logs, but yet the hook will penetrate through the soft bait when you set the hook. Another is scents, they can be treated with bottled-paste attractants or purchase them already molded in. Soft plastic’s will hold scents much longer than hard bodied lures that wash off quickly.

Fishing Set-ups with Soft Plastic’s

In casting or vertical jigging the smallest soft plastic lures for perch use ultra light spinning gear spooled with 4-6lb test monofilament. Species such as walleye  with a mid-sized plastic’s use a medium light to medium spinning gear with 6-10 lb test monofilament. In using larger plastic’s with hooks buried into the bait that requires a strong hook set for large mouth bass and northern pike use medium to medium heavy bait casting gear spooled with 14 to 20lb test low stretch monofilament line. For pike that have the largest plastic’s up to and over 1lb use heavy to extra heavy bait casting gear spooled with 50 to 80lb low stretch abrasion resistance braided line. Many rod manufactures specializes in making powerful fast action rods dedicated for soft plastic fishing.
The popular use by anglers of soft plastics has skyrocketed over the years by the increased number of new products introduced annually by lure companies this is evident with fishing tackle pro shops in store displays, catalog pages for online and print buyers guides.

As a reference listed below are a few of the most commonly used soft plastics in order to help you identify each type.

Worms

The invention of the plastic worm spawned more variations of soft plastic baits than any other in fishing lure history. Grubs, jerk worms, crawfish, tubes, lizards, swim/bait fish all were developed based on the introduction of the soft plastic worm technology back in 1949 by a Ohio lure maker. Worms come in sizes from a few inches for perch up to 12 inches for walleye and pike. The types ( floating and sinking) and the colors of worms made today are in hundreds of thousands with the multitude of color variations and scents. The main fish attracting action components of worms are the texture (ringed, ribbed or smooth) affecting the sink rate and the tail (ribbon, twister, paddle, or straight) which provides vibrations when the worm is moved. In rigging a worm, there are two options pre-rigged with a hook or series of hooks, or using a Texas rig the most common, Carolina rig, wacky rig and the drop shot rig.

Grubs

Fishing with soft plastic grubs has been a longtime favorite among anglers for all species. Grubs are composed of soft plastic round body either ringed, ribbed or smooth, combined with single curly tail, double curly split tail, paddle tail, or straight tails for various actions. Grubs come in various lengths from 1″ up to 12″ and hundreds of colors combinations. The most common use for grubs is tipped on a jig, or as a trailer on an inline spinners and spinner baits. Grubs are also popular to fish using a drop shot rig, split shot rig and Carolina rigs.

Bait Fish

Soft plastic bait fish come in numerous sizes and colors to mimic forage fish. Determine what bait fish are in the waters you’re fishing and select a profile size and color to match, for a natural presentation. Usually the smaller the better. Many soft plastic bait fish baits feature a paddle tail that wiggles when retrieved, but others have curly tails and forked tails that give them swimming action. Fishing soft plastic bait fish imitations are an excellent choice jigged along the bottom or brought in on a straight retrieve.

Tubes

Tubes are rounded hollow soft plastic bodied bait open-ended with a series of tentacles on the base. The main body is usually smooth but some have a ribbed exterior. The interior hollow design works well with holding liquid or paste scents. Tubes range in sizes from 1″-2″ for perch 3″-6″ for walleye and up to 14″ for big pike. Most often tubes are rigged using a weighted tube jig placed within the tube’s body or to make a tube weedless anglers use a wide gap hook threading it through the nose and securing the hook into the body on the outer wall of the tube. Upon casting a tube it will display a spiral action on the fall with the tentacles undulating providing an injured bait fish look, in jigging the tube off the bottom it will appear as a crawfish imitation especially good for feeding walleye. Tubes can be rigged as bait using a Texas Rig, Carolina Rig, or on a drop shot rig.

Crawfish

The soft plastic crawfish or crawdad is a deadly on walleye at certain times and when presented along rocky bottom area’s. The main feature of an imitation crawfish is the pinchers when tipped on a jig it gives the bait a realistic defensive posture by raising its claws that sends bass a signal to feed. Crawfish soft plastic’s are available from craw trailers to the highly detailed featuring pinchers, antennae, legs, abdomen and tail.

Lizards

Although not widely used for walleye these have been known to catch walleye at certain times during the summer.   Lizards come is a wide variety of colors, scents, ribbed, smooth, floating and sinking. The most common fishing techniques are similar to fishing plastic worms, using Texas and Carolina rigs or tipped on a jig for flipping and pitching.

Leeches & Reepers

Leeches and reapers are a basic variation of a soft plastic grub, rounded head and body leading to a soft thin membrane sides. The smaller reapers resemble a leech while the larger reapers mimic bait fish. The sizes start from 3″ for walleye and bass up to 12″ for pike. Most anglers rig a leech/reaper tipped on a jig head inserting the hook through the head or use a split shot rig and a single hook. Reapers are a good bait to use on waters that receive a high amount of angling pressure.

Frogs

Using a floating soft plastic frog around heavy weeds for pike is exhilarating as the pike comes out of the water and gulps your lure. The advantages of soft-plastic surface frogs are, they are weedless with the hooks positioned against the body, they feel natural with their soft spongy body, so the bass will hang on to the lure longer giving more time for the angler to set the hook. The best fishing tip we can offer while using a top water frog is fish slow. After a cast let the frog sit until the ripples subside now pop or twitch the frog once or twice, then let the frog sit for a few seconds and repeat. To change-up the presentation upon reaching weed pocket or opening let the frog sit and just barely twitch the frog so just the legs quiver. Summertime pike laying in the weeds aren’t active at these times, but can be enticed by an easy meal.

Magnum

From the 1950’s through the 1970’s the soft plastic bait industry was focused on worms and grubs used for walleye. That changed in the 1980’s when small basement lure companies started producing larger soft plastic lures designed for pike. This spawned a revolution in the 1990’s regarding the soft plastic lure market as larger companies began taking notice and adding larger soft plastic baits to their product line. Today there are hundreds of variations, colors, combinations of hard bodied soft tail baits, some even weighing 1 lb and 15 inches in length. Fishing with super sized soft plastic’s opened a new chapter and presentation for pike anglers throughout the world.

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When Walleye Don’t Bite with Video

When They Just Won’t Bite

All of us have had tough days on the water – bad weather, equipment failure and fish that just refuse to bite. Walleye fishing is often a game of chance, and when these fish shut down, you’ll find yourself cursing all the way back to the lodge. There are a number of techniques and adaptations that anglers can use that can turn finicky fish into biters, and with practice and patience, you can turn that bad day into a good one, and fill that live well up to the limit in the process!

Weather Conditions
Weather plays a very important role in walleye activity, and a lack of optimum conditions will usually result in a sub-par day. Due to their light-sensitive eyes, a walleye will be most active during overcast days. They will also be more likely to roam and feed while the wind is blowing, as this causes wave action that breaks up sun penetration.  Unfortunately for anglers, these variables are not always the most comfortable to fish in – they will, however, provide positive results.
If you happen to be out, and the sun is shining and the wind is still, what should you do to ensure that you get bit? If you happen to be fishing in the shallow section of the lake, then your best course of action is to search out the lushest, greenest weeds available and present a jig to the walleye that will be seeking shade and cover underneath. Slow, methodical lifts of a buck tail or twister tail will do the trick, and the addition of live bait may coax the inactive walleye to become more co-operative.
During very sunny days your best option is to fish deeper, while keying-in on productive structure areas. Searching out break lines and drop-offs and jigging the area thoroughly, or running a live-bait rig or bottom bouncer, will do the trick.   A key to remember is this – the more miserable the weather, the faster the retrieve.   Sunny, beautiful days call for a slower presentation and added searching to find those inactive fish.

Location
It is common knowledge that walleye are fish that relate to the bottom structure and will be found hugging the lower part of the water column the majority of the time. This is true in most cases, but there are times when walleye will suspend mid-way through the water column.  Walleye are feeding machines, and will follow baitfish when actively feeding. If the resident baitfish are ten feet from bottom, then the opportunistic walleye will be close at hand.

Experimentation is the key, and jigging a spoon (similar to ice fishing) at different depths, or trying different models of diving crank baits will connect you to fish quicker. Many of the better-quality fish finders will display baitfish schools on their screens. Some effective technique when   running the lake, is to throw out a marker buoy to mark the baitfish, then drift back over the area with the above mentioned lures. It is a different dimension to walleye angling that is worth trying when the fishing becomes fruitless.

Be Versatile
One of the biggest mistakes a walleye angler can make is to stick to a technique when it isn’t working. Changing things up are key to putting more fish in the boat, and essential in turning “sniffers” into “biters.”

When out on the water, make sure that you carry a large assortment of crank baits. Be sure to include different color combinations and in varying weights and sizes in order to test what the walleye wants that particular day. There have been days out on the water when the only color that the walleye would show any interest in was red, and if you had the misfortune of not owning any cranks in that particular color, then your day could prove to be a disaster.
If there is more than one person in the boat while trolling, it is best to run completely opposite crank baits. Troll with different color combinations, shapes and sizes, in order to see what the fish prefer. If one angler has a run of two or more fish in a row, then you have stumbled upon a pattern, and at this point it is best to change over to match their lure.

Relying on live bait is not always the best option. Although many may believe this statement is false, there are times when live bait will hinder your fishing.  An example of this occurred during one season opener on the lake was with two fishing buddies and one was slow trolling a crank bait and a worm rig. Attached to the spinner rig was a fat, juicy night crawler. Although it was hooking into numerous perch, the walleye were just not co-operating.   The other person, on the other hand, had two fish in on the stringer already that was caught on the crank.   So the guy fishing with live bait did the unthinkable (to him) and removed the live bait while replacing it with a plastic worm in a motor oil color. Two trolling passes later and he had two nice sized walleye on the stringer as well.  They soon figured out what the walleye were looking for that day. Experiment with different lures and techniques until you find that one that works best under the conditions that you are faced with.

Walleye fishing is a tough game to play at times, yet the resourceful and smart angler will always figure the puzzle out. Pay attention to details while out on the water and don’t be afraid to try something new – the results might just surprise you!

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FISHING with Soft Plastics

The evolution of soft plastic baits has greatly advanced over the years virtually giving anglers a wide variety and selection for all game fish. Soft plastics offer many advantages over hard bodied lures such as crank baits and spoons that does not have the soft texture as real food. When a fish strikes a soft plastic bait it feels natural so fish will mouth it longer giving the angler extra time to set the hook. In making soft bait’s the plastic is heated into a liquid form then poured in a mold to replicate the shape, grub, worm, bait fish, crawfish, lizard, frogs, and insects. During the bait making process additional ingredients can be added to appeal to the fish’s senses such as, scents, layered colors, metal flakes, and flavors. Other significant details of soft baits today in manufacturing is to add life-like realistic features like crescent rings on worms and grubs, floating claws on crawfish, web feet and feelers on amphibians, holographic and translucent flash on shad and minnow baits replicating the scales of british.
Other benefits in fishing with soft plastics are rigging the hook, the point can be buried into the body of the bait where it cannot snag underwater obstructions such as dense weeds, rocks, brush and logs, but yet the hook will penetrate through the soft bait when you set the hook. Another is scents, they can be treated with bottled-paste attractants or purchase them already molded in. Soft plastic’s will hold scents much longer than hard bodied lures that wash off quickly.

Fishing Set-ups with Soft Plastic’s

In casting or vertical jigging the smallest soft plastic lures for perch use ultra light spinning gear spooled with 4-6lb test monofilament. Species such as walleye  with a mid-sized plastic’s use a medium light to medium spinning gear with 6-10 lb test monofilament. In using larger plastic’s with hooks buried into the bait that requires a strong hook set for large mouth bass and northern pike use medium to medium heavy bait casting gear spooled with 14 to 20lb test low stretch monofilament line. For pike that have the largest plastic’s up to and over 1lb use heavy to extra heavy bait casting gear spooled with 50 to 80lb low stretch abrasion resistance braided line. Many rod manufactures specializes in making powerful fast action rods dedicated for soft plastic fishing.
The popular use by anglers of soft plastics has skyrocketed over the years by the increased number of new products introduced annually by lure companies this is evident with fishing tackle pro shops in store displays, catalog pages for online and print buyers guides.

As a reference listed below are a few of the most commonly used soft plastics in order to help you identify each type.

Worms

The invention of the plastic worm spawned more variations of soft plastic baits than any other in fishing lure history. Grubs, jerk worms, crawfish, tubes, lizards, swim/bait fish all were developed based on the introduction of the soft plastic worm technology back in 1949 by a Ohio lure maker. Worms come in sizes from a few inches for perch up to 12 inches for walleye and pike. The types ( floating and sinking) and the colors of worms made today are in hundreds of thousands with the multitude of color variations and scents. The main fish attracting action components of worms are the texture (ringed, ribbed or smooth) affecting the sink rate and the tail (ribbon, twister, paddle, or straight) which provides vibrations when the worm is moved. In rigging a worm, there are two options pre-rigged with a hook or series of hooks, or using a Texas rig the most common, Carolina rig, wacky rig and the drop shot rig.

Grubs

Fishing with soft plastic grubs has been a longtime favorite among anglers for all species. Grubs are composed of soft plastic round body either ringed, ribbed or smooth, combined with single curly tail, double curly split tail, paddle tail, or straight tails for various actions. Grubs come in various lengths from 1″ up to 12″ and hundreds of colors combinations. The most common use for grubs is tipped on a jig, or as a trailer on an inline spinners and spinner baits. Grubs are also popular to fish using a drop shot rig, split shot rig and Carolina rigs.

Bait Fish

Soft plastic bait fish come in numerous sizes and colors to mimic forage fish. Determine what bait fish are in the waters you’re fishing and select a profile size and color to match, for a natural presentation. Usually the smaller the better. Many soft plastic bait fish baits feature a paddle tail that wiggles when retrieved, but others have curly tails and forked tails that give them swimming action. Fishing soft plastic bait fish imitations are an excellent choice jigged along the bottom or brought in on a straight retrieve.

Tubes

Tubes are rounded hollow soft plastic bodied bait open-ended with a series of tentacles on the base. The main body is usually smooth but some have a ribbed exterior. The interior hollow design works well with holding liquid or paste scents. Tubes range in sizes from 1″-2″ for perch 3″-6″ for walleye and up to 14″ for big pike. Most often tubes are rigged using a weighted tube jig placed within the tube’s body or to make a tube weedless anglers use a wide gap hook threading it through the nose and securing the hook into the body on the outer wall of the tube. Upon casting a tube it will display a spiral action on the fall with the tentacles undulating providing an injured bait fish look, in jigging the tube off the bottom it will appear as a crawfish imitation especially good for feeding walleye. Tubes can be rigged as bait using a Texas Rig, Carolina Rig, or on a drop shot rig.

Crawfish

The soft plastic crawfish or crawdad is a deadly on walleye at certain times and when presented along rocky bottom area’s. The main feature of an imitation crawfish is the pinchers when tipped on a jig it gives the bait a realistic defensive posture by raising its claws that sends bass a signal to feed. Crawfish soft plastic’s are available from craw trailers to the highly detailed featuring pinchers, antennae, legs, abdomen and tail.

Lizards

Although not widely used for walleye these have been known to catch walleye at certain times during the summer.   Lizards come is a wide variety of colors, scents, ribbed, smooth, floating and sinking. The most common fishing techniques are similar to fishing plastic worms, using Texas and Carolina rigs or tipped on a jig for flipping and pitching.

Leeches & Reepers

Leeches and reapers are a basic variation of a soft plastic grub, rounded head and body leading to a soft thin membrane sides. The smaller reapers resemble a leech while the larger reapers mimic bait fish. The sizes start from 3″ for walleye and bass up to 12″ for pike. Most anglers rig a leech/reaper tipped on a jig head inserting the hook through the head or use a split shot rig and a single hook. Reapers are a good bait to use on waters that receive a high amount of angling pressure.

Frogs

Using a floating soft plastic frog around heavy weeds for pike is exhilarating as the pike comes out of the water and gulps your lure. The advantages of soft-plastic surface frogs are, they are weedless with the hooks positioned against the body, they feel natural with their soft spongy body, so the bass will hang on to the lure longer giving more time for the angler to set the hook. The best fishing tip we can offer while using a top water frog is fish slow. After a cast let the frog sit until the ripples subside now pop or twitch the frog once or twice, then let the frog sit for a few seconds and repeat. To change-up the presentation upon reaching weed pocket or opening let the frog sit and just barely twitch the frog so just the legs quiver. Summertime pike laying in the weeds aren’t active at these times, but can be enticed by an easy meal.

Magnum

From the 1950’s through the 1970’s the soft plastic bait industry was focused on worms and grubs used for walleye. That changed in the 1980’s when small basement lure companies started producing larger soft plastic lures designed for pike. This spawned a revolution in the 1990’s regarding the soft plastic lure market as larger companies began taking notice and adding larger soft plastic baits to their product line. Today there are hundreds of variations, colors, combinations of hard bodied soft tail baits, some even weighing 1 lb and 15 inches in length. Fishing with super sized soft plastic’s opened a new chapter and presentation for pike anglers throughout the world.

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FISHING with Soft Plastics

The evolution of soft plastic baits has greatly advanced over the years virtually giving anglers a wide variety and selection for all game fish. Soft plastics offer many advantages over hard bodied lures such as crank baits and spoons that does not have the soft texture as real food. When a fish strikes a soft plastic bait it feels natural so fish will mouth it longer giving the angler extra time to set the hook. In making soft bait’s the plastic is heated into a liquid form then poured in a mold to replicate the shape, grub, worm, bait fish, crawfish, lizard, frogs, and insects. During the bait making process additional ingredients can be added to appeal to the fish’s senses such as, scents, layered colors, metal flakes, and flavors. Other significant details of soft baits today in manufacturing is to add life-like realistic features like crescent rings on worms and grubs, floating claws on crawfish, web feet and feelers on amphibians, holographic and translucent flash on shad and minnow baits replicating the scales of british.
Other benefits in fishing with soft plastics are rigging the hook, the point can be buried into the body of the bait where it cannot snag underwater obstructions such as dense weeds, rocks, brush and logs, but yet the hook will penetrate through the soft bait when you set the hook. Another is scents, they can be treated with bottled-paste attractants or purchase them already molded in. Soft plastic’s will hold scents much longer than hard bodied lures that wash off quickly.

Fishing Set-ups with Soft Plastic’s

In casting or vertical jigging the smallest soft plastic lures for perch use ultra light spinning gear spooled with 4-6lb test monofilament. Species such as walleye  with a mid-sized plastic’s use a medium light to medium spinning gear with 6-10 lb test monofilament. In using larger plastic’s with hooks buried into the bait that requires a strong hook set for large mouth bass and northern pike use medium to medium heavy bait casting gear spooled with 14 to 20lb test low stretch monofilament line. For pike that have the largest plastic’s up to and over 1lb use heavy to extra heavy bait casting gear spooled with 50 to 80lb low stretch abrasion resistance braided line. Many rod manufactures specializes in making powerful fast action rods dedicated for soft plastic fishing.
The popular use by anglers of soft plastics has skyrocketed over the years by the increased number of new products introduced annually by lure companies this is evident with fishing tackle pro shops in store displays, catalog pages for online and print buyers guides.

As a reference listed below are a few of the most commonly used soft plastics in order to help you identify each type.

Worms

The invention of the plastic worm spawned more variations of soft plastic baits than any other in fishing lure history. Grubs, jerk worms, crawfish, tubes, lizards, swim/bait fish all were developed based on the introduction of the soft plastic worm technology back in 1949 by a Ohio lure maker. Worms come in sizes from a few inches for perch up to 12 inches for walleye and pike. The types ( floating and sinking) and the colors of worms made today are in hundreds of thousands with the multitude of color variations and scents. The main fish attracting action components of worms are the texture (ringed, ribbed or smooth) affecting the sink rate and the tail (ribbon, twister, paddle, or straight) which provides vibrations when the worm is moved. In rigging a worm, there are two options pre-rigged with a hook or series of hooks, or using a Texas rig the most common, Carolina rig, wacky rig and the drop shot rig.

Grubs

Fishing with soft plastic grubs has been a longtime favorite among anglers for all species. Grubs are composed of soft plastic round body either ringed, ribbed or smooth, combined with single curly tail, double curly split tail, paddle tail, or straight tails for various actions. Grubs come in various lengths from 1″ up to 12″ and hundreds of colors combinations. The most common use for grubs is tipped on a jig, or as a trailer on an inline spinners and spinner baits. Grubs are also popular to fish using a drop shot rig, split shot rig and Carolina rigs.

Bait Fish

Soft plastic bait fish come in numerous sizes and colors to mimic forage fish. Determine what bait fish are in the waters you’re fishing and select a profile size and color to match, for a natural presentation. Usually the smaller the better. Many soft plastic bait fish baits feature a paddle tail that wiggles when retrieved, but others have curly tails and forked tails that give them swimming action. Fishing soft plastic bait fish imitations are an excellent choice jigged along the bottom or brought in on a straight retrieve.

Tubes

Tubes are rounded hollow soft plastic bodied bait open-ended with a series of tentacles on the base. The main body is usually smooth but some have a ribbed exterior. The interior hollow design works well with holding liquid or paste scents. Tubes range in sizes from 1″-2″ for perch 3″-6″ for walleye and up to 14″ for big pike. Most often tubes are rigged using a weighted tube jig placed within the tube’s body or to make a tube weedless anglers use a wide gap hook threading it through the nose and securing the hook into the body on the outer wall of the tube. Upon casting a tube it will display a spiral action on the fall with the tentacles undulating providing an injured bait fish look, in jigging the tube off the bottom it will appear as a crawfish imitation especially good for feeding walleye. Tubes can be rigged as bait using a Texas Rig, Carolina Rig, or on a drop shot rig.

Crawfish

The soft plastic crawfish or crawdad is a deadly on walleye at certain times and when presented along rocky bottom area’s. The main feature of an imitation crawfish is the pinchers when tipped on a jig it gives the bait a realistic defensive posture by raising its claws that sends bass a signal to feed. Crawfish soft plastic’s are available from craw trailers to the highly detailed featuring pinchers, antennae, legs, abdomen and tail.

Lizards

Although not widely used for walleye these have been known to catch walleye at certain times during the summer.   Lizards come is a wide variety of colors, scents, ribbed, smooth, floating and sinking. The most common fishing techniques are similar to fishing plastic worms, using Texas and Carolina rigs or tipped on a jig for flipping and pitching.

Leeches & Reepers

Leeches and reapers are a basic variation of a soft plastic grub, rounded head and body leading to a soft thin membrane sides. The smaller reapers resemble a leech while the larger reapers mimic bait fish. The sizes start from 3″ for walleye and bass up to 12″ for pike. Most anglers rig a leech/reaper tipped on a jig head inserting the hook through the head or use a split shot rig and a single hook. Reapers are a good bait to use on waters that receive a high amount of angling pressure.

Frogs

Using a floating soft plastic frog around heavy weeds for pike is exhilarating as the pike comes out of the water and gulps your lure. The advantages of soft-plastic surface frogs are, they are weedless with the hooks positioned against the body, they feel natural with their soft spongy body, so the bass will hang on to the lure longer giving more time for the angler to set the hook. The best fishing tip we can offer while using a top water frog is fish slow. After a cast let the frog sit until the ripples subside now pop or twitch the frog once or twice, then let the frog sit for a few seconds and repeat. To change-up the presentation upon reaching weed pocket or opening let the frog sit and just barely twitch the frog so just the legs quiver. Summertime pike laying in the weeds aren’t active at these times, but can be enticed by an easy meal.

Magnum

From the 1950’s through the 1970’s the soft plastic bait industry was focused on worms and grubs used for walleye. That changed in the 1980’s when small basement lure companies started producing larger soft plastic lures designed for pike. This spawned a revolution in the 1990’s regarding the soft plastic lure market as larger companies began taking notice and adding larger soft plastic baits to their product line. Today there are hundreds of variations, colors, combinations of hard bodied soft tail baits, some even weighing 1 lb and 15 inches in length. Fishing with super sized soft plastic’s opened a new chapter and presentation for pike anglers throughout the world.

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WALLEYE – Lures & Baits

To get a fish to bite, you need to know how, where, whe­n, and what it eats.

Walleye are most active in morning and evening. They feed on small yellow perch, small northern pike, lake herring, other small bait fish and you can often find them around schools of these smaller fish. They eat a lot, they’re aggressive, and they’re not picky, which is good news for you. Because walleye eat by sucking in water around their prey, you’ll probably want to try smaller bait.

Look for walleye around submerged rocks, weedy flats, bars or other underwater barriers in the lakes.  Wawang Lake is known for all these types of great structure.

Many predators like such obstructio­ns, which help them ambush their food. Walleye locate their prey by sight, which means you’re not likely to find them in sunny waters; they retreat coyly to the shadows or the darker depths, often in groups. walleye’s strong vision also means you’ll have better luck with brightly colored lures, and you might even want to experiment with different colors.

­In the case of walleye, to seek out their location, you’ll also need to consider the time of year. Walleye like water between 55 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit, and they move to follow it. In spring and fall, you’ll find them in the shallows of lakes. In summer, they’ll be a bit deeper — though you’re not likely to find them in very deep waters (more than 50 feet).

Now that you know those basics, let’s find out how you can choose the right baits and lures.

Types of Walleye Fishing Lures

Lures are designed to mimic a fish’s natural prey, so think about­ walleye’s eating patterns and food. Lures that move quickly will attract these aggressive hunters. Additionally, lures should be similar in size to the smaller prey fish.

If you’re fishing with a jig head, choose the jig head based on water depth — the deeper the water, the heavier the head. For deeper walleye fishing, you’ll want a jig head of about ½ ounce. In shallower waters, you can go as light as a 1/8-ounce jig head. If conditions are rough or windy, a heavier jig can help.

Depending on the time of year, you may want something that sticks close to the bottom, like a small but heavy jig (with a lead head) or a crank bait.   If you go with a crank bait, again, choose one that mimics walleye’s natural prey — narrow, and between three and five inches long.

In various fishing conditions, you might want to try:

• High-action lures:  designed to go deep (especially in warmer months)
• Crank baits:  such as shad raps, jointed shad raps, or glass shad raps (with built-in rattles)
• A balsa lure: such as a rapala
• Live bait jigs: (for casting or trolling at the beginning of the fall season)
• A #3 or #4 spinner
• Trolling crank baits with more subtle action (better for the colder months

Finally, you can key your color choice to the sort of water you’ll be fishing. Use brighter colors for weedy or muddy waters.

Obviously, your bait depends on your choice of lure, as well as the fishing conditions. Read on.

Types of Walleye Fishing Baits

Remember that walleye’s behavior and location chan­ges seasonally — so, the b­ait that worked so well at the beginning of September might not be the best one for May. Come prepared to try a few different kinds of baits, and remember that every angler works by trial and error.

When the weather is cold, you may find the best results with live bait. In cold water, walleye are sluggish. The movement of live bait will likely be most effective at stimulating them to bite. Walleye are more aggressive in warmer weather, and that can sometimes let you get away with plastic bait, especially plastic worms.   But many anglers swear by minnows year-round.

If you’re using a live bait jig, try minnows, worms, leeches or red tail chub. With a spinner, try a piece of worm.

One approach you may want to explore is coordinating your bait fish to whatever is schooling in the water. If you see a school of perch, for example, walleye are probably feeding close by, so use a perch colored lure tipped with live bait. Then let your jig drop a few feet at a time, the better to imitate the movement of the bait fish.   Obviously, this requires a bit more observation, flexibility and patience on your part. But isn’t that why you go fishing in the first place?

WEATHER TIP
Try to time your walleye fishing expedition so that it’s not coming right after a particularly cold snap. You can often have good luck during the turnover — the time when the weather is getting colder — because walleye follow their food into shallower waters, and often into less protected areas. But a particularly cold snap changes a lake’s temperature patterns so dramatically that it tends to put walleye into hiding until they’ve adjusted. Gradual changes are likely to offer better fishing

How To Cook Walleye
Now that you know how walleye eat, it’s time to learn how you can eat walleye. Walleye makes for a delicious meal, and depending on the preparation, it can be quite healthful as well. Try grilling walleye with fruit chutney, horseradish or pesto for a low-fat entrée. You can also bake, broil, fry, smoke or blacken walleye. Walleye is flavorful on its own, so you don’t need to do anything elaborate or complicated. Take a look at sites for walleye recipe suggestions — and don’t forget to clean the fish before cooking!

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FISHING with Soft Plastics

The evolution of soft plastic baits has greatly advanced over the years virtually giving anglers a wide variety and selection for all game fish. Soft plastics offer many advantages over hard bodied lures such as crank baits and spoons that does not have the soft texture as real food. When a fish strikes a soft plastic bait it feels natural so fish will mouth it longer giving the angler extra time to set the hook. In making soft bait’s the plastic is heated into a liquid form then poured in a mold to replicate the shape, grub, worm, bait fish, crawfish, lizard, frogs, and insects. During the bait making process additional ingredients can be added to appeal to the fish’s senses such as, scents, layered colors, metal flakes, and flavors. Other significant details of soft baits today in manufacturing is to add life-like realistic features like crescent rings on worms and grubs, floating claws on crawfish, web feet and feelers on amphibians, holographic and translucent flash on shad and minnow baits replicating the scales of british.
Other benefits in fishing with soft plastics are rigging the hook, the point can be buried into the body of the bait where it cannot snag underwater obstructions such as dense weeds, rocks, brush and logs, but yet the hook will penetrate through the soft bait when you set the hook. Another is scents, they can be treated with bottled-paste attractants or purchase them already molded in. Soft plastic’s will hold scents much longer than hard bodied lures that wash off quickly.

Fishing Set-ups with Soft Plastic’s

In casting or vertical jigging the smallest soft plastic lures for perch use ultra light spinning gear spooled with 4-6lb test monofilament. Species such as walleye  with a mid-sized plastic’s use a medium light to medium spinning gear with 6-10 lb test monofilament. In using larger plastic’s with hooks buried into the bait that requires a strong hook set for large mouth bass and northern pike use medium to medium heavy bait casting gear spooled with 14 to 20lb test low stretch monofilament line. For pike that have the largest plastic’s up to and over 1lb use heavy to extra heavy bait casting gear spooled with 50 to 80lb low stretch abrasion resistance braided line. Many rod manufactures specializes in making powerful fast action rods dedicated for soft plastic fishing.
The popular use by anglers of soft plastics has skyrocketed over the years by the increased number of new products introduced annually by lure companies this is evident with fishing tackle pro shops in store displays, catalog pages for online and print buyers guides.

As a reference listed below are a few of the most commonly used soft plastics in order to help you identify each type.

Worms

The invention of the plastic worm spawned more variations of soft plastic baits than any other in fishing lure history. Grubs, jerk worms, crawfish, tubes, lizards, swim/bait fish all were developed based on the introduction of the soft plastic worm technology back in 1949 by a Ohio lure maker. Worms come in sizes from a few inches for perch up to 12 inches for walleye and pike. The types ( floating and sinking) and the colors of worms made today are in hundreds of thousands with the multitude of color variations and scents. The main fish attracting action components of worms are the texture (ringed, ribbed or smooth) affecting the sink rate and the tail (ribbon, twister, paddle, or straight) which provides vibrations when the worm is moved. In rigging a worm, there are two options pre-rigged with a hook or series of hooks, or using a Texas rig the most common, Carolina rig, wacky rig and the drop shot rig.

Grubs

Fishing with soft plastic grubs has been a longtime favorite among anglers for all species. Grubs are composed of soft plastic round body either ringed, ribbed or smooth, combined with single curly tail, double curly split tail, paddle tail, or straight tails for various actions. Grubs come in various lengths from 1″ up to 12″ and hundreds of colors combinations. The most common use for grubs is tipped on a jig, or as a trailer on an inline spinners and spinner baits. Grubs are also popular to fish using a drop shot rig, split shot rig and Carolina rigs.

Bait Fish

Soft plastic bait fish come in numerous sizes and colors to mimic forage fish. Determine what bait fish are in the waters you’re fishing and select a profile size and color to match, for a natural presentation. Usually the smaller the better. Many soft plastic bait fish baits feature a paddle tail that wiggles when retrieved, but others have curly tails and forked tails that give them swimming action. Fishing soft plastic bait fish imitations are an excellent choice jigged along the bottom or brought in on a straight retrieve.

Tubes

Tubes are rounded hollow soft plastic bodied bait open-ended with a series of tentacles on the base. The main body is usually smooth but some have a ribbed exterior. The interior hollow design works well with holding liquid or paste scents. Tubes range in sizes from 1″-2″ for perch 3″-6″ for walleye and up to 14″ for big pike. Most often tubes are rigged using a weighted tube jig placed within the tube’s body or to make a tube weedless anglers use a wide gap hook threading it through the nose and securing the hook into the body on the outer wall of the tube. Upon casting a tube it will display a spiral action on the fall with the tentacles undulating providing an injured bait fish look, in jigging the tube off the bottom it will appear as a crawfish imitation especially good for feeding walleye. Tubes can be rigged as bait using a Texas Rig, Carolina Rig, or on a drop shot rig.

Crawfish

The soft plastic crawfish or crawdad is a deadly on walleye at certain times and when presented along rocky bottom area’s. The main feature of an imitation crawfish is the pinchers when tipped on a jig it gives the bait a realistic defensive posture by raising its claws that sends bass a signal to feed. Crawfish soft plastic’s are available from craw trailers to the highly detailed featuring pinchers, antennae, legs, abdomen and tail.

Lizards

Although not widely used for walleye these have been known to catch walleye at certain times during the summer.   Lizards come is a wide variety of colors, scents, ribbed, smooth, floating and sinking. The most common fishing techniques are similar to fishing plastic worms, using Texas and Carolina rigs or tipped on a jig for flipping and pitching.

Leeches & Reepers

Leeches and reapers are a basic variation of a soft plastic grub, rounded head and body leading to a soft thin membrane sides. The smaller reapers resemble a leech while the larger reapers mimic bait fish. The sizes start from 3″ for walleye and bass up to 12″ for pike. Most anglers rig a leech/reaper tipped on a jig head inserting the hook through the head or use a split shot rig and a single hook. Reapers are a good bait to use on waters that receive a high amount of angling pressure.

Frogs

Using a floating soft plastic frog around heavy weeds for pike is exhilarating as the pike comes out of the water and gulps your lure. The advantages of soft-plastic surface frogs are, they are weedless with the hooks positioned against the body, they feel natural with their soft spongy body, so the bass will hang on to the lure longer giving more time for the angler to set the hook. The best fishing tip we can offer while using a top water frog is fish slow. After a cast let the frog sit until the ripples subside now pop or twitch the frog once or twice, then let the frog sit for a few seconds and repeat. To change-up the presentation upon reaching weed pocket or opening let the frog sit and just barely twitch the frog so just the legs quiver. Summertime pike laying in the weeds aren’t active at these times, but can be enticed by an easy meal.

Magnum

From the 1950’s through the 1970’s the soft plastic bait industry was focused on worms and grubs used for walleye. That changed in the 1980’s when small basement lure companies started producing larger soft plastic lures designed for pike. This spawned a revolution in the 1990’s regarding the soft plastic lure market as larger companies began taking notice and adding larger soft plastic baits to their product line. Today there are hundreds of variations, colors, combinations of hard bodied soft tail baits, some even weighing 1 lb and 15 inches in length. Fishing with super sized soft plastic’s opened a new chapter and presentation for pike anglers throughout the world.

Follow our HUNTING BLOG

WEB   RATES     FISH    HUNT    CABINS    PHOTOS
TESTIMONIALS    BROCHURE    HUNT BOOKLET

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

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WALLEYE – Lures & Baits

To get a fish to bite, you need to know how, where, whe­n, and what it eats.

Walleye are most active in morning and evening. They feed on small yellow perch, small northern pike, lake herring, other small bait fish and you can often find them around schools of these smaller fish. They eat a lot, they’re aggressive, and they’re not picky, which is good news for you. Because walleye eat by sucking in water around their prey, you’ll probably want to try smaller bait.

Look for walleye around submerged rocks, weedy flats, bars or other underwater barriers in the lakes.  Wawang Lake is known for all these types of great structure.

Many predators like such obstructio­ns, which help them ambush their food. Walleye locate their prey by sight, which means you’re not likely to find them in sunny waters; they retreat coyly to the shadows or the darker depths, often in groups. walleye’s strong vision also means you’ll have better luck with brightly colored lures, and you might even want to experiment with different colors.

­In the case of walleye, to seek out their location, you’ll also need to consider the time of year. Walleye like water between 55 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit, and they move to follow it. In spring and fall, you’ll find them in the shallows of lakes. In summer, they’ll be a bit deeper — though you’re not likely to find them in very deep waters (more than 50 feet).

Now that you know those basics, let’s find out how you can choose the right baits and lures.

Types of Walleye Fishing Lures

Lures are designed to mimic a fish’s natural prey, so think about­ walleye’s eating patterns and food. Lures that move quickly will attract these aggressive hunters. Additionally, lures should be similar in size to the smaller prey fish.

If you’re fishing with a jig head, choose the jig head based on water depth — the deeper the water, the heavier the head. For deeper walleye fishing, you’ll want a jig head of about ½ ounce. In shallower waters, you can go as light as a 1/8-ounce jig head. If conditions are rough or windy, a heavier jig can help.

Depending on the time of year, you may want something that sticks close to the bottom, like a small but heavy jig (with a lead head) or a crank bait.   If you go with a crank bait, again, choose one that mimics walleye’s natural prey — narrow, and between three and five inches long.

In various fishing conditions, you might want to try:

• High-action lures:  designed to go deep (especially in warmer months)
• Crank baits:  such as shad raps, jointed shad raps, or glass shad raps (with built-in rattles)
• A balsa lure: such as a rapala
• Live bait jigs: (for casting or trolling at the beginning of the fall season)
• A #3 or #4 spinner
• Trolling crank baits with more subtle action (better for the colder months

Finally, you can key your color choice to the sort of water you’ll be fishing. Use brighter colors for weedy or muddy waters.

Obviously, your bait depends on your choice of lure, as well as the fishing conditions. Read on.

Types of Walleye Fishing Baits

Remember that walleye’s behavior and location chan­ges seasonally — so, the b­ait that worked so well at the beginning of September might not be the best one for May. Come prepared to try a few different kinds of baits, and remember that every angler works by trial and error.

When the weather is cold, you may find the best results with live bait. In cold water, walleye are sluggish. The movement of live bait will likely be most effective at stimulating them to bite. Walleye are more aggressive in warmer weather, and that can sometimes let you get away with plastic bait, especially plastic worms.   But many anglers swear by minnows year-round.

If you’re using a live bait jig, try minnows, worms, leeches or red tail chub. With a spinner, try a piece of worm.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

One approach you may want to explore is coordinating your bait fish to whatever is schooling in the water. If you see a school of perch, for example, walleye are probably feeding close by, so use a perch colored lure tipped with live bait. Then let your jig drop a few feet at a time, the better to imitate the movement of the bait fish.   Obviously, this requires a bit more observation, flexibility and patience on your part. But isn’t that why you go fishing in the first place?

WEATHER TIP
Try to time your walleye fishing expedition so that it’s not coming right after a particularly cold snap. You can often have good luck during the turnover — the time when the weather is getting colder — because walleye follow their food into shallower waters, and often into less protected areas. But a particularly cold snap changes a lake’s temperature patterns so dramatically that it tends to put walleye into hiding until they’ve adjusted. Gradual changes are likely to offer better fishing

How To Cook Walleye
Now that you know how walleye eat, it’s time to learn how you can eat walleye. Walleye makes for a delicious meal, and depending on the preparation, it can be quite healthful as well. Try grilling walleye with fruit chutney, horseradish or pesto for a low-fat entrée. You can also bake, broil, fry, smoke or blacken walleye. Walleye is flavorful on its own, so you don’t need to do anything elaborate or complicated. Take a look at sites for walleye recipe suggestions — and don’t forget to clean the fish before cooking!

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WALLEYE Lures and Baits

To get a fish to bite, you need to know how, where, whe­n, and what it eats.

Exciting trophy walleye fishing at Wawang Lake – NW Ontario

Walleye are most active in morning and evening. They feed on small yellow perch, small northern pike, lake herring, other small bait fish and you can often find them around schools of these smaller fish. They eat a lot, they’re aggressive, and they’re not picky, which is good news for you. Because walleye eat by sucking in water around their prey, you’ll probably want to try smaller bait.

Look for walleye around submerged rocks, weedy flats, bars or other underwater barriers in the lakes.  Wawang Lake is known for all these types of great structure.

Many predators like such obstructio­ns, which help them ambush their food. Walleye locate their prey by sight, which means you’re not likely to find them in sunny waters; they retreat coyly to the shadows or the darker depths, often in groups. walleye’s strong vision also means you’ll have better luck with brightly colored lures, and you might even want to experiment with different colors.

­In the case of walleye, to seek out their location, you’ll also need to consider the time of year. Walleye like water between 55 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit, and they move to follow it. In spring and fall, you’ll find them in the shallows of lakes. In summer, they’ll be a bit deeper — though you’re not likely to find them in very deep waters (more than 50 feet).

Now that you know those basics, let’s find out how you can choose the right baits and lures.

Types of Walleye Fishing Lures

Lures are designed to mimic a fish’s natural prey, so think about­ walleye’s eating patterns and food. Lures that move quickly will attract these aggressive hunters. Additionally, lures should be similar in size to the smaller prey fish.

If you’re fishing with a jig head, choose the jig head based on water depth — the deeper the water, the heavier the head. For deeper walleye fishing, you’ll want a jig head of about ½ ounce. In shallower waters, you can go as light as a 1/8-ounce jig head. If conditions are rough or windy, a heavier jig can help.

Depending on the time of year, you may want something that sticks close to the bottom, like a small but heavy jig (with a lead head) or a crank bait.   If you go with a crank bait, again, choose one that mimics walleye’s natural prey — narrow, and between three and five inches long.

In various fishing conditions, you might want to try:

• High-action lures:  designed to go deep (especially in warmer months)
• Crank baits:  such as shad raps, jointed shad raps, or glass shad raps (with built-in rattles)
• A balsa lure: such as a rapala
• Live bait jigs: (for casting or trolling at the beginning of the fall season)
• A #3 or #4 spinner
• Trolling crank baits with more subtle action (better for the colder months

Finally, you can key your color choice to the sort of water you’ll be fishing. Use brighter colors for weedy or muddy waters.

Obviously, your bait depends on your choice of lure, as well as the fishing conditions. Read on.

Types of Walleye Fishing Baits

Remember that walleye’s behavior and location chan­ges seasonally — so, the b­ait that worked so well at the beginning of September might not be the best one for May. Come prepared to try a few different kinds of baits, and remember that every angler works by trial and error.

When the weather is cold, you may find the best results with live bait. In cold water, walleye are sluggish. The movement of live bait will likely be most effective at stimulating them to bite. Walleye are more aggressive in warmer weather, and that can sometimes let you get away with plastic bait, especially plastic worms.   But many anglers swear by minnows year-round.

If you’re using a live bait jig, try minnows, worms, leeches or red tail chub. With a spinner, try a piece of worm.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

One approach you may want to explore is coordinating your bait fish to whatever is schooling in the water. If you see a school of perch, for example, walleye are probably feeding close by, so use a perch colored lure tipped with live bait. Then let your jig drop a few feet at a time, the better to imitate the movement of the bait fish.   Obviously, this requires a bit more observation, flexibility and patience on your part. But isn’t that why you go fishing in the first place?

WEATHER TIP
Try to time your walleye fishing expedition so that it’s not coming right after a particularly cold snap. You can often have good luck during the turnover — the time when the weather is getting colder — because walleye follow their food into shallower waters, and often into less protected areas. But a particularly cold snap changes a lake’s temperature patterns so dramatically that it tends to put walleye into hiding until they’ve adjusted. Gradual changes are likely to offer better fishing

How To Cook Walleye
Now that you know how walleye eat, it’s time to learn how you can eat walleye. Walleye makes for a delicious meal, and depending on the preparation, it can be quite healthful as well. Try grilling walleye with fruit chutney, horseradish or pesto for a low-fat entrée. You can also bake, broil, fry, smoke or blacken walleye. Walleye is flavorful on its own, so you don’t need to do anything elaborate or complicated. Take a look at sites for walleye recipe suggestions — and don’t forget to clean the fish before cooking!

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