Across Sunset Country, walleyes are the king. More anglers visit us during the open water season to catch walleyes than any other species and throughout the winter months, while crappies, trout and pike receive some attention, way more effort is put into chasing walleyes. They are plentiful across the region, they are great eating and they are easy to catch on many waterbodies.
Over the years I’ve repeated many times that my top bait for winter walleyes is a 3/8-ounce Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon, tipped with a minnow head. Since the late 90’s, I’ve seldom used anything else but of course there are times when other baits are better. I enjoy the challenge of working a spoon to get the attention of a nearby walleye and then figuring out how to trigger them to strike with my jigging cadence.
Spoons are effective because they fit the profile of an injured minnow, they are slightly erratic when you jig them, causing a reaction strike sometimes and they are heavy so they get down quickly in deeper water. The reason for using just the minnow head to tip your spoon rather than a whole minnow is it keeps the package small and the spoon still has some natural action of its own. That being said, last week on a trip to Lake Winnipeg, we did better hooking a live minnow through the back beneath our rattling spoon and just shaking it slowly. Sometimes you just have to experiment and give the fish what they want.
There has been a trend in fishing tackle for all species over the past few years where more companies are ditching the lead and making baits with other, less-toxic materials, especially tungsten. While it’s more expensive, tungsten is unique because it is heavier than lead so baits and jig heads are becoming smaller in size, often helping to make baits look more natural. It’s also very hard, so many anglers believe you get a better return if you’re watching your bait on your electronics. Tungsten spoons are becoming more popular for ice anglers, especially those chasing walleyes. Since we don’t really lose a lot of tackle ice fishing like we do in open water, spending a few extra bucks on a bait is not as big of a hit.
The old-school jig and minnow is still popular amongst anglers because it works. A jig and minnow can be fished in all depths and is a proven walleye catcher on all bodies of water. Sometimes a certain colour can be the hot ticket, sometimes the way you attach your minnow is the secret.
Since I was a kid, my dad has seldom strayed from using a Whistler Jig when he is walleye fishing. It’s a jig with a small propeller on it for added attention. He has whipped my butt many times with that jig.
On many of the backwater lakes, where we’re fishing in shallower water than we do on the bigger lakes across the region, fishing will really heat up later in the season and I’ve seen days where a live minnow hooked through the tail and left to sit is the best method to catch walleyes.
Swimming jigs like a Jigging Rap or Puppet Minnow are also effective, especially on waterbodies where walleyes are focused on eating baitfish or if you are looking to catch slightly bigger fish. Newer models of these types of baits keep popping up every year with better swimming action and colour options.
When it comes to choosing colours, I believe it doesn’t matter all that much on most days. Often just finding the fish is the most important thing because if you aren’t putting your bait in front of some fish, you aren’t going to get any bites. That being said, we’ve all fished with friends who have a certain colour bait tied on and they get more bites some days.
On Lake of the Woods, gold has always been a top colour and I think it’s good on many of our tannic-coloured walleye lakes. In clear water I like to go with more natural white shades, while in darker water, I like to use brighter glow colours that are easy for walleyes to find. Don’t be afraid to experiment to find out what works best on the lakes that you fish.
