Walleye Tactics

[Tayreel]

Every year we ask around about whats the best way to go about hunting down walleye. What to use and where to look? One of the most common responses is just a worm harness. But you can only do so much with that information. How do you fish it what do you tip it with? Any helpful hints would be much appreciated.

[Bullelk34]

Through the ice, I like a buckshot spoon tipped with a minnow head. 20'-25' FOW is a good depth. You need to jig for them, they don't take a deadstick very well.
Good luck!

[gonehunting97]

Early ice i find eyes in 20-35 up to 50 fow and seem to do best at daylight and dusk, late ice i find them as shallow as 4-6 fow . I use a lindy rattle flyer with minnow head and do well. and normally shiners on tipups with just a good glow hook and floro leader. Don't know how to catch them here in montana but i will sure try and post what works for me.

[Mt.Bucket]

da-jiggin spoons work good.

[iceholer]

the automatic fisherman with gulp smelt work the best

[flyfish59102]

I go with the Swedish Pimple(no hook) and 4 inches of line with a minnow head jig and 1/2 a night crawler. Keep it jiggin cause the bite light. If you have minnows that works well too. Where I go I am always at 27.5 feet of water.

flyfish59102

[Cochise66]

Hard to beat the rapala puppet minnow tipped with a minnow head.

[Tayreel]

Thanks for all the tips everyone! Can't wait to give some of these tactics a whirl. Another quick question I have is when you guys say a minnow head do you guys use real minnow heads or the Gulp versions of them? Then has anyone fished much for walleyes with leeches?

[JayHelfrich]

Thanks for all the tips everyone! Can't wait to give some of these tactics a whirl. Another quick question I have is when you guys say a minnow head do you guys use real minnow heads or the Gulp versions of them? Then has anyone fished much for walleyes with leeches?

Leaches are a spring/summer time bait.  We lose our bait supply by August most years.  Use fresh dead (within minutes is the best) minnow heads for your best luck.  When we say minnow heads, it isn't just the head that is used but a minnow pinched in half above the tail and the front half used.  The tail doesn't need to be discarded as you can put both halves on the hook to sweeten the bait and put more scent in the water or used as an extra bait if the bite is on and you run out of heads.  Fresh dead minnow halves can be used in lakes where no live minnows can be used.  You can keep a bucket of live minnows in your truck (if your truck is not on the ice), in your motel room, or at home and then split the minnows in half right before you head out fishing and carry them with you in a quart ziplock freezer bag (freezer bags are stronger and seal better).  I have found that in an area that allows the use of live minnows that a if you pinch a minnow in half, put each half on 2 prongs of a #4 treble hook and a live minnow hooked just below the dorsal fin on the 3rd prong gives you all the scent and motion you need to put fish on the ice using tipups.  The minnow halves work great when jigged under a buckshot spoon, swedish pimple, or other attraction type lure.  This is effective on walleye, pike, perch, ling, and most every predatory fish.

Good luck and good fishing!

Jay

[Tayreel]

Thanks Jay,
I appreciate the full details especially. Everything from the reason why leeches wouldn't work and the exact way to fish minnows but dead or alive. Can't wait to give my luck with walleye fishing a shot! I'm sure more questions will come up as I i apply these tactics but this is a great start!

[PerchAssault]

Two time Montana Walleye Angler of the Year Bob Hickey will give 2 seminars this weekend at Snappy's discussing tip-up and walleye tactics thru the ice.

Saturday at 10:15 and Sunday at 1:00

[JayHelfrich]

Two time Montana Walleye Angler of the Year Bob Hickey will give 2 seminars this weekend at Snappy's discussing tip-up and walleye tactics thru the ice.

Saturday at 10:15 and Sunday at 1:00

I would love to come up and visit but I'll be at work in ND until the 14th.  Hope I can get a chance to fish with you this year Mike.

Jay

[fishinwithbrittanies]

There is a wealth of knowledge on this site as well.  Just go to the "walleye" page on the main forum.  I got a lot of help from people on there last year.