Best Bait for Walley?

[Bob Apple]

What is the best Bait for last week of May, Ear Falls area if that matters! For Walleye?! size of jig head and such, Color of grub, I think we can only get one kind of minnow! leader or not?

[bigbuck]

Size of the jig head depends on how deep the water is, current, etc..... Rule of thumb 1/8 of an ounce per 10 feet in relatively calm water. As for bait, you can't beat minnows. As for grubs, I've never really used them so I don't know. Colour of jig head, chartruese/orange tipped with a minnow has worked for me on 3 trips to LOTW very, very well.

 

Good luck.

[Rich]

I like yellow or white grubs during the day and black at night. Tipped with a minnow, night crawler or leech all works ... leeches are my fav in the summer but minnows seem to do better in the spring.

[trapshooter]

Don't forget that suspending minnow baits such as the x-rap and huskey jerk work very well for spring time walleye in that part of the province

 

Ultimately though, you can't beat the jig. NO LEADER! If you get bit off by a pike, re-tie. I don't even bother with a grub anymore if I have minnows, however white does work well.

 

That time of year you will be fishing relatively shallow, < 10' most of the time. The walleye will even forage in 1-3 feet of water and your best bet for getting them then is to pitch your jig/grub to shore and 'hop' it back to the boat. Watch your line and when you see it twitch, reel up the slack and set the hook.

 

Have fun.

 

ben.

[wildminnow]

so if you have acess to minnows would you rather rig them up with a hook and sinker or a jig head with say a grub trailed by the minnow?

[Zib]

To add to the other replies, if you're going to be fishing in the weeds a Lindy Fuzzy grub jig tipped with a leech is killer on walleyes. I prefer a chartruse fuzzy grub & sometimes a blue/white work good for me as well. Use the lightest jig you can get away with to get the bait down to the bottom, which will depend on the wind, waves, & current. You don't need a leader & fishing without one will catch more fish.

[beerman]

Roadrunner jigs , tipped with live bait.. Awesome bait..

[huntervasili]

as for a leader you can use fluoro... However long you want it... more abrasion resistant and almost invisable in h2o

[DrPhil]

Baits for walleye in no particular order Minnows night crawlers hellgramites frogs

[tjsa]

Best bet is to have all of those options available to you. I mostly troll except for slinging jigs in river mouths, so I use worm harnesses behind bottom bouncers almost exclusively. Never tip the jigs with anything either, mostly toss twisters. If the bite is slow, I will put on a j-11 orange floating rapala, and tow that behind the bottom bouncer.

I have used minnows in the past, and leeches(occasionally still bring them along), but we like to keep it simple for day trips, so nightcrawlers are the way we go for us.

As always, weather patterns or rapid changes between weather patterns will affect fishing. So, changing colours of jigs, or worm harnesses, crank baits, should be experimented with.

Clarity of the water will also be a factor.

A bud of ours outfished us 5-1 one time, because we went to a very clear lake opening weekend, and he had a couple of dark purple harnesses with a couple of red beads on it. Must have resembled a leech pattern.

We had nothing close to that colour, lol. He landed his limit, and a couple more, we only got one each which we released because they were only 10 inches long.

And as trapshooter said, do not be afraid to get shallow, especially along windblown weed edges in stained water. Chuck jigs into the larger open areas in the weeds, and troll or drift along the weed edge tight. Have done really well on a few lakes doing that also.

Heck, we have had our bouncers banging into the weeds hard, and even towing them along, and the walleye still hit.

Ultimately, the fish decide what is the best pattern, you gotta spend the time you have trying different things to find out what they want.

[Hookset]

And after you do get into a school of them real good, switch up to a medium or larger size crankbait for a few casts at least. Chances are you will entice the biggest 'eye in the school out to play. Anywhere in the area (Ear Falls) you will be fishing should produce lots of Walleye though. A good friend of mine lived there for years working for Ont. Hydro. He says the lakes are "polluted" with 'eyes. Have a blast, I'm envious.

 

Hookset.

[GbayGiant]

I usually drift or troll slow as possible a worm harness with minnow that time of year (depends how warm the water is) once I find a fish I'll stop and cast jigs tipped with a minnow and a stinger hook will increase your hook ups, if I get another one with a jig I stay and cover the area.

 

I find they are the most aggressive at this time of year and will usually eat plastic all the same if you like that, crank baits, small spoons, small in-line spinners, jerk baits and even top waters have worked for me in May but a minnow is my go to spring and fall summer worms and leeches..

[fishindevil]

Also the one and only mepps #3 black fury with worm wrapped around the hook, as well as dunking a jig in the weed pockets or slip-floating for them,and if you really want to get picky you can drop-shot for them..as you can see know from all the replies there are many ways to catch those ever so-tasty walleyes good-luck cheers

[terzaghi]

Gulp works wonders. I have caught many limits of walleye on 4" minnow, smelt color. Theres also finns plastics. Blue\white jig heads have been working here in the Detroit river. We use chartreuse jigs and body's if the waters dirty. The only time I get live bait is for ice fishing!

 

These fish were caught on a 3/4 oz jig, 4" berkley gulp minnow smelt colored.

Edited April 21, 2007 by terzaghi

[ch312]

up near tenagami a feww years ago i caught 30+ walleye before lunch on a slip floay and worms off a dock when the wind was blwoing towards the dock. when i cast right at the egde of the algae id have one hooked after 15 seconds every time. i would have never thought id be catching 5lb+ walleye off a dock but it was awesome. when the algae moved out, so did the fish....

 

my point is, dont be scared to fish like a "kid", it often produces alot of nice fish