Bass are notorious for cruising the weed edge in search of an easy meal. Actually, bass will dominate the weed edge and even chase down prey regardless of how hungry they are. Bass can be bullies and bass will pound a presentation that crosses their path. Weed edge fishing makes things easy for not only locating bass, but for getting bit more than once.

Locating the right weed edge can be half the battle. You want to focus on areas where deep water is available. You also want to pay attention to what type of weeds are available. Areas with more than one mix of weeds can be very productive. Variance in weed type gives the bass more reasons so stay. It provides an abundance of prey species as well as oxygen and cover.

Other characteristics of prime weed edges include underwater points and inside turns, rocky areas amongst the weeds, and pockets or patches of weeds. Weed patches out from the weed edge can be very productive when honing in on schooling bass. These patches serve as spots where cruising bass can stop and relocate. It’s not uncommon to pull several fish off one small piece of structure when targeting fish on weed patches.

Outside of the weed patches it’s important to also pay attention to pockets in the weeds. These areas will offer bass a chance to ambush their prey, as well as a place where they can catch some rays. Bass like the feel of the warm sun on occasion. This is one of the reasons why we see a lot of bass cruising shallow flats when the sun is high. Besides the sun and ambush feedings, bass also see these pockets as weed edges in side the weed edges. Look at is as a spot-on-the-spot if you will. These open pockets, or sparse areas, are excellent areas to focus in on.

Rocky areas along the weed edge are some of the better spots available to bass anglers. We all know that areas where bottom composition changes can provide outstanding opportunities for fishing. Rocks are like a magnet for baitfish, crawfish, insects, prey of all types, and you can bet bass will follow. The temperature around rocky areas is also more appealing to bass, so comfort plays a role as well.

Inside turns and underwater points are probably two of the more productive spots for weed orientated bass. These areas are very appealing to bass and are considered long-term stopping points for bass that cruise the weed edge. Underwater points and inside turns serve as bass oases where they will school up and feed. These prime spots can be found on most lakes where a distinct weed edge is present. As one of the most prominent pieces of structure on a given lake, these spots will kick out a lot of fish. Inside turns trap baitfish and will definitely provide a home for hungry bass.

Outside of the many spots available to weed edge anglers, you still have to find a way to catch the bass using them. Jig-worm, jigs, drop-shots, crank-baits, spinner-baits… these are all examples of ways to target weed edge bass. Case-in-point here—bass will feed on the weed edge and sometimes it doesn’t matter the presentation. Finding the fish is oftentimes the name of the game, but if you’re looking for a few top options for catching these fish then here goes…

Jig-worming these fish can be very effective. Using more natural colors like watermelons, pumpkins, browns, blues, etc, can give you an upper hand. Yes, bright colors have their place and time, but amongst weeds it’s important to focus on the natural surrounding and do your best to mimic it. Ribbon-tail worms, stick-worms or even grubs can work. Have an assortment of colors and sizes and stick to it.

Tossing a jig along the weed edge is no new secret, but it works wonders and allows you to really hone in on pockets with a more accurate cast. Creature baits are good options when jigging, as are your standard variety of jigs or jig’n’pigs. These baits have won countless tournaments in years past and it’s safe to say you’ll see these presentations in line-ups for years to come.

One last technique we’ll touch on is the spinner-bait and crank-bait. These techniques are excellent for covering a lot of water and searching for fish. If fish are schooling out from the weed edge then a crank-bait can be the ticket. Tossing a spinner-bait into the sparse weed edge can work wonders at times too. The key here is to have a variety of crank-baits and spinner-baits along with you when targeting these weed edges bass.

Weed edge bass can provide constant action. Locating the right spot on the weed edge is first and foremost. After locating a few prime spots then it’s time to start finding the schools. After a school is found then it’s only a matter of time until you find yourself smack-dab in the middle of a bass fishing flurry!

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

***Matt owns and operates Matt Johnson Outdoors (www.mattjohnsonoutdoors.com) where he provides guided fishing trips all year round.

The night before the tournament the weather turned ugly, high winds, rain and tornado warnings. When we got up in the morning it wasn’t much better. Launch was at 7a.m. and weigh-in at 3 p.m. We were boat number 5 out in a 40-boat field.

Staying with our game plan we started in Lower Gar, by pitching black/blue ½-ounce Bitsy Flips and black/blue tubes to wood. Or swimming black/blue jigs along rocky shorelines. We stayed in Lower Gar for a couple of hours and left with five fish in the well. We did drop one fish.

Moved from Lower Gar to Minnewashta Lake and spent an hour pitching docks with no bites. From Minnewashta we moved into West Okoboji and checked on a small bay that had been holding fish. There were about five tournament boats in the front half of the bay, we moved to the far back of the bay; which had been holding the most fish. The back end of the bay looked like chocolate milk, at first I thought it was from all the rain run-off, but the creek flowing into the bay was running clear. I think it was from a massive migration of carp to the back of the bay as the water was in that 69/70-degree range for a couple of days. Mike did get one non-measure fish out of the creek.

Next move was to the north end of West Okoboji and the rock bars. We chased smallies up on the north end for a couple of hours with nothing to show for it. We then transitioned to the docks on the north end that had been holding fish, we were able to up-grade a couple of fish off the docks, which helped. We did drop what Mike thought was a good fish off one of those docks.

We moved back down the lake to Millers Bay and ran a series of docks looking for one good fish, we did get a good up-grade off these docks.

Time ran out, leaving us with a five fish limit, but one of them was a 15-inch fish. We did not have enough time to upgrade that one small fish. Our total weight for the day was 14.52-pounds, which put us in 12^th place out of forty boats. The winning weight was 18.74-pounds and the big bass of the day weighed in at 5.58-pounds.

Well, that’s it. If you get a chance to fish the Okoboji chain, by all means take it. It’s a fun lake to fish in the spring, before it gets too busy. The next report should be right after the Minnesota bass opener. I have a local tournament and regional tournament that next week.

The Alexandria, Mn area is home to a lot of very productive lakes, but these lakes also see a lot of pressure. Anglers in the area travel from hot lake to hot lake seemingly like locusts, but for area guide Joe Scegura, it is all just part of the game. Like a dealer at a 3-card Monte table, Joe always seems to pull another great fishing spot from out of nowhere. His secret? “I always keep detailed logs of where I have found good fishing, and in time go back to those notes to refind lost gems.”

Logs are a detailed part of any consistently successful angler’s tools. These can range from the more advanced, such as spreadsheets or Word documents, to something much more simple, “Heck, I keep notes on my calendars,” says Scegura, “Every time I get back from a trip, I write down conditions, what lakes I hit, and presentations that worked for me that day.” Another thing that many anglers do is to add GPS coordinates to their notes; this can help you track fish movement from season to season, and even from day to day. Since the weather in our area of the country isn’t exactly known to be consistent, water temperature data in your logs can really help pin down fish movement from year to year. Depending on the forage base available for fish, this recovery can happen in as little as 2-3 years, but in some lakes it can take up to 8-10 years. Detailed notes with dates that a lake is producing can help narrow down where you should fish. If you haven’t done so already, start keeping a fishing log, whether it be on your computer or handwritten, and be honest with yourself. If you exaggerate and write that you were catching 13” crappies, when in reality they were at best 11” you are only hurting yourself, this is where an accurate measuring tool such as a Fish Trough can help you keep accurate records. When you put a fish on the board, there is no ‘fudge factor’.

Another great source for filling the backlogs of your notes if you are just getting started is internet forums. There are a lot of great reports available, and they are updated every day, if not from hour to hour from a variety of sources. Doing a search a few years back on some of these forums can lead you to some very successful spots to try. The surprising thing with most anglers, especially the ones that follow the hot bite around, is that they have a very short memory. So by keeping a record of what the ‘flavor of the month’ is, you can have a great lake almost to yourself after the masses have forgotten about it.

“The funny thing is,” explains Scegura, “is that many times when fisherman think a lake is fished out, often the fish are just retreating to another spot on the body of water due to commotion. Lakes that produce year after year have places for these fish to retreat once the army of anglers arrives. They don’t have to be especially large lakes, but if they have a place to get away from the commotion and the pressure the fish will often survive the onslaught and can be caught in subsequent years” So you shouldn’t always assume that just because the fishing has slowed that the fish have all gone home to fill freezers. Often, they have simply moved due to the amount of pressure, and noise, which is created by a large amount of anglers congregated in an area for an extended period of time.

Joe conducts what he calls ‘spot-checks’ on lakes in his logs, “often I can gauge how hard a lake has been hit or how quickly it is recovering pretty quickly. It doesn’t take too long to dump the boat in a lake and hit a couple spots to see what the size structure is like before I head off to a new place.” By periodically checking his lakes, he is able to find out how hard the fish population was decimated and set a timeline for when the lake will start producing quality fish again for him to put his clients on. “Generally you are looking at a five to seven year turnaround for a lake that has been hit pretty hard; however lakes with those escape areas can recover a lot faster,” states Joe “but it really depends on the quality of the forage available to the fish. If the lake isn’t known for fast-growing panfish, it can take longer for them to recover. Conversely, a lake that is well known for producing bruiser panfish may recover much quicker due to a better forage base. I have also seen spots that anglers think the fish are gone, when in reality it is because there is just so much food available that they won’t bother with most presentations because they are full. This can happen from an insect hatch or even a boom in a minnow population.”

There are also lakes that are known for only providing good bites during certain times of the year, “Lake Osakis is one that really sticks out in my mind,” Joe explains, “No matter how hard it is hit, the lake only seems to produce numbers of quality fish at certain times of the year.” Other lakes can follow this pattern as well. One of my favorite lakes, (although, I am a bit biased since I have been fishing it since I was 5) only produces trophy caliber fish during early ice and spring. Though neither Joe nor I really understand why this happens, it is something you truly cannot avoid, “your best bet is still to look at your past logs and find out when the fish were biting, what they were biting on, and where.”

The next key for conducting spot-checks of your own lakes is your past water temperature logs. “Obviously lakes with darker water heat up faster after ice out, so temperature readings become vital for really tracking the fish,” adds Scegura, “even shallower bays with dark bottoms can really heat the water up more than the rest of a lake. So it pays to keep your temperature recordings according to location.” In darker waters it can be more difficult to conduct your spot-checks. This is when Joe uses a flashy presentation, “I like to throw something big and bright to really get their attention. I am trying to move through areas quickly to gauge the population and size structure, so a bait like the Lindy Watsit Spin or a Dancin’ Crappie Spin Jig really help get their attention and get them to commit. The sizes of these baits also lets me select for larger fish in the school and lets me know what the larger-sized fish population is like, which is what I am really after.”

Don’t give up on your old hotspots, these gems held great fish for you in the past and they are capable of doing the same in the future. Just don’t forget the lessons Joe Scegura has learned over many years of guiding in a populated area: 1.) A good memory or good logs are your best friend. Wait till the hype dies down about the bite and hit it again. Keep going out there and keep tabs on how the fish population is recovering. 2.) Know how good the forage is in the lakes you are fishing. The better the forage available, the quicker the fish will recover from heavy pressure. 3.) Keep it to yourself! A great panfish bite is harder and harder to come by these days. Going out and bragging to everyone in earshot about the great fishing you had on Lake X will only end with the demise of your bite.

Joe Scegura’s Guide Service offers guided fishing trips across Central Minnesota, primarily on Alexandria area lakes, Mille Lacs Lake, and the northern part of the Mississippi River. Joe can be reached through his website at www.jsguideservice.com

The predominant summer pattern is trolling basin areas with crankbaits and is super effective way to cover water and put fish in the boat. There is more than one way to get it done but hands down the top method includes the use of downriggers to get the baits running at the right depth. You can do the same thing with leadcore line or even by attaching snap weights to your line ahead of the lure but downriggers like my Cannon Mag10s are fast, and are the quickest way to get a bait down and running right at a specific speed. They have an electric motor that lowers and raises a lead ball attached to a steel cable. The ball has a release attached to the tail end which is pinched on the line ahead of the lure. You can vary the length of line you put out but fifty feet or so is a good place to start. From there you release line from your reel while the ball is being lowered to the desired depth, realizing that your crankbait will run deeper than the depth of the ball. It’s a bit of a guessing game and takes a little tinkering to get to the right running depth but with slight adjustments up or down you’ll soon know if you have it right. Once you get the ball down you then reel up the slack until the line gets fairly tight and the rod starts to load up to the point that the line almost pulls out of the release. You will pull it out the first time or two but with the speed of the Mag10’s you can be re-attached and back down in seconds. At that point it’s a matter of trolling through what seems like endless schools of fish while waiting for the rods to snap up after a fish has pulled the line loose from the release. If you’ve trolled long enough without any lines tripping there’s a good chance you’re fowled with small fish, little sauger that are basically everywhere. They’ll hook up and drag along and you won’t even know they’re there until you do a bait check. A key to identifying the small stuff is to attach the release shallow, so it barely holds the resistance of the crankbait without completely letting go.

A trip last August out of Baudette, Minnesota found us north and west of Pine Island in approximately 30 feet of water and there were groups of boats working basin fish in several different directions. The groups can give you a good idea of where to start but finding fish that you can have to yourself can be more productive and more fulfilling. Although we started our trip out where friends had been successful just the day before; it didn’t take long to figure out that there was fish almost everywhere. My Humminbird 1197 was marking fish constantly and we were never out of good solid marks. The thing is even though we were constantly marking the fish they weren’t always biting and it took some moves to find the biters. A move of a couple miles that put us closer to the Canadian border paid off big time and the result could be best described as shooting fish in a barrel. It didn’t take long to fill out with beautiful walleyes that were just under the protected slot as well as a few in the twenty four to twenty six inch range that were released. We were also able to get our saugers which ran from fifteen to seventeen inches.

The most productive baits tend to run small and include #5 Shad Raps, Glass Raps, and Jointed Shad Raps in a variety of colors. Chrome, blue, firetiger as well as several other patterns all produced and seemed to change in relationship to the sun being out or behind the clouds so don’t be afraid to change it up if they aren’t popping.

Lake of the Woods is an incredible fishery that continues to be good year after year. Even with all of the pressure it receives the numbers and size remains fairly constant and why it’s a top summer time destination. See you on the water.

Started pre-fishing on day two in the east lakes of the Okoboji chain. The east side of the Okoboji chain is made up of East Okoboji, Upper Gar, Minnewashta and Lower Gar. The east side chain is shallow and has stained to muddy water. The day started out sunny, but windy and stayed that way the whole day.

Started on Lower Gar, which has a maximum depth of 5 to 6-feet. This lake is shallow and muddy, but can hold big fish in the spring. Water temperatures even in the morning were already in that 66/67-degree range. With the windy conditions I started throwing crank-baits, a Strike King 2.5 and a Red Eye Shad. The bite was fast and furious, but the fish were all small, less than the 15-inch minimum length limit.

About the time I was beginning to wonder if there were any quality fish in Lower Gar, Mike Daloia called.  Mike was up in Upper Gar pitching docks and said he had just caught two 17-inch fish on a blue/black tube in less than 1-foot of water. I didn’t have a tube rigged, but did have a blue/black ½-ounce Bitsy Flip with a Rage Craw rigged. The first set of docks produced a big “zero” for me. As I was scooting along towards the next group of docks I started just swimming the Bitsy Bug along the rocks. About three casts into the move I just about had the rod taken out of my hands by a fish, which turned out to be the biggest fish of the day for me. The next set of docks again produced zero bites, but the rocks between that set again produced a good fish.

What started as a frustrating pre-fish day, just got a lot better as I slowly built a pattern based on swimming jigs on shallow windy rock shorelines in muddy water and pitching a jig/pig to any wood in the water, no matter how small the wood was. While Mike was catching fish off docks in Upper Gar and Minnewashta, to save my soul I couldn’t get a bite off a dock in Lower Gar.

The remainder of day two pre-fishing was spent in East Okoboji, checking out brush piles we have fished for a number of years and cranking some rocks for smallies. I caught some fish doing both, but the fish were all small.

That evening we developed a game plan. The plan was to start out on Lower Gar and try to leave with at least three quality fish, then hit some docks on Minnewashta that Mike had fish on. From there we would move to West Okoboji and spend some time in one of the shallow bays I found on day one. Then make a run to the north-end of the lake and try to pick-up a kicker smallie off the rocks or big green fish from one of the docks. We planned to spend the last hour of the tournament in Emerson Bay (the launch point) on some grass flats that had held fish on day one.

Tournament day to follow.

Okoboji Open 2012 Bass Tournament:
· One-day tournament.
· Five fish limit, Smallmouth or Largemouth.
· 15-inch minimum length to be legal.

The tournament was held on May 6th and according to Dave Vogel (tournament director) they had 40 teams registered. My team partner for this tournament was Mike Daloia. We put in two days of pre-fishing (May 3rd & 4th). Mike and I pre-fish in separate boats, as we can cover more water and we both break down a lake differently. On Saturday, May 5th we just had a day of fun fishing on Center Lake. Which was fun but less than spectacular, as we caught as many walleyes as bass.

Day one of pre-fishing:
The first day pre-fishing was spent on West Okoboji. Of the lakes on the Okoboji chain, West Okoboji is the largest, clearest and deepest. It has a strong Smallmouth and Largemouth population.

I launched at 7a.m. The weather was great; sunny and warm with a moderate wind and it stayed that nice all day long. The morning main lake water temperature was 64-degrees. I elected to check a series of docks that extend out into 6 to 8-feet of water. These docks have produced fish for us before. The first dock I pulled up to held both bass and panfish and some of the bass were quality fish. I noticed something that I had not seen before this early in the morning on docks in deeper water. The larger bass were suspended just a couple of inches under the surface on the deep end of the docks. Apparently soaking up the warmth from the sun. I scooted along a 100-yard stretch of docks, not fishing any of them, just looking. You could clearly see that the bigger fish had expanded sides and bellies. Either from munching on all the panfish or they were full of spawn. No matter what, it looked good. Now the fun part, seeing if I could get a couple of the bigger fish to bite. My go to dock bait is Lake Fork Ring Fry in pumpkin/pepper. I went back down this line of docks, just targeting the suspended fish, not one taker. They would charge the bait, then veer off and head towards deep water. After a half-hour of changing baits and colors I decided to target the shallow water end of the same line of docks. Again, with the Ring Fry, bingo! Each dock produced one or two fish from less than 2-feet of water. The downside was that the shallow fish were only 15 and 16-inch fish. You would think that shallow fish in this clear water (you can clearly see bottom in 8-feet of water) would be extremely boat shy, not the case. You could almost pull right up on top of them and still get bit…go figure. The rest of the morning was spent checking docks that had produced fish in the past.

I did spend a couple of hours cranking some grass/sand flats in 10 to 12-feet of water in front of the more productive docks, with a Strike King 2.5 and Red Eye Shad. Both produced lots of fish, I had northerns, silver bass, walleyes, drums and a musky decide to eat those cranks, but not one bass.

The afternoon was spent checking a couple of very shallow bays for spawning fish. To say these bays were holding fish would be a major under-statement.

The first bay I pulled into (here after referred to as bay 1) looked pretty barren in the front half, which is 3 to 4-feet deep. But the shallower I went the more fish I was seeing and when I got to the back of the bay in 1-foot of water or less, it was amazing. The water temperature was 66/67-degrees and I was seeing good numbers of fish in that 2 to 2.5 range, but no pigs. I also saw a number of smaller fish fanning beds. I then spent 20-minutes moving around in the back of the bay actually fishing. I was making long casts with a Strike King Zero (Blue Moon) wacky rigged, with no weight. I caught a number of fish in the 16-inch range and two 17-inch fish. So there was some good fish in this bay.

The second bay (now referred to as bay 2) has more water in the 4 to 6-foot range than bay1, then ends in the shallow end with a number of docks. I fished my way into the shallow areas, again making long casts with the Zero. I did pick up a couple of 15-inch fish going in, but was surprised by the lack of bites. But once I got to the docks in the back of this bay, it was a different story. These docks are shallow, only having 3 to 4-feet of water at the deep end. Plus, you could see multiple fish under every dock. And they looked like quality fish. The water temperature in the shallow end of this bay was holding in that 66/67-degree range. As I scooted along the docks I was seeing good numbers of fish, but no beds or bedding fish. I decided to fish a couple of the docks, when I saw what I believed to be quality fish. I like to catch one or two to get a true measurement, so I can get a more accurate idea about how much they weigh. Again, the go-to dock rig came out with the Ring Fry. I stuck three fish and got measurements of 17-inches, 17.25-inches and 18-inches, all quality fish.

The remainder of the day was spent on the trolling motor checking Hiawatha Point, Gull Point, Eagle Point and a couple of others to see if any Smallmouth had moved up. I saw good numbers of small Largemouth and also good numbers of small Smallmouth, but no quality fish.

Mike spent most of day one checking out various rock piles for Smallmouth. He didn’t catch big numbers of fish, but did catch some quality fish. He measured three Smallmouth, two at 17-inches and one that was pushing 20-inches, this one blew up a 6 to 7-inch perch as he landed it.

Day 2 pre-fishing to follow.

We headed to one of my early-spring “go to” spots, hoping the water had warmed up enough to get fish moving in shallow. I had been there a few days prior and it just wasn’t happening. Maybe it was finally ready.

I keep a close eye on the water temperatures of a handful of local lakes. Doing this allows me the luxury of not missing out on one of the better early-spring crappie bites that takes place each and every year.

No boat, just waders. This is my early season approach. Hop in the truck and drive, not worrying about how the trailer is doing because there is none. This makes getting around a little easier, especially when some of those lakes are back in the bush.

Before fishing, a quick water temperature check was made and when it showed 54º, I was thrilled, as according to my past records, the fish should be biting in this spot. The only thing that could ruin it was a strong wind and we had that but it was coming from behind us, over our heads. We were good to go.

Blake and I are both on Northland Tackle’s pro staff so it was our plan to start fishing with one of their newer products, the Impulse “May Fly.”

Blake stuck a black one on the end of a white “Bro Bug Head” jig. The jig sports bulging bug eyes, a small bug-shaped profile, and a fine wire hook, which is perfect for threading on mini soft plastics, like the “May Fly”. The smallish combination of both the hook and plastic makes it easier to fool early-season panfish.

The Impulse “May Fly” is designed with a miniature “true-to-life” mayfly body and features ultra-sensitive legs and an undulating “tri-tail” that quivers and pulsates at the slightest movement. Described as 1” long, it actually looks smaller than that because of the wispy, little tentacles. This is one of those baits that when I first laid eyes on it thought “oh yeah, this is going to work good.”

Let’s face it, when it’s early in the year, there isn’t a lot of larger prey available for crappies. That’s why they start up shallow, where bugs are hatching and minnows are micro-small. They’re in the hunt and pretty much conditioned for small baits. Now, as summer gets underway and the water’s a lot warmer, well that’s a different matter.

I went with the black “May Fly”, as Blake did, but a used a black jig-head. It’s a good idea to compare presentations with your partner, especially when you’re first starting out. You like to give the fish a little selection to see what works the best and in this case, it was the “black-on-black” combination that I was fortunate enough to try.

Casting near the old feeder-bed of an abandoned beaver lodge, my bobber didn’t have to sit very long before it slowly popped up, signaling a bite. Reeling in, keeping the rod high to avoid the “beaver brush”, I maneuvered a nice crappie to my feet. The rest was easy.

Almost every cast had the desired result, as long as you were extremely close to the brush. Cast too far out, away from the entanglements, and nothing. Keep it close, flirt with danger, and success was had.

We went home with a nice limit of crappies. It’s happening NOW. Get out there and give it a whirl. Good luck, have fun, and be safe.

When it comes to chasing walleyes with jigs, Andersen has two favorite approaches: chasing weed walleyes and snap jigging across weed and sand flats. Weed walleyes often times are chasing 3-4” perch and shiners within bays, sand/weed flats, and bars or humps that have good cabbage weed growth on them. Early in the season, when water temperatures reach 42 to 50 degrees, be sure to focus in on the northern sections and structures of a lake. Weed growth will emerge much quicker due to the larger amount of sunlight it gets, but as the season goes on and the temperatures warm don’t forget to go to those southern locations as fish will move into those spots. Much like a bass fisherman does, Andersen idles with his MinnKota Terrova bowmount trolling motor, with the Ipilot feature, and keys in on pockets within the weeds. The ‘anchor’ feature on the Ipilot allows Andersen to key on certain spots and work them over a bit more. These pockets serve as ambush areas for toothy critters as they look for the next feeding opportunity. Walleye anglers always talk about the ‘spot on the spot’ and some areas that need a closer look here are the inside weed line (the weed edge closest to shore) and the outside weed line, inside turns, and isolated clumps of weeds. As he moves along he uses a variety of jigs to cast or pitch into this weed cover. Some of his favorites are the VMC Moon Eye or Hot Skirt Jigs and any of the offerings from Kenkatch; the size will depend on how aggressive he wants to fish and what the wind and waves are doing. When considering using a heavier vs. a lighter jig Andersen believes you need to consider the following. “Heavier jigs are better for thumping the bottom drawing attention to the bait, which allows walleyes to zero in on that sound or flash. Plus, when the bite is on, the quicker you can get the bait back into the strike zone the better.” When using lighter jigs, Andersen’s rule of thumb is to use them more when you know the fish are there but you they want more subtlety in the approach. Cold water or early season fishing are prime times to downsize your jig size. When you cast a jig and let it slowly free fall, swaying from side to side and weed walleyes will react. Anderson’s favorite set up when pitching jigs is a 6’6” medium Jason Mitchell Rod with 8-10lb high vis yellow Sufix braided line.

Another favorite technique for Andersen is snap jigging. Snap jigging is something more anglers are including in their jig fishing presentations. Snap jigging is essentially trolling with a jig and allows the fisherman to fish quicker and cover large areas of structure. On Leech Lake for example, one of Andersen’s favorite places to jig fish big walleyes, Andersen focuses on the variety of sand flats throughout the main lake and major bays. One of Andersen’s favorite presentations when fishing these locations is to take a ½ oz jig combine it with a plastic such as 3-4” Trigger X Soft Plastic or Berkley Gulp swimming grub. The jig guru will use his Minnkota vantage or Mercury kicker motor, which allows Andersen to cover water faster and keep his jig in the water more than it is out of it. The advantage of using plastics is you don’t have reach into the bait well to re-bait all of the time. One tip is to use a little bit of super glue to help hold the plastic on your jig longer. With the fishing plastics industry booming in the last five years, you can find plastics that are species specific with a synthetically reproduced pheromones that naturally attract fish and triggers them to chow down. As he moves along, he holds his rod at a 45 degree angle while snapping it with his wrist, and not the arm. The set up to use when snap jigging is very similar to pitching jigs, but instead of braid, use a good mono such as Sufix Elite in 8lb test. Mono allows you to have some stretch in the line. Anderson believes it is very common for walleyes to pick up the jig when snap jigging and, if you are using a braided line, they often times will feel that resistance and drop the bait. Mono just gives you that little more stretch to give the angler just a little more time to drop the rod tip prior to the fish detecting the resistance and then set the hook.

Even with all of the new methods and tactics today, the use of a jig is one of the most versatile and effective presentations today. Anderson reminds us when it comes to fishing jigs, “I let the fish dictate my presentation each time I am on the water, some days they want that lure no matter what and other days you have to coax them into biting. Sometimes they want it ripped and other times they will subtly suck it up on the bottom, but when you feel that hard tick, reel down, and set the hook!” Whatever the jigging stroke is, Anderson has proven that jig fishing is something that has stood the test of time in the fishing world and is something you will find in every fisherman’s tackle box. So this spring get out and challenge yourself to think outside the jig box and you might just GET HOOKED!

Editors note: Leisure Outdoor Adventures is a premier guide service, and promotional group partnered with Chase on the Lake resort in Walker Mn and other businesses in central Minnesota.

Those formative years were banked on Lake Geneva in Southern Wisconsin fishing with my Dad. We fished for bass, northern pike, muskies, and panfish during the day – walleyes always reserved for sundown and the wee morning hours. My Dad insisted that you couldn’t catch walleyes during the day. Locals supported this stubborn stance claiming that walleyes only bit at night or under lowlight conditions, and held a strict diet of baitfish.

I was infinitely frustrated by the thought of only being able to catch ‘eyes under so-called ‘ideal conditions,’ when sunlight was limited and minnows in masse. Instead of succumbing to the area gospel, though, it motivated me to disprove the diehards.

So began a lifelong mission to understand the territorial preferences of walleyes throughout the day, the season, even imagining where they’d be feeding when I was stuck back home doing chores. And I held this gut instinct that walleyes not only fed by day, but also much shallower than believed, and ate pretty much anything the lake served.

Years of examining the stomach contents of walleyes dispelled the baitfish myth. I’ve come across small snakes, leeches, frogs, mice, soft shell crayfish, innumerable larvae of later winged insects, as well as baitfish galore. Walleyes acclimatize well to what’s available, trust me.

I always knew, too, that walleyes exclusively roam depths of 10-20 feet – that’s what I was taught, anyway. Since then, I’ve pinned walleyes in depths ranging from scarcely a foot to nearly 100. So much for the depth range stereotype.

It was, and still is to this day, the ultimate challenge to find and then cream walleyes in the hyper-shallows. First, an angler must trust the fact that walleyes do inhabit depths under 6-feet of water. That means a willingness to commit more than a few casts before bugging out.

Also, you need the grit and dedication to experiment with presentations. Jigging is the easy choice, and continually effective. Dragging a slip-sinker and minnow is standard fare, too. But are you mentally prepared to hurl or troll a crankbait all day? Snap on a Rapala Shad Rap – a perennial menace to walleyes – and there’s a real chance of outfishing the boat. Crankbaits, in my opinion, are severely underutilized in shallow situations, especially early in the season.

Admittedly, we do have tools that are forefathers did not. I rely on electronics, as well as time-honored instinct, to know when I’ve entered fertile shallows. My Humminbird 998 with Side Imaging exposes weedbeds, rock piles and wood. Such structures add gravitational pull to a shallow water bite.

And then there’s wind. Give me a 48-hour blow into shallow structure and I’ll show you a limit of spring walleyes. Truthfully, the fish-finding-formula needn’t be any trickier than that. Wind + structure + baitfish that have been pressed shoreward and are feasting on zooplankton = walleyes.

Technology rears its head again, too. LakeMaster High-Definition Mapping divulges shallow contours that I might have otherwise run over blindly. With it, I can spy slight changes in depth that cause walleyes to congregate. And, with mapping, I can return to these locations time and time again.

Like second nature, I start pitching jigs and minnows. The action and cadence of the combo ranges from a slow waltz to a hard rock slam dance, the speed and rambunctiousness of the retrieve dictated by the mood of the fish. Start fast, feather back as needed.

My top jig for strafing the shallows is a VMC Hammer Head. A killer sharp hook, short-shank, and oblong body (causes the hook to angle slightly upward) make it an unbeatable vessel for moving minnows around the shallows. Sometimes, snapping a jig and soft body bait does the trick, especially for larger fish. A VMC Mooneye Jig with either a Trigger X Minnow or Swimming Grub make perfect pairings. The longer shank and bait-holder barb on the Mooneye Jig provide the ideal foundation for grabbing onto and presenting soft baits.

To this, even during a ‘minnow bite,’ I keep at least one combo pre-rigged with a jig and plastic. The broader, faster presentation can sometimes activate the heaviest walleye in the pod.

Crankbaits can have the same effect, playing to the likings of larger walleyes. A slow reel, stop, and twitch gives the Rapala Husky Jerk a famous action that often rolls early season walleyes. When I want to pick up the pace and zip over the tops of cabbage and shallow rocks, it’s time to un-holster the Rapala Clackin Rap and new Rippin Rap. The neurotically wobbling, lipless crankbaits load the water with mesmerizing sonic reverberations, catalyzing reactive strikes.

Lure performance is maximized by employing quality gear. The Daiwa Aird 2000 throws jigs like the wind’s always to your back – the more economical Daiwa High Speed Exceler 2000 and Ballistic 2000 aren’t far behind. Casting distance is further enhanced with Sufix 832 Advanced Superline, an epic quality braid. Fortified with Gore® Performance Fibers, Sufix 832 is as sensitive as a raw nerve ending and remarkably abrasion resistant. You can literally feel a jig tumbling over bottom rubble, not to mention short nipping walleyes.

Fortunately, more often than not when walleyes inhabit the shallows, short strikes aren’t of great concern. Shallow fish, even those with shallow personalities, tend to be assertive, sometimes downright rude – pushing and shoving to eat the jig first.

I can’t go back in time and share these shallow water discoveries with my Dad, so I’m hoping you can pull out a tip and enjoy battling a walleye at high noon when everyone else is napping back at camp

Obviously, finding the right spot to key on is paramount and location is the starting point. You can’t catch fish that are not present. So often, the location of active fish is dictated by water temperature. Most sonar systems have a water temperature gauge. If you didn’t hook up the sensor when you rigged your boat…. Big mistake. I often like to just patrol through areas watching where warmer water is getting stacked along a particular shoreline. A degree or less can focus fish activity. Wind will often blow warm water into a particular area or some areas may warm up because they are protected from larger and colder pools of water but a temp gauge can give you the lay of the land and help you look at the big picture. Also, I strongly believe that the afternoon hours and early evening hours are the prime window for this kind of bite as the water warms up during the day.

Once the location is narrowed down, the presentation itself can also be adjusted. Finding the right lure or lures along with the right retrieve can be a frustrating process. Usually, how the lure hits the profile of a shoreline and retrieve speed or action is most important. When we talk about the profile of the shoreline, imagine what the bottom does under water between the boat and shore and imagine where the walleyes are laying or moving on that profile. On tough days, the fish are going to be tucked tighter to a particular lip on that profile and wont chase for very far. On easy days, the fish are suspended a touch off the lip and will chase what comes in front of them until they eat it. Some days, you have to get close to the fish with a lure, sometimes you have to get closer yet and that is typically determined by the dive curve. Thus experiment with shallow running lures that will go over the tops of grass and weeds but also clip the shoreline with lures that have a deep diving bill. Now obviously each shoreline will have different characteristics and change as you move along the shoreline so it really does pay to have different anglers in the boat throwing different lures and to switch up between a handful of lures until you dial in the pattern of the day. Go to crank baits for me include classic number five Shad Raps, number four and five Salmo Hornets, number five and seven Rapala Countdowns, the size 8 floating Salmo Perch and assorted Husky Jerks and Salmo Suspending Stings.

Sometimes I might mix in a few Flicker Shads, Wally Divers and Rogues. What I do believe a crank bait does however that appeals to aggressive fish that want to chase is cranks put out extra flash and vibration that can be felt and seen further than jigs and soft plastics. With that being said, I often like to pop or snap the lure to get extra flash and vibration as I work it back to the boat. Snaps and stops often attract and trigger fish. Besides experimenting with lures that hit the profile correctly to get in a position in front of fish, how you cast towards shore can also be experimented with. You can cast right at the shore for example and reel directly back to the boat or you can cast ahead of the boat or behind the boat to keep the lure along a particular depth zone for longer periods of time. Speed or cadence is also a make or break variable. As a guide, I always kept all of the reels and rods the exact same so the gear ratios, spool diameters and line was exact so that I can have people in the boat match up when something started working.

One mistake I see many anglers make especially when things get difficult is they position the boat too close to the spot or shore and pound the area with short casts. When things get tough and you have to grind out fish, I think you can be much more effective by backing the boat off the spot and making longer casts even if part of the retrieve is over deeper water. On off days, I believe these walleyes will follow a lure and just get more temperamental but long casts give these followers more chances to nip until they get hooks in the jaw. If you are rolling fish at the boat at the end of your retrieve or can physically see following fish or just getting short bites, try backing off the spot and making longer casts. Ironically, larger or heavier lures that can be cast further often shine on tough days versus smaller lures because long casts often get bit on the tougher days.
JasonMitchellOutdoors.com