pre spawn walleyes

Hey guys I have never fished the pre spawn before but want to this year. Just wanting some tips on how to do it. What presentations would you guys use? How deep would you fish? The lake I will be fishing pretty much all the walleye spawn on the dam. Is this where you would fish them in the pre spawn? How warm do you want the water to be? Thanks for the help guys.

The prime bite is around 40 degrees. I am not sure where you plan on going but most lakes are closed to pre spawn action. The Miss is one of the few pre spawn oportunities around. Slow is the key the water is cold you can’t be slow enough. Plastic work well on the
Miss. The fish can be in waters of less then a foot to deep it depends on the day. check out the miss. forums to get more info. jig minnow always good. Welcome to IDO

Welcome to the site!

It would help if you could give us a little more information on the waters your planning on fishing. We don’t need the name or your lake but perhaps you could tell us if its a natural lake or a reservoir on the river.

Most oepn water walleye fisherman will start fishing the pre-spawn walleyes as soon as the ice goes out and keep fishing for them right up until and thru the actual spawn.

A jig & minnow is always good but on many occasions, a jig/plastic combo can be even better. There are many different jigs out there but the H20 Precision jigs made by B’Fish’N Tackle are my favorites when it comes to adding plastics like paddletails, ringworms & super doos.

Keep your eye on the different forums for plenty of tips on how to fish these baits. From now until early summer, you should be able to find plenty of information on this forum as well as the mississippi river forums.

Good luck!

Boog

its a natural lake. Its johnson lake in nebraska. Those paddle tails u pitch and retrieve right

You can cast and retreive or pull and let set. depends on the day and what the fish want. cold water means slow retrieve. ringworms are also great I just pull them a bit try looking at the IDO videos of pre spawn big river walleyes that will help you a bunch. it will give th etechniques in fishing plastics and blades for pre spawn walleyes.

If you can anchor, try vertical jigging…I would try just dropping a light as possible jig with a Superdoo or trimmed down Paddle tail to the bottom. Give it a lift up about 6″ and just hold it there as long as you can…drop it to the bottom and repeat, twitching once in a while…
You may also try that with a 1/4oz blade bait…just speed up a little to a regular cadence.
BFishN Tackle has all that stuff for you…

Boos – I’m more of a reservoir & river guy but theres no reason the same techniques won’t work in a natural lake as well. Finding them is the key though!

For techniques, be sure to poke your nose around the video forum. There is a ton of excellent material in there on how to use plastics like paddletails, ringworms & super doos.
There is also excellent information in there on how to fish blade baits.

Good luck and be sure to let us know how its going from time to time.

Boog

I hate to disagree with everyone but you don’t have to go slow in the spring to catch walleyes. We do unreal right at ice out pulling cranks between 2.5 to 3.5 mph. We get a lot of funny looks at times because we are supposed to be barely moving, but when I talk to other people that caught one or two fish and we boated twenty five I love it. Think outside the box as hard as it sometimes is and give something a shot. The whole key to catching fish new ways is confidence. I know most of you will laugh at this but trust me give it a try. Good luck on the water.