One of the things I plan to do this season is pass along some of the observations and discoveries I make while out on the tournament trail. Hopefully, this will spark some discoveries of your own, and put a few more fish in your boat.
This past weekend, I knocked a year’s worth of rust off the tourmament gears and traveled to Storm Lake, Iowa to fish in the Binnings Outdoors spring walleye tournament. If you haven’t been to Storm Lake yet….go. Now! That is one dynamite walleye lake, and the bite is on in a big way.
A dominant spring pattern on Storm Lake is to work the rocky shorelines with plastics. Twister tails are the baits of choice among the locals. After witnessing a number of 15-18″ fish caught by anglers wading the shorelines, I set out to see if anything in my arsenal of “river” plastics would get the job done. In doing so, I found that a simple modification to a B-Fish-N paddletail can turn this reliable vertical jigging and dragging bait into a dynamite pitching bait with crankbait-like action. The modification is illustrated in the photos below.
Take a standard paddletail and cut off the front 3/4″-1″ of the bait, making sure that the cut is made at a ~45 degree angle from the belly to the back. Then, thread the modified bait onto a light precision head (I used 1/16 and 3/32 oz this weekend) and you’re ready to go.
The beauty of this modification can be seen during the retrieve. A steady, moderate-pace retrieve causes the bait to wobble from side-to-side, in a very crankbait-like manner. Coupled with the wiggle of the supple tail, this side-to-side wobble turns the once subtle bait into a very energetic offering.
Give this a try on your favorite body of water once the fish start to strap on the post-spawn feedbag. The Storm Lake walleyes responded very positively, and I’m looking forward to pitching these modified paddletails throughout the season.
A full selection of paddletails are available at Everts Resort and on-line from B-Fish-N tackle.
