Jigging Spoons & Other Walleye Tactics

Could use a little help here. I feel like I’m a decent walleye fisherman – on open water. But have never had consistent success through the ice.

For example, I really don’t understand or have confidence in spoons, Buckshot, or the like. Do you really just put a minnow head on the treble hook and dance it around? If so, just one of the hooks or how do you hook it?

Tip ups and slip bobbers with live minnows would be my go-to right now, but feel I need to expand the winter presentations to be more successful. Any other tips appreciated

lindyrig79 wrote:

For example, I really don’t understand or have confidence in spoons, Buckshot, or the like. Do you really just put a minnow head on the treble hook and dance it around? If so, just one of the hooks or how do you hook it?

I usually just hook them through one of the hooks and pinch off so some of the guts are hanging out when meat is needed. Other things that most guys don’t do that is very effective is the use of feathered treble hooks, thin slices of plastics, or other attractants.

Fishing spoons, plastics, blades, hair jigs and so on all come down to the same basic principles. You need to have confidence (hardest part), patience, and good observations of how the fish are responding. You can the best situation, active fish,…and if you don’t have confidence, you just are not going to have the patience to work a bait as it needs to be done. Patience and observation goes together. Some days the fish want an aggressive presentation. It could be a faster lift and slow fall. Could be more vibration, or slower lift and more free fall. OR could be as little as almost just dead sticking them.

This is where I really like a 2d graph compared to a flasher; but both work. Pay attention to what you were doing as a fish comes in. Did it limp in at slow motion or did it rush in? Is it just sitting looking at the bait or is it following up and down? Is it moving out further in the cone as you move the bait or does it come in closer? Paying close attention to how the fish responds to your movement becomes the key. In a lot of situations, its a quicker motion that initially draws a fish in, then a slower subtle movement that triggers a strike.

Randy put up some really good info there.

The first couple of fish for me are going to be the ones to tell me how my cadence should be for the day. Let the fish tell you what they want. I do a lot of keep away stuff. Keep that bait above that fish.

If I am rippin the spoon and a fish comes in I am probably going to slow it down to maybe just a wobble or hold it steady right above the fish. If that doesn’t work I am going to start slowly raising it to see if the fish will chase.

As for bait, I don’t use fatheads… If I can I am going to be using rainbows. I pinch off between the head and dorsal fin. Like randy said, leaving the trail of the guts does sometimes help. Slide one hook through the top of the head and out through the bottom of the mouth. The reason I do this is the head seems to stay on better as you’re going through the hard part of the head.

Thanks guys! I am used to movement, boat control, and natural presentations. I guess the spoon – minnow head – guts thing doesn’t feel very natural to me. Not to mention jigging overall is probably my weakest area.

I finally had some success jigging open water last few years so hopefully I can build off that. Like you said- confidence very important when it comes to fishing – kind of weird actually- almost like the fish can sense it!

Two rods, two lures, two methods. A jigging rod and a dead stick presentation.

If you have minnows, you can always dead stick one. Sometimes it’s better to have a jig head and hook directly to minnow. Sometimes it’s a spoon and short dropper hook. Sometimes it’s a sinker and 6-12 inches of line to hook and minnow.

Your jigging lure is all about calling the fish in. Some will bite it, others will look and go for the dead stick presentation. Sometimes it’s all about pounding the lure on bottom. Sometimes it’s just having lure tap the bottom only.

Go find a school of crappies and practice on them if you want to build confidence in jigging. Than use that knowledge you gain and apply it to walleye. Remember to do “cat and mouse” try to keep the jig a little away from the fish and move it up as it gets closer.

I’d echo what Randy said, that paying attention or learning what you are seeing on your flasher will be the best teacher. As long as you are marking fish (and if you’re not, even the best jig fisherman won’t catch anything), the fish will tell you if you are working it correctly or not. Generally I’d say slower is better when you have a fish showing interest. And color *can* be important, but generally they will hit anything as long as you work it correctly so don’t worry too much about color until you have confidence in your cadence’s.

Great info guys – thanks. Unfortunately this past weekend didn’t do anything to help the confidence!

Me and a buddy went to Mille Lacs, out of Red Door. Tried the deep break and also the north-end mudflats. We had fish on the flasher fairly often. Most would come off the bottom and up to look 2-3′ and then swim away. Also had a few rouge marks higher up the water column, maybe those were tullies.

Anyway… we used the deadstick and jigging combo. Tried buckshots, swedish pimples, various glow jigs, I even bought some ripping raps and tried those. Pretty much tried all the techniques as described above. We caught zero fish. LOL – I guess that’s how it goes sometimes!

lindyrig79 wrote:

Great info guys – thanks. Unfortunately this past weekend didn’t do anything to help the confidence!

Me and a buddy went to Mille Lacs, out of Red Door. Tried the deep break and also the north-end mudflats. We had fish on the flasher fairly often. Most would come off the bottom and up to look 2-3′ and then swim away. Also had a few rouge marks higher up the water column, maybe those were tullies.

Anyway… we used the deadstick and jigging combo. Tried buckshots, swedish pimples, various glow jigs, I even bought some ripping raps and tried those. Pretty much tried all the techniques as described above. We caught zero fish. LOL – I guess that’s how it goes sometimes!

From the sounds of it you were not alone. Fishing was SLOOOOOW out there.

Take it from me… I got skunked in my crappie spot that I have been fishing since I was 16. Been skunked twice in my life out there and yesterday I didn’t even get a bite from noon to 9pm. Drilled alot of holes from 12ft to 40ft…

It’s been tough for me as well since that cold snap.

Like clockwork, when my two weeks off is up, the pressure plummets and temperature rises. I’m sure my spots are all producing right now as I sit in my office and stare out the window like a puppy waiting for his owner.

lindyrig79 wrote:

Great info guys – thanks. Unfortunately this past weekend didn’t do anything to help the confidence!

Me and a buddy went to Mille Lacs, out of Red Door. Tried the deep break and also the north-end mudflats. We had fish on the flasher fairly often. Most would come off the bottom and up to look 2-3′ and then swim away. Also had a few rouge marks higher up the water column, maybe those were tullies.

Anyway… we used the deadstick and jigging combo. Tried buckshots, swedish pimples, various glow jigs, I even bought some ripping raps and tried those. Pretty much tried all the techniques as described above. We caught zero fish. LOL – I guess that’s how it goes sometimes!

That’s rough. When it’s like this, sometimes the good ol, Northland Airplane jigs pulls through. They are much better gliders and sometimes it’s that horizontal lure movement that gets the bite. It also makes a tangle mess if fishing two lines.

Sometimes they just don’t bite…