Walleye Presentations: How Big Can We Go??

Been experimenting with casting big swimbaits for walleyes of late, with very good results. Doug Stange has been talking about paddletail swimbaits for years, but I never see folks fishing them. My interest is in catching big fish – don’t care about catching eaters – and I particularly want to see how large a bait to which these big walleyes will respond. Many of us are familiar with the BFishN Tackle Pulse-R paddle tail bait, but I wanted to take it to a whole new level. I first up-sized to a 4″ swimbait, then 5″, and have now gone to a big, fat 6″ paddletail swimbaits…and the fish continue to pound them. Look at the photo attached to see how much room a 25.5″er has in his mouth to eat an even bigger bait. Judging by the size of the mouth vs. a beefy 6″ swimbait, I think a big walleye would eat a 10″ swimbait; possibly even bigger. My average walleye is probably 24/25″ on these baits. So, is bigger better when it comes to catching larger-than-average size fish?? I plan to keep experimenting, keep up-sizing, until I find their upper limit for bites. Will need to dig into my musky arsenal to find plastics this size.

So, who’s ‘going big’ for walleyes?? What’s been your experience??

Brian

p.s. – For perspective, photo shows a med Jigging Rap, largest Pulse-R paddletail, and the 6″ Nichols swimbait I’ve been throwing lately…plus a couple walleyes that inhaled it last weekend.

Attachments:

1. 

   004.jpg
   

I have read numerous times about guys throwing giant musky lures and catching big walleyes on them on accident. I never use anything over 4 inches…that’s just me though. If there is that much extra room in that fish’s mouth then I would think going bigger isn’t going to change your bites until it won’t fit in their mouth. Walleyes are much more aggressive than people give them credit for. What hooks do you use so your hook is far enough back to get good hooksets if fish aren’t inhaling the baits? Or is that a non-issue?

Twice I have caught walleye on a 6” reef hawg while going after muskies. Big girls like big meals. You could try bigger but I would not go bigger than the bait fish or what every they are feeding on in that area is. Through the bigger bait and if it is not working step it down. Good luck.

I have caught many small walleye’s on large Rapala’s HJ12’s and Berkeley FM 13’s, where the lure was nearly the same size as the fish. Now I doubt a monster walleye would hit a 20″ bait, but 10″ or slightly larger is certainly feasible. However, in my experience big walleye’s also hit small baits, so doubt I’ll be experimenting. But definitely interested in your experience!

Jeff Trapp, I’ve been fishing these big plastics on a 3/4 oz. VMC Ike Swimbait jighead. I think it’s a 5/0 hook on there if not mistaken.

What I’m doing is finding fish feeding on flats, casting out, allowing the bait to drop to the bottom, retrieving 10 feet or so, then stalling the bait till it hits the bottom. Most strikes come as the bait is stalled and falls to the bottom, though they also commonly strike as the bait is falling on the initial drop after splash-down. The strikes are vicious! You definitely will know when a hit occurs. I’m fishing them on 7′ 11″ bass flipping/frogging stick with 20lb braid and a 15lb flouro leader, though feel the need to up-size my leader in the future for better shock absorption.

When in community spots where other fishermen are around me – almost always slow moving live bait riggers – I’m outfishing them by a pretty wide margin. A bite ratio vs. livebait of 7:1 or 10:1 would be pretty common.

Brian this is very interesting. Might have to go try it for myself. How deep of water are you fishing when using this method? Are these flats scattered with weeds or more sand bottom?

I know this is live bait, but it shows what a walleye is willing to eat. This is about a 7″ creek chub next to a 19 or so inch walleye I caught last weekend. I really like your presentation style with the big swim baits. Much like a Rippin Rap or Jigging Rap.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_2346.jpg
   

My three biggest walleye caught out on Devil’s Lake 2 weeks ago all came on the largest Rapala GT 360 swimbait. I believe that’s a 5 & a half inch bait. Haven’t noticed much of an issue with short hits when fishing larger baits like this. The walleye will actually hit the bait so hard it’s difficult to tell the difference between a Walleye and a larger Pike.

JakeD, I’ve caught them in water as deep as about 22′, though been concentrating on sand/gravel in anywhere from 10′ to 16′ generally. These baits are pretty good around rocks, too, in terms of being snag-resistant – but you’ll still want a good lure retriever for deep rescue effort in those areas.

James, the Rapala looks like a good bait (haven’t tried it), though I’ve been using deeper bodied swimbaits in an attempt to emulate a juvenile cisco or larger perch. No surprise though that you’re three largest came on that bait. And – yes – to those hard hits! It’s like fishing for ‘mini-muskies’ and very similar to when an esox engulfs a bulldawg.

James Holst wrote:

My three biggest walleye caught out on Devil’s Lake 2 weeks ago all came on the largest Rapala GT 360 swimbait. I believe that’s a 5 & a half inch bait. Haven’t noticed much of an issue with short hits when fishing larger baits like this. The walleye will actually hit the bait so hard it’s difficult to tell the difference between a Walleye and a larger Pike.

I just grabbed some of these in a bunch of colors and sizes and hoping to try them out on Kabetogama this weekend. If you don’t mind — what kind of structure and depth were you finding success with the 360, and how were you fishing it?

Thanks!

Great info

Caught a 23″ with the tail of a 12″ shad hanging out the mouth.

Couple weeks ago we caught these 2 walleyes – 26 and 28.5 inchers on Keitech 4.8 inch swimbaits. Some of the other people I fished with thought the lure “looked a little big” but obviously not the case. As summer goes on could probably go even larger.

A key component is enough weight to get down in the weed pockets and the ability rip through the vegetation as needed. Most of the swimbait hooks on the market are 1/8 to 1/4 ounces… not always enough weight. Being more of a ‘bass guy’ I resorted to Texas-rigging the swimbaits on a flippin’ hook and a 3/8 ounce tungsten bullet weight to slither down into and around the weeds. Seem to work just fine ~

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_2295.jpg
   

2. 

   IMG_2284-1.jpg
   

Fry, nice fish! Curious…did you Texas Rig that Keitech swimbait? Or, was the hook exposed/tex-posed?? I’ve got some shallow weed fish that might appreciate such a rig. Thanks for the info! And, from what I’ve seen and the replys on here, you can definitely go bigger now. No reason to wait for summer to wear on. They sometimes just want something way bigger than we would generally feel comfortable throwing.

Caught this 27″ trolling for pike on Basswood last week. 8″ Storm Flatstick. We’ve also had big walleyes nipping at our big pike baits while casting too.

Attachments:

1. 

   3-1.jpg
   

Kalins and Big Hammer both make very nice swimbait jigs in multiple weight and hook sizes. We’ve used them in Kansas for wipers with 5″ PowerBait swimbait and they match up perfectly. Would likely work with other swimbaits as well.

BrianF wrote:

Fry, nice fish! Curious…did you Texas Rig that Keitech swimbait? Or, was the hook exposed/tex-posed?? I’ve got some shallow weed fish that might appreciate such a rig. Thanks for the info! And, from what I’ve seen and the replys on here, you can definitely go bigger now. No reason to wait for summer to wear on. They sometimes just want something way bigger than we would generally feel comfortable throwing.

I would say that I tex-pose the Keitech when using your typical screw-lock weighted swimbait hook. But when Texas rigging with a flippin’ hook, you push the point through the body but stop just before it goes all the way through. That way you don’t catch the weeds with the hook point at all but its very near the outer edge of the plastic. Those Trokar hooks are so sharp I haven’t missed any hook-ups at least that I know of…

My buddy caught a 29″ and a few 27″ wally on a 10″ Jake

I have been fishing large swim baits on P2 of the Mississippi for quite a few years. I try new baits all the time but tend to always fall back onto 4.5-5.5 inch baits. The largest ones I have caught fish on were Lunker City shakers 7 inch tail but do not like fishing them because they grabbed too much water.

NetBaits and Manns company both make really nice 5-5.5 inch baits. I lean towards the Manns because they have a solid filled head so last a lot longer and takes a beating from the fish pretty good.

I am fishing current areas 2-12 ft deep and run them on a 1/4-3/8 oz jigs that I mold with a 4/0 hook. I fish them pretty slow for a swim bait but the current helps a lot.

I look for a bait that makes the rod pulse while the bait falls and has a good belly roll. Any color with a light belly and dark top to show contrast seems to best.

I agree 100%… The walleyes knock the snot out of them!!!

Pat McSharry wrote:

I know this is live bait, but it shows what a walleye is willing to eat. This is about a 7″ creek chub next to a 19 or so inch walleye I caught last weekend. I really like your presentation style with the big swim baits. Much like a Rippin Rap or Jigging Rap.

Pat, what is your go to rig for fishing with creek chubs? I trapped some dandy 10 inchers and am heading out to pool 4 tomorrow to see what happens. I am thinking I will just hook in the snoot and jig them vertically or drag them slowly with an egg sinker and about a 5 foot lead with an appropriate hook.

Update: Where I’m fishing, the big swimbait bite has been slowed considerably by a massive mayfly hatch, together with the explosion of young-of-the-year perch moving out into the basin. The big walleye just aren’t responding to the bait the way they were earlier in the season and seem to be keyed into something small right now, or so it seems. That’ll change as we move thru the season, but for now, smaller seems better. Any one else with a different or similiar experience with the massive influx of little, edible things into the system?

eyeguy507 wrote:

Pat, what is your go to rig for fishing with creek chubs? I trapped some dandy 10 inchers and am heading out to pool 4 tomorrow to see what happens. I am thinking I will just hook in the snoot and jig them vertically or drag them slowly with an egg sinker and about a 5 foot lead with an appropriate hook.

I can’t speak for Pat but reverse rigging is a technique a lot of guides/pros use for the large chubs like you trapped, here’s a description from an old LSF thread.

Sorry if linking to another forum is verboten but I didn’t want to copy/paste without context, just trying to help.

BrianF wrote:

Update: Where I’m fishing, the big swimbait bite has been slowed considerably by a massive mayfly hatch, together with the explosion of young-of-the-year perch moving out into the basin. The big walleye just aren’t responding to the bait the way they were earlier in the season and seem to be keyed into something small right now, or so it seems. That’ll change as we move thru the season, but for now, smaller seems better. Any one else with a different or similiar experience with the massive influx of little, edible things into the system?

What you describe here makes perfect sense. Furthermore as all that those YOY baitfish, (minnows too) move out from the shallows and thick shoreline weed cover the walleye bite tends to slow considerably usually around this time of year. May/June prime time and July/August “dog days” of summer isn’t so much the sun and heat but the abundance of forage.

Up-date #2: My big swimbait experiment continues. Here in mid-summer, my swimbait bite has died. I’m fishing the bait around fish, but they won’t touch the thing. Snap jig a Rippin Rap or a Jigging Rap in the same locations and it’s ‘fish on’.

I’m wondering if the swimbait thing is primarily a cool water presentation?? It was top notch early in the season, but a stinker as the water warmed here in mid-summer.

As a side note, my musky buddy hooked a 26″ or so walleye on a 9″ Shadzilla while we were fishing muskies a week or so ago right at dusk. Thought that was interesting.

I’ll keep using these big swimmers through the end of the season and will report my results if there is interest. My hope/expectation is that they will get good again as the water begins cooling.

Brian

This is an interesting thread. The last couple years, My best producer while shoreline casting at night in spring and fall has been 4 and 6″ thumper tail shads. The fish seem to love them and they catch plenty of 15-18″ fish along with the big ladies. I bought some 3/4 and 1 oz jigheads to try fishing them this summer in and along weedbeds. It’s been a dud so far. Like you, I’ve experienced multiple times now where it is a fish on every cast with jigging rapalas or spoons but they wont touch the shads.

BrianF wrote:

Up-date #2: My big swimbait experiment continues. Here in mid-summer, my swimbait bite has died. I’m fishing the bait around fish, but they won’t touch the thing. Snap jig a Rippin Rap or a Jigging Rap in the same locations and it’s ‘fish on’.

I’m wondering if the swimbait thing is primarily a cool water presentation?? It was top notch early in the season, but a stinker as the water warmed here in mid-summer.

As a side note, my musky buddy hooked a 26″ or so walleye on a 9″ Shadzilla while we were fishing muskies a week or so ago right at dusk. Thought that was interesting.

I’ll keep using these big swimmers through the end of the season and will report my results if there is interest. My hope/expectation is that they will get good again as the water begins cooling.

Brian

Thanks for the update. That is cool snap jigging the rippin rap and jigging rap work in those conditions. I guess the reaction strike is always on. It is not a place I would normally try those techniques, but I should. The weather in South Dakota has cooled the last week and about half way through his report Todd talks about the swim bait bite being something worth trying. Maybe regular size swim baits would work better? https://youtu.be/gh4RnT51kQ8

Update #3: The swimbait bite has improved considerably as the water temps continue to fall. We had water temps of 57 degrees last weekend and, while Jigging/Rippin Raps continued to catch their fair share of fish, the average size of the fish we caught on swimbaits was much larger overall.

One presentation difference we’ve noticed vs. earlier in the year is that the fish we are encountering seem to want the swimbait moving along steadily on bottom using a heavy head. Earlier in the season, they definitely showed a preference for lighter jig heads which caused the bait to rise up on the retrieve and then fall more slowly when the bait was stalled. No stall is required these days. For those interested, we’re using 3/4 oz. Ike Swimbait heads paired with 4″ and 5″ Bubba Shads. We find that solid, hand poured plastic is heavier and allows us to get and keep baits at the depths we are fishing better than hollow body baits.

Hope you find this helpful. I may post one last up-date on our late fall results if that is of interest to anyone.

Brian

Attachments:

1. 

   image-2.jpeg
   

2. 

   image-1.jpeg
   

3. 

   image.jpeg
   

Following….

Thank you for the update and I hope we get another update later.

Fish porn at it’s best. Great catches

What kind of depths are you targeting with those lures nowadays?

And do you feel braid is needed for this presentation to drive those big hooks home?