Switchin it up…….

Aight…….So, I’ve been lead to believe that in the spring time “bigger is better” when it comes to bait selection. As most of the food the fish will be eating are larger, grown shad from the previous year. then later it is common to switch to a smaller presentation, such as smaller minnows or plugs……then you gotta throw in the leeches and crawler thing somewhere…….But when?…….when does the switch take place from one style of bait (presentation?) to the other?

Specifically, when does the switch occur on the river? When will this year’s batch of shadlings become large enough for a wallys appetite? and then what’s with the leeches and crawlers? why are they so effective and what are they supposed to imitate? it’s not like the bottom of the river is crawling with worms. It just seems to be a bit “un-natural” .

quite frankly……I’M CONFUSED

Wactha yall think?

WEEEELLLLLLLLL…….i’m still confused over here .

maybe my question’s are too confusing. Let me try to rephrase a bit……

When do leeches and crawlers become more effective than the ol jig n’minnow??? AND WHY???

come on now, don’t leave me hangin

Lots of good questions here Jake… I’ll do my best to take a stab at them and hopefully others will chime in.

If I’m looking for a big walleye right now, I still fish big. Biger crankbaits on dams, bigger minnows on 3-ways when targeting post-spawn piggies, mongo sized night crawlers fished on rigs. Not that a big walleye won’t eat a little morsel or that a small fish won’t smack a #9 shad rap… they will. But fishing a bit larger than normal = bigger fish than average.

When leeches and crawlers? We usually see a start of a switch from minnows to crawlers & leeches in late Arpil… once the water temps run up into the low – mid 50’s. I’ve caught fish on crawlers in January so this is NOT a hard and fast rule (are there any hard and fast rules in fishing?) but more a general guide line to follow.

What does a walleye think a leech or crawler is or represents? Walleyes don’t think and they don’t know a leech from their elbows. A famous fisherman quote is “the first time a walleye sees a night crawler is a split second before the anglers sets the hook.”

How would a night crawler get out on a mud flat on mille lacs lake? Obviously they don’t. But they do move like food. They smell like food. So walleyes eat them.

From the info I’ve read, invertebrates make up a huge portion of the walleye diet in most systems so I’m quite certain walleyes are very “comfortable” eating little things that wiggle and squirm whenever the opportunity presents itself.

When does the young of the year forage base get to “eating size” for the walleyes? I’d say some time in July most years.

Great topics here Jake. Hopefully some of the others will spot this and throw in their 2-cents worth.

I must have been typing as you posted your revised question!

Thanks James……I guess my inpatients is showing…….BUT, that’s exactly the type of stuff I was looking for.

So here’s another “Brain Buster” for ya…..why do most guys almost exclusively go to the leeches and/or worm route during the summer months? I know I fished a couple club tourneys last summer, and was told “don’t even bother with the minnows, they ain’t bitin on minnows” …….well what do you mean “they ain’t bitin on minnows”? Why wouldn’t they be bitin on minnows? That’s exactly what they eat all year round, isn’t it?

Is it more of a bait shop availability thing than anything? I know it’s more than difficult to find leeches from November-March.

Most lakes are loaded with minnows,troutperch minnows, shiners,shad. Take a look around the shoreline when the summer temps get here. There are a million of the little devils. By using leeches and crawlers you are giving the eyes a variety. When I am fishing an area that everyone is using leeches I will use crawlers. Same idea, give them something differn’t.
You are right though, out of the three baits minnows are harder to care for in the summer.

Very good second question here Jake… and not one I’m sure can be answered definitively.

Why, when minnows are most abundant in the mid-summer months and the fish should be most accustomed to feeding on minnows, does the minnow bite get so slow?

Again, from what I’ve read, even in the summer months, invertebrates make up a dominate proportion of the walleye diet. And in the summer living is easy. Just think about how easy life would be for an efficient predator when the mayflies are hatching. There’s literally food EVERYWHERE around them and the catching is easy. Not that I want to give anyone the impression that these fish aren’t feeding on shad and shiners throughout the summer, we know they are. But in the summer, the invertebrates are readily available when in the winter, the numbers of invertebrates are very low… and the cold water temps make the baitfish lethargic and much easier to catch for the large predator species.

Just some thoughts there Jake. There’s so much going on in a system with migrations related to spawning, water temps affecting metabolism and the availability of food sources that would be constantly changing throughout the season that I doubt anyone could pin down w/o a doubt why a walleye chooses one food item over another at a given time of year.

I do know, if I want to catch walleyes, I can leave the fatheads at home in the summer and be quite confident that I haven’t handicapped myself by doing so.

As always James, you are a huge wealth of knowledge!! Thanks for being kind enough to share with us!

Yo Jake,
These are questions I have often pondered also. I gave up trying to figure out the “why” of the minnow bite dying in summer. It is so much easier to throw the crawlers and leeches in my garage fridge and check them once every couple days than to try keeping minnows alive during hot weather, plus I’ve found that live bait in general is almost always my 3rd choice in summer. I would much prefer pitching jigs/ringworms, and casting or trolling crankbaits, than live bait. On a tough bite day, such as after a cold front, I will sometimes start with live bait on a Lindy style rig with floater to entice lethargic fish, but any other time the live bait generally stays in the cooler for the “just in case” insurance factor it gives me.
One thing that is so great about our pastime, the more you learn, the more you realize there is so much more to learn! Can’t think of a better place to learn, unless maybe you have a couple pro’s for neighbors or relatives! I’m not sure that would be as good as asking here anyway. Lot’s of knowledgeable river rats on this sight !
Rooster

See now this is why I like using willow cats. As soon as the bait stores have them I use them. I guess this is my swith up plan. Small cats = big walleyes, big willow cats = bigger walleyes. And from what I have been told in the past about willow cats are ” walleyes hate them and they dont bite for hunger, they bite to kill them” I don’t know how true this is but it sounded good at the time. Can anyone help out on the willow cat angle?
Thanks
Jigger

Other than I love using them. They do seem to get whacked pretty good when the get bit.

Jigger– I have heard the same thing, about walleyes trying to kill them. But, OH what a bait. I have some now, went fishing wingdams last Monday and first cast with a cat, bang a nice walleye. Haven’t had a cnace to go since, but maybe tonite or this week for sure.
John