Well it is safe to say spring is here. With the unseasonably warm temps the late ice fishing for walleyes was incredibly tough. The good thing with that is you can get the boat out sooner. We have been trolling and open water jigging for walleyes the past two weeks with good results.
Trolling for walleyes has been productive but jigging offers those who are more hands on to experience the great walleye action Door County has to offer. It is a very simple technique. Casting a 1/4-3/8 jig with a artificial minnow in 15-25FOW and then ripping the jig across the bottom and then pausing. In this type of situation the fish will hit on the pause, but occasionally you will have a over aggressive fish hit it on the rip. I call it rip jiggin.
Trolling is a totally different application. Using planner boards with line counter reels is crucial to this form of fishing. Using stick baits or shad style baits work the best. Fishing the rocky shoreline just like jiggin but instead your moving. The biggest component to this is how much line from the lure to the board. This helps to determine the diving depth of the lure. On your first couple trys you may snag up and loose baits but its the learning curve. Fishing 15-25 in the early evening and sliding up shallow 5-15fow at night.
The water temp is 42-44 and it is mid spawn right now. Some fish have dropped others have not. All fish in these photos have been released. I think the bite will heat up even more the next week or two as we slide in the the post spawn feed pattern. Thanks and good fishing
Capt. JJ
Nice fish and pictures JJ.
Always good to see a report from Door county.
Nice job on the door cty eyes.
Curious re rip jiggin as I’ve not done it and both you and Tom Gursky mentioned it. Are you casting and rippin back to the boat or dragging at a faster clip than normal and rippin? What is your typical speed if dragging and jig weight in say 20fow with no current?
Anything anyone else would like to share on this technique either here or PM would be great.
Thanks,
Grey Beard
I dont usually rip or “snap jig” early in the year… Most of our early spring eyes come from vertical jigging in a river environment…controlling your boat speed to keep your line vertical and a few inches off the bottom.
In the clear waters of Door County a walleye can see a jig a lot farther and door cty eyes method sounds right on to me…the technique is similar to working a slashbait (jerk bait) for Smallies up ther in the pre spawn.
Nice fish!
Thanks for sharing JJ, this is great. Big fish ho!
Joel