The Presentation Puzzle

by Jason Mitchell

Walleye fishing is often the process of elimination. As anglers, we eliminate spots where we don’t show fish with our electronics. When we can see fish on the Vexilar, we then begin a process of eliminating unproductive presentations until we find something that flips the trigger. Productive lures and techniques can change from day to day and even fish to fish. As the sun climbs higher in the sky, a technique that worked only an hour before can become unproductive. As an angler, don’t be stubborn or rigid. The people who catch the most walleyes this winter are flexible and their game plans are fluid. Productive tactics and locations are a work in progress. Change is constant.

There is however a method behind the madness. The obvious key is finding the fish. As locations get beat up from fishing pressure and fish continue to drift from one pattern to another... finding fish is half the battle. When we first drill in on a fresh school of fish, we can often find at least a few of the fish (often the larger fish) to be aggressive. We often hunt for fish with spoons or swim lures that get to the bottom quickly and have enough flash and water displacement to attract fish. Lures that fit this bill include the classic Salmo Chubby Darters and the Northland Buckshot Rattle Spoons. Both of these lures have caught so many walleyes that nothing more needs to be said. Most anglers know what they need to use, but struggle with how to use them or the application. Aggressive fish seem to want the lure pounding or moving in a somewhat predictable cadence.

The worst thing you can do with one of these lures when dealing with aggressive fish is to quit jigging when a fish approaches. If the fish charges up to the lure and stalls, rip and raise the lure higher. Triggering fish becomes a game of cat and mouse where you are actually reading the attitude of the fish by watching the Vexilar. When a fish is moving, the mark indicating the fish vibrates. When a fish stops and floats, the mark will look flat with no fluttering. This is how you read the mood of a walleye. Some fish will dart in fast and you can identify the intensity or aggressiveness of the fish by watching the signal. Often right before a walleye strikes, the fish will arch its back and you can actually pick up this movement as well. Aggressive fish often need that harder jig stroke or cadence to flip their trigger. We have watched walleye after walleye swim right by a dead rod to hit an aggressively pounded lure. These fish don’t even see the dead rods as they get so focused on the lure. The productive stroke or jigging cadence however can actually vary across different bodies of water.

What I have noticed from my travels is that clear water where palegic baitfish (smelt, ciscoes, tullibies) are present often finds anglers using longer or taller jig strokes. Stained water and inland lakes where yellow perch, invertebrates, shiners and other minnows are prominent menu items often seem conducive for a tighter jig stroke where the stroke might be less than a foot in some cases. Regardless of the stroke necessary to bring fish in, sealing the deal is often similar across the board. Fish that don’t slam the initial fall can often be coaxed to hit the lure as it rocks or pounds in place. There are many variations of this close up trigger that can be experimented with. Basically imagine a hard jig in a three inch window that actually causes the lure to pound and flash or this move can be toned down to where the spoon or lure hangs with just the treble hook and minnow head rocking and bouncing slightly.

One of the best tools for gaining this mental picture is an underwater camera. Often, a camera isn’t all that functional when you are actually fishing for walleyes because a lot of walleye fishing revolves around low light conditions where the camera doesn’t work that well (I haven’t had good luck using the lights after dark). What I can tell you however is that a camera can give you an invaluable understanding of fish movements, bottom composition and how fish approach your presentation. Some of these lessons have to be relearned all the time but the point is that the camera is good tuition. You won’t use the camera all the time but you can gain some valuable information and one such lesson is how to properly work lures. Vexilar recently answered ice angler’s prayers by developing a high quality underwater camera called the Vexilar Fish Scout. This new high quality camera was tested and designed to be much more durable than underwater cameras sold by other manufacturers in the past.

New spots, dense schools of fish, lots of fish, shortage of forage, stable weather, there are many reasons why walleyes are sometimes really aggressive. In a perfect world, every walleye would always have a chip on its shoulder. We don’t live in a perfect world and there are also situations where aggressive presentations turn fish off and actually scare them away. Let’s go to the other end of the spectrum. The trump card for difficult fish has always been live bait below a dead rod or dead stick... old school... bobbers, plain hook and split shot. Some angler’s customize their presentation with colored hooks and pinch off pieces of the minnow’s tail to cause the minnow to struggle erratically to trigger bites. Other tricks include using a small lead head jig or spoon like a Northland Forage Minnow Jig that essentially anchors a minnow in place.

Minnows themselves can be scrutinized with small fathead minnows sometimes closing the deal; other situations require a flashy shiner or hard pulling rainbow to seal the deal. Anglers can either use a slip bobber or a rod actually designed for dead sticking with a heavy backbone and really light tip. Dead sticking rods are generally placed on a pail or in a rod holder and an angler can see the bite by watching the rod tip drop down. Setting the hook with a dead rod is a matter of simply lifting the rod. Some of the top dead sticking rods include the 28 and 48 inch Jason Mitchell Elite Series Meat Sticks. The tips of these rods are light enough were you can actually watch the minnow get excited and start to struggle as a fish approaches but drop with little resistance after a walleye gulps down the minnow. Plenty of backbone insures solid hook ups.

While jigging for aggressive walleyes is often a one rod and Vexilar situation, these tough bites require the angler to use as many rods as legally possible. Monitoring the situation with your electronics is still important as changes and adjustments are often necessary. When using more than one rod however especially with a handful of anglers, the goal is to spread the rods out where you can effectively monitor them. Tip ups are an option but light walleye hits, cold weather and tip ups can be a tough combination at times. One trend I am seeing a lot is anglers using the new Clam Hub Style shelters. These Hubs don’t take up any room to transport but when they are set up, they can cover a pretty impressive amount of ice and are still wind resilient and comfortable. Inside a hub, anglers can spread out six to eight rods or more and work a rock pile or point for example and these guys are kicking walleyes when the bite becomes tough and the fish demand the dead rods. Hub style shelters just give you so much more room (when spreading out dead rods is the ticket to catching fish) especially if there are any elements to contend with.

Successfully catching walleyes through the ice is a game of adjusting game plans and changing techniques until walleyes start flopping around on the ice. There is no lure for example, location, or even lake that will always produce. By having the right mindset and equipment and knowing how to use that equipment, anglers can gather information, make changes and ultimately catch more fish. Remember that staying on top of fish is a work in progress.