Jigging for Spring Walleyes and Saugers 3-15-05

Now, is the time of the year when anglers in Wisconsin and much of the upper Midwest are fishing rivers for pre and post spawn walleyes and saugers. Walleyes will normally spawn when the water temperature is between 42 and 45 degrees in the Badger State. The first fish to arrive at the spawning grounds are the smaller males that initially outnumber females 7 to 1. Many of the females have already migrated upriver in the fall and winter and staged in deeper water. These older females will stage in deeper water, close to their spawning grounds till the water and conditions are right for their spring ritual, which is completed in just one night.

Ideal spawning areas are wind-swept, rocky shorelines, flooded wetlands or inlet streams with hard gravel bottoms. A successful walleye spawn depends on the spring flooding of their spawning grounds; dry spring weather has an adverse effect on the spring’s hatch and overall walleye population. This year is still a question mark with snow on the ground in most of the state and temperatures way below normal. Hardy souls have been fishing for almost a month, but most of it has been a day here and a day there without any prolonged fishing. The Wisconsin River, like most others, in the state is low and waiting for the snow melt-down and spring rains.

It’s March now in the Midwest and Wisconsin, and hardy anglers are starting to fish the rivers for early walleyes. The temperature has been way below normal and there’s still snow on the ground in most of this state. The last decade has seen many mild winters where fishing rivers began late in February and was in full swing by the middle of March. Conditions can change rapidly this time of year, so I’m hoping that the weather warms soon. It’s possible that by the time you read this the fish will be active and biting. But, as of now the water temperature is below 40 degrees and the fish you catch are still hard and mostly males.

How that you’ve gotten a little information on the walleye’s behavior this time of year, how do experienced anglers go about catching the largest member of the perch family? One of the best tried and true methods for catching spring river walleyes is by jigging live bait alone or jigging with a plastic twister-tail, grubtail, or shad tail on a jig with minnows and by itself. One of the best ways to jig for spring walleyes is to slip the current with your boat. By slipping the current, I mean that the bow of the boat is pointed upriver into the current and either a bow or transom mounted trolling motor (Minn Kota’s are great and always run) is then used to slow your boat down to a speed that allows you to vertically jig for the bottom- orientated fish. After a little experimentation, you’ll find the right speed for your trolling motor that allows you to keep your line and jig straight up and down for vertical jigging as you slowly go downriver.

Keeping your jig vertical is the only way that you are going to be able to feel that slight tap-tap of a walleye. Ideally, you want to use as light a jig as possible for good feeling, but you have to use a jig heavy enough to maintain the bottom’s feeling. You want your jig down below on the bottom or just above, not hundreds of feet downriver with you having no feeling or touch. A little added weight from a slightly heavier jig won’t make any difference to a walleye. Open the bail on your reel and let the line out and the jig fall till it hits the bottom. Then, engage your reel and bring in enough line so that you can raise your jig a foot off the bottom. Keep raising and lowering your rod while keeping bottom contact. Even a small male can flare its gills and suck in a jig weighing ¾ of an ounce and blow it back out without you even knowing it! The moral of this story is to use a jig that allows you to feel the bottom while keeping your line vertical.

The gear that you need for spring walleyes are a good quality graphite rod about 6 foot in length with a medium or medium-light action and a fast tip (G.Loomis, Fenwick make good ones). I use an ultra-light reel (a Daiwa SS 700) spooled with 8 pound Berkley XT monofilament in the green color to match the stained water. Directly tie any jig to your line and make sure that you have a good assortment of jigs in all styles, weights, and colors. There are many kinds of jigs that work well in rivers, but two styles are more suited to river fishing. When vertical jigging, you want a jig that stands up on the bottom and presents your bait naturally to the fish. The normal round-head jig that you commonly see is not the best jig for river fishing and vertical jigging. The round-head jig when baited with either a fathead minnow or a plastic tail falls over on its side when fished on the bottom. This is hardly a “natural” looking bait to a sly walleye. A stand-up jig like the Bait Rigs Slo-Poke or Odd-Ball have a flat bottom, so the jig rests standing up with the hook in position and the minnow presented naturally. Most bait shops in the areas where you river fish for spring ‘eyes have jigs that are made locally and suited to the conditions. There are flatter-style jigs that cut the water better than a round-headed jig and allow you to get on and near the bottom with a lighter jig weight. Often in the spring, I’ll fish a jig (I like the slow fall of the Slo-Poke jig) and fish with just plastic grubs, shadtails, or ring-worms. The plastic allows the jig to fall slower thus attracting fish better and giving them a chance to see your offering. You can bite off the tail of a grub, keeping just plastic on the jig which again helps slow the fall. This time of the year, I use a 4 or 5″ inch plastic tail because the forage the fish are feeding on is larger now and before there are any hatches of the year. The size minnow that I buy varies, but I try to get fatheads that range from 3 to 4 inches. Some days, walleyes might like one size better than another, so be sure to have different sizes of bait.

As I’m slipping down the river, I’ve said that I like to be able to tap the bottom with my jig, keeping it as vertical as possible while maintaining bottom contact. You should be able to tell the composition of the bottom by your feel of tapping the river’s bottom as you travel downriver. Slipping the river, while covering water and tapping the bottom constantly should put you in and on fish. Walleyes have a tendency to lounge in deeper water and as the sun goes down, move to shallower water to feed. This time of year, you can find walleyes in water less than 5 feet deep and looking for food after the sun sets. Also, if you have a cloudy day walleyes can feed at anytime including the middle of the day.

Anchoring is another way to catch spring walleyes. The key is to have enough anchor rope that you can change your location by letting out or bringing in line. Be sure to have at least 100 feet of anchor rope in your boat. When fishing this way, I fan cast a jig and minnow or plastic all around the area where I’ve set up and slowly retrieve the jig dragging it so slow across the bottom. Now and then stop retrieving and let the bait just sit . Remember, that you’re river fishing, so you don’t have to do anything to give your bait action. The current gives all baits automatic action from the flowing river water.

A few more tips and you should be set; try fishing behind and around any structure that breaks the current, rip-rap shorelines, culverts, bridges, feeder creeks, river turns, and back-eddies, wood, boulders, and bridges all are good spots to try fishing. There are many good locations besides fishing directly below the dam with all the other boats. Experiment fishing down-river looking for areas that might hold fish because not all fish will migrate as far as the dam.

Information; Guide Gary Engberg (608) 795-4208

Guide Wally Banfi (608) 644-9823

Guide Tony Puccio (608) 845-5410

Guide Ron Barefield (608) 838-8758