The slow death system of catching fish has been a huge success for us walleye anglers these past few years. Righteously so, this tactic catches the snot out of walleyes. Success wise, there is another little tactic that is great at catching us some walleye too. One that I like to call Slow Fall. This tactic brings us to the realm of jigging and is dynamite when you would think a switch from artificial to live bait is needed.
Total Solutions Technique
Jigging by far is my favorite technique to catch walleyes and I am always fine-tuning something or trying new tactics to make jigging even more successful for me. For success, I found throughout my career the biggest key to getting bit often is the fall rate of the jig. Be it faster or slower, it does matter almost all of the time, but fall rate is something that most overlook. Especially during those days when you’re dealing with cold front conditions and most would say the only way you can catch a fish is by wiggling something alive in front of them. To me, nah, I think by slowing my jig down a little bit more I can still catch as much fish.
To accomplish the Slow Fall technique I change two parts to my jigging set-up. The first is line. If I really need to get slower, I switch out line types, going from FireLine to Mono. Mono by nature is thicker in diameter and will slow the descent speed of the jig. Secondly I look at my tail type. Looking for one that creates more resistance and in turn slows the speed down. Combine the two and you are catching walleyes during those times when all think you’re nuts out there without live bait.
Total Solutions Equipment
Now, it is no secret, Berkley Gulp! Minnows are my go-to when jigging. But being streamlined, they did not help in slowing the fall rate of the jig, so I had to look for alternative body shapes. Berkley, knowing this went to the drawing board and came up with what we needed in the form of the Gulp! Floating Minnow. It has the same attributes of the original Gulp! Minnow, but is infused with properties that give the bait floatation. In fact, exactly enough flotation to slow our jigs for a better presentation during tough times. The Gulp! Floating Minnow comes in both 3 and 4 inch models and the same great colors as the original to match us to any fishing situation where Slow Fall is needed.
Line wise, again, we are looking for mono to create some resistance for us. But, we are jigging, and we still want to have the best possible feel, so a good line is a must. For this, I turn to Berkley Trilene Sensation. Sensation is super-sensitive for a mono and allows me to feel that tell tale tick of a walleye jig bite. Sensation is a bit thinner than other mono and for these extreme situations I will always have an extra spool in the boat with 8 or 10lb test to give the best fall rate for all jig sizes