Tricks for Weed Walleyes

After numerous conversations with several bass anglers in my area of Minnesota about all the walleyes they catch when working weeds for largemouth, I started experimenting a few years ago. Now, living and guiding in the Brainerd area, and fishing walleye tournaments, when I’m faced with the potential for weed walleyes, I immediately go to PowerBait and GULP!

Total Solutions Technique

Small walleyes are usually outside the weeds, while the most productive areas for the biggest fish are in the weeds. It’s not easy, but I’ve learned a few secrets that work. Berkley PowerBait and GULP! lines have new products all the time, and there are several that have worked well for me over the seasons. My favorites are 4 inch straight tailed style worms. This past season, the Berkley Dover 5-inch crawler in liver-red color worked wonders, but I removed an inch due to old habits. I just have more confidence in a 4 inch offering when it comes to finicky walleyes.

With the cold 2008 Spring, I pitched to emerging cabbage in six to seven feet early. Later in the season as the cabbage grew to 13-feet, I went inside, vertical jigging or making short casts to holes. This was accomplished with a mushroom style jig, 1/16th or 1/8th ounce, with an exposed hook. I feel I have a better hook-up percentage with this jig and also get more bites. It’s easy to snap the jig out of weeds when using a no-stretch super-line like FireLine. My retrieve is super slow. I lift-drop-shake-drop-lift, and experiment until the fish tell me what they want. If I’m fishing really shallow, I swim the jig.

Total Solutions Equipment

I prefer a 6 ½ foot medium action spinning rod for working jigs in the weeds. This allows me to power big fish and rip jigs off weeds. Smoke colored 8-pound test Berkley FireLine with 3-feet of 8-pound test Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon leader tied with a blood knot completes the package. As mentioned, I really like tipping my weed jig with straight-tailed worms like the Berkley GULP! Shaky Worm and one I really love – the Berkley 3-inch GULP! Fry in the pumpkinseed color.

This little gem is a great bait for any jigging presentation!