Walleye Lures

[MoFisher22]

Done a lot of crappie and bass fishing but I’ve never caught an eye and im hoping to change that this spring. Going to be taking my kayak on a variety of both large and small tributaries of LOZ, Truman, Pomme and Stockton in search of them running. If you had two poles in the boat, what would you tie on to entice an eye to bite? TIA

[nomolites]

For me, a Reef Runner 600 and a slow death rig in warmer water and a suspending jerk bait and a jig in colder water.

Mike

[MoFisher22]

Thanks Mike I really appreciate the info. By jig do you mean just a simple hair jig? 

[nomolites]

That or a bare head, either tipped with something tasty or a swimbait like a Keitech when prospecting.

Mike

[Ranger520vx]

X2 on the suspending jerk bait usually catch a few in March and April fishing Pomme on jerk baits while bass fishing. Good luck to you.

[moguy1973]

7 hours ago, MoFisher22 said:

Thanks Mike I really appreciate the info. By jig do you mean just a simple hair jig? 

I've only been walleye fishing once but our jigs had curly tailed grubs with a chunk of night crawler tacked on for good measure.

[LoweSTX175]

Depends on the water. The best lure I've had is either a #9 FlickerShad and my personal favorite is using a Road Runner with a leach on it. Hot N Tots have worked as well.  Trolling is the best rout with the cranks, but I have really had success with leaches. The Stockton Forum has plenty of guys who are Walleye experts that I have really learned by reading their posts.

[kjackson]

I've not fished for walleyes in Missouri yet, so take this at face value.  I have done a lot of walleye fishing back in Washington and Oregon as well as quite a bit in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and I sure that some of what I've learned will work here.

This time of the year, I would rely on jigs, casting and doing the pull-and-drop in areas were I could make fish.  Curly-tail grubs and ringworms would work, or see if you can find some of the tubes that look like overgrown crappie tubes (the ones I have are a little over tw inches long). I think it's essential to tip the jig with something like a nightcrawler chunk or a minnow. Up north, they swear by  minnows this time of the year. 

After the spawn, I'd pick shad-style baits such as the Shad Rap (duh), Flicker Shad (really like this) or something like the discontinued Rebel Shad-R.  I would think that the minnow-style baits off a three-way rig would be good as well. As the water warms, more active baits would come into play: the Hot N Tot, the Mag Lip, the ¼-ounce Hot Lips (discontinued), Wally Diver and similar lures would be good.

Once the fish begin feeding actively, I'd rely on spinners a lot.  RPS has some articles posted on OAF that give you a lot of info and definitely are worth reading. Spinners can be so deadly that they are a must, IMO.  Of course, you can still use jigs during the summer months, and that is a fun way to fish. However, you really need to tip them with a nightcrawler chunk or a leech.  

And there are lots of other lures/techniques that are worth mentioning: jerk baits and blade baits like the Heddon Sonar or Silver Buddy can be deadly as will jigging spoons, and the Jigging Rap is also reported to be excellent. Rattle baits like the Rat-L-Trap and Red Eye Shad great. Three-way rigs trailing something like a FlatFish or a Floating Rapala should do well. And there were a couple of big tournaments won by guys trolling big spinnerbaits through standing timber on lead core.  

It's almost a situation where just about any reasonable lure will catch walleyes when it's matched to the situation and time of year.