Written By - Chris Hustad - 06/8/2007
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Versatility – that\'s what makes walleye fishing so unique. Over the course of the open water season in the upper Midwest. I will typically fish for walleyes, pike, musky, smallmouth & largemouth bass, catfish, crappies, and a whole assortment of other species by accident. When I think about fishing for panfish, smallies or largemouth, I tend to think of casting. Same goes for pike and musky with occasional open water trolling. And for catfish it\'s deploying and waiting. But when it comes to fishing for walleyes, there\'s just so many ways to catch them on so many different bodies of water and techniques, I\'ve yearned to try as many as I can. It\'s the pursuit itself that drives me to keep fishing.

I was raised fishing walleyes in the natural lakes of Minnesota. There were times during the year where we\'d prefer a jig, using slip bobbers, or trolling Rapala shad raps. But more often then not we\'re using spinner or live bait rigs behind bottom bouncers and various slide weights. The only real question was the leader length and whether we\'re using minnows, crawlers, or leeches. I grew to love the style of using live bait rigs in the spring, especially during the month of May and June before the water temperature and boat traffic pick up for the summer. Whether we were back trolling, using our trolling motor, or drifting drift socks, it was the slowness and finesse that I liked most. I loved the \"tink\" off the bottom from the bottom bouncer running up the line and through the rod and up to my index fingertip. I could just picture that shiner swimming casually, or that crawler spinning in a perfect spiral just begging to become a meal. And when you\'d feel that slight tap or nibble from a potential walleye, the anticipation while I let out slack line is almost too much. Experience and patience go hand to hand with this fishing.We caught a lot of walleyes this way over the years in Minnesota, and as I grew older I found myself using those same techniques over in North Dakota in such waters as Lake Sakakawea, the Jamestown Reservoir, the McClusky Canal string, or small unknown prairie lakes. It also worked well on our trip to Lake Oahe each summer out of Mobridge, SD. But as I grew older and more independent I kept wanting more of a challenge, a new body of water to tackle and learn, and with each new scenario I had to learn to adapt or go hodme with nothing but a sunburn.

I can remember my first time fishing Devils Lake like it was yesterday. The amount of BIG fish that held shallow throwout the spring and into the summer was incredible. I grew up casting crankbaits in MN for pike and the occasional bass or walleye, but never have I used it for walleyes as much as Devils Lake. I learned how expensive casting up into flooded timber could be in a hurry, so we tried using slip bobbers more and pitching and swimming jigs to keep the bait in the zone longer...and it worked, well, at times it all did. With this body of water comes more opportunities then one could try in a lifetime it seems, given it\'s size. But targeting shallow water is something I wasn\'t able to do much growing up, and having a walleye explode on your crankbait or swimbait never gets old..

I remember my first white knuckle ride down the Missouri River. The sight of zip zagging through flooded trees, deadheads, and sandbars was almost too much to bear. In my home waters growing up in Minnesota\'s Becker county, running full in 2 feet of water was just something we didn\'t do with the potential for rocks, so it\'s always on your mind. But if you\'re a lake fisherman looking for a challenge, river fishing has it all. Through a lot of trial and error I realized the 90/10 rule applies here where 90% of the fish seemed to hold in 10% of the water. While electronics was the name of the game for finding the X everywhere I\'d fished before, being able to read the water\'s surface is the name of the game here. And learning the most efficient boat control while fishing a river is a lot like the game of poker; easy to learn but takes a lifetime to master. I can say the first attempts at fishing this river I brought my old school tactics to the water. We rigged up live bait rigs and spinners and worked holes and flats behind sand bars and we caught fish...but nothing too fast and furious. After drowning some bait for part of a season I quickly learned that trolling crankbaits to locate fish and jigs when we found them was a lethal combination. While I like the challenges of using crankbaits properly, I never enjoyed the assembly line approach to catching them. A lot more work, a lot less feel. But as most walleye anglers will say the jig is the most lethal walleye lure ever created. I\'ve found narrow holes barely the size of the boat that put out more fish than you could reel in a short period of time. The repetition of tap...tap...tap...WEIGHT...HOOKSET is a rush just as fun now as it was when I was a boy. And when that rod tip bends to the weight of a big walleye, my stomach about hits my throat. This is a style of fishing that every walleye angler learns at some point.

Something I\'ve been forcing myself to get better at each year is learning the precision of open water trolling. There\'s so many ways you can approach trolling deep from heavy bottom bouncers to 3-way rigs to planer boards to leadcore...I\'ve found the best thing to do is just jump in the deep end of the pool and experiment. If there\'s one thing that I feel an angler shouldn\'t short on their boat in terms of expense is their primary electronics, most importantly the graph. Newer models today allow you to cruise at high speeds while you look for fish and baitfish. This makes for the most efficient fishing instead of just aimless trolling. One of the first purchases I made when making the jump to open water trolling was the Troller\'s Bible. With this book, the lure in question, and a line counter reel, an angler can know exactly how much line to let out and what speed to troll at to put your lure at the depth you require. Typically it\'s a couple feet above the fish or baitfish on the screen. Everything you thought you knew about trolling before goes out the window to long hours of calculated testing in the bible. But when it all comes together and that rod bows back, you\'ll know that this tactic can be one of the best methods to catching BIG walleyes.

One of my most recent walleye stereotypes I had to remove from my brain was the notion that when in doubt, live bait is always best for fishing walleyes. Force yourself to try soft plastics and you may be pleasantly surprised. I put this mind myth to the test last year while fishing the many miles of canal systems connecting many small, North Dakota lakes. The canal was dredged and left behind what I would describe as a \"half pipe\" that I see skateboarders using for competition. The water would gradually drop down a bit from shore until it hit that lip, which was an almost perfect drop-off down to the bottom around 15-18 feet deep. I found that very few fish were located in the middle of the channel, but rather clung to the sides of the canal. While I tried using crankbaits with minimal success, I wanted more of a \"drop\" approach to my bait and I thought I\'d try something new. With no bait in the boat, I used an assortment of Gulp baits, and opted to try ¼-1/2 ounce jigs tipped with a 3-4 inch grub tail. After just a dozen casts and a couple of walleyes over 24\" did I realize how lethal this combination was. Almost every strike took place during the first 4-5 feet of free fall, so it was all a matter of managing your slack with your rod tip down and to be quick on the hook set as soon as you felt any weight. I picked up my biggest walleyes of the year using this method and I can assure you there will always be soft plastics in my walleye arsenal forever in the future.

The past couple decades has seen revolutionary breakthroughs in the way people fish walleyes. I\'m an avid reader of walleye magazines and I\'m constantly amazed at the ways fisherman are finding ways to target and catch them. Keeping an open mind and not being afraid to experiment has produced a lot of walleye fishing memories that are forever etched in my brain. And while the price of gas lately doesn\'t make traveling all that appealing, force yourself to try new waters and new ways to approach them. I\'m sure you\'ll find it as rewarding as I have in your experiences.