When people talk about jigging for walleyes, they immediately imagine a vertical presentation in a river, often in deep water, and usually in early spring. While that’s a standard jigging practice, that’s not the half of it. Jigs are versatile baits that produce under a variety of circumstances, and anyone who limits their jigging to vertical presentations is missing out on a lot of opportunities. Casting jigs, for example, is not only productive, but fun.

Casting jigs produces whenever the water isn’t hard (ice). It begins right away at ice-out. Casting jigs is a slow presentation that’s ideal when the water is cold. Start shallow and look for the warmest water you can find. Typically, the north shore is warmest because it gets the best sun exposure. If there’s a south wind, which is usually a warm wind, it will blow warm surface water into the shore.

Warm water is not only more comfortable for walleyes at this time of year; it’s more comfortable for baitfish, too.

I like to find patches or gravel or small rock in the early season because that’s where walleyes will spawn. Walleyes begin moving toward spawning areas even before the ice is off, and the process accelerates as the days grow longer and the water warms.

There is no such thing as too shallow. I will fish 6 inches of water when the open-water season begins, and that’s something I think a lot of anglers miss; they want to fish deep, because that’s where they’ve caught them before. But often the shallowest water is the warmest—especially on sunny days—and you can always move deeper if you’re not finding fish.

If they’re not there, move out—but don’t go too deep. I don’t fish anything deeper than about 8 feet in pre-spawn. And as a side note, there are many other species of fish in there, too; you’ll catch perch, bass, pike—a litany of fish. And it may go on for the whole season.

If I found fish, I stayed on them. Rather than leave an area, I’d make another pass and switch things up. I’d start out by changing the color of the plastic trailer—or the style of the trailer: paddle tail, curly tail, straight tail, etc. I’m hanging on the jig. Keep changing. You may try a color that you’ve never used in your life, and it will become your favorite color by the end of the day.

Or, I might change the color of the jig head I’m using. If you fish an area thoroughly, the fish have already seen what you’ve been showing them plenty of times. Show them something different; something different will attract new customers.

On that note, you can always add a spinner to your jig—either a conventional safety-pin style overhead spinner, or an underspin such as a Roadrunner jig. The spinner adds both flash and vibration to your presentation and that’ll attract the predators. Overhead spinners have another benefit: They make jigs more snag resistant. As the weeds begin growing, that’s where things are happening. The small critters that hang around weeds attract the minnows that’ll be in there feeding on them. If the food’s there, the walleyes are going to be there.

Wear polarized sunglasses. When you’re reeling your bait in, you’ll often see fish trailing it. They’ll come right up to the boat and then veer off. If you’re fishing with your buddy, immediately tell him/her to keep a sharp eye out for followers. (They should use a slightly different bait so you’re not showing fish the exact same thing.) He/she can flip a bait in front of that following fish before you finish reeling in your bait. And it doesn’t hurt to figure-eight your jig just like the muskie fishermen do. It works for walleyes, too.

Numerous jig head shapes work under different conditions. But when it comes to casting jigs, I prefer an old-fashioned round head jig works best.

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