A mystique surrounds walleyes. Folks conjure up that they’re hard to catch, and that can be true. They also praise the eating qualities of the fish, and for good reasons.

Our group enjoys a good success rate when fishing for walleyes. Yes, we have tough days, but on average, we do better than most. Our philosophy: Keep things simple and fun for all.

Rivers

Walleyes and rivers go hand-in-hand. In spring, they travel upstream to spawn and then return to the lake they came from. We’re bleed with stable walleye populations in the St. Joe, Kalamazoo, Grand and Muskegon Rivers.

The last Saturday of April is the traditional opener in our area. However, the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers are open all year. If you’ve never fished these two rivers, you need to.

Most anglers vertically jig the big rivers on the east side of the state. Two tips are equally as important.

First, point the trolling motor into the wind. No exceptions. This is the only way that you will be able to keep your line vertical and match the speed of the current at the bottom of the river.

Second, use a size 10 treble stinger hook. You can buy pre-made stinger hooks or make your own; my favorite length is four inches. Homemade or store-bought, make sure that the leader is stiff. You want the stinger hook to hold straight back, rather than droop. We like using stinger hooks that are a tad longer than the plastics being used.

Drop your jig down, hit bottom, and then lift up 3 to 6 inches. You always need to know where the bottom. Let out more lines, or reel some in, until your lure barely scratches bottom.

Then, anytime that you don’t feel the bottom, set the hook. When lifting up, if you feel deadness, set the hook.

Keep your rod tip close to the water so you can set the hook with more authority. Nearly all jig anglers that I know of today use some type of braided line. Some use 6/2, others 10/4. We use a hi-vis color. You can see your line move easier with hi-vis.

Another great technique that rarely gets a second look on the big rivers is fishing vertically with a Mack’s Smile Blade and a slow death hook. Thread a ‘crawler on the hook up to your knot. Leave one inch of crawler daggling behind the hook bend and pinch off the balance.

We like adding a glow bead before the hook, and glow blades on the rig. In early season, we use the .8 blade, and as things heat up, we move to the 1.1 size.

Rivers on the west side of the state are shallower. Early in the season, we enjoy fishing close to Lake Michigan. We start at the mouth of the river and work our way upstream a few miles.

I suggest drifting this rig using a three-way rig. If snagged, you rarely lose more than the sinker. ‘Crawler rigs also work great for trolling downstream. Deep holes and deep runs are best, along with any bridge that you can find. Walleyes are often found just behind a pillar that deflects the current. Watch your graph to see if there is a washed-out depression downstream of the bridge.

Marabou, hair, or bucktail jigs tipped with a minnow can be hands-down best choices in frigid rivers in spring. I also love fishing Northland Whistler Jig heads. On the big deep rivers, we vertical jig with the 1-ounce models (which was recently discontinued. On the shallower rivers on the west side of the state, we either cast and hop in, or we throw it out twenty feet and lift the jig up and let it flutter down. The propeller blade draws the fish in.

If you concentrate on just a few things, your walleye success will go up. Just remember that our local rivers hold some fish all year. Stop in at Bob’s Gun and Tackle for your outdoor products and fishing info.

Lakes

In summer, we keep things simple when walleye fishing lakes: Casting jigs, casting slip bobbers, or drifting some type of a three-way rig with a slow death hook.

Basically, we look for weeds, suspended fish or for fish on very deep flats, depending on the time of year. Weeds of any type can hold walleyes all season. Suspended fish are vastly overlooked, as are the deepest flats in a lake.

Cabbage weeds are my first choice, but any weeds can hold fish. At opening day, look for large flats with weed growth from one to three feet tall. As the season moves, forward look for weeds that run tight to a drop-off.

I enjoy casting jigs around and over the weeds. We normally we use 3-inch walleye/bass grubs. Charlie Brewer grubs and slider heads are my first choice. My second choice is Mister Twister tails. A good jig angler can pick apart a weed bed, tell you how tall and how thick the weeds are, and if there are any openings.

Captain Todd Venema of Third Coast Charters (231-740-0304) concentrates on weeds all season. He targets the flats early in the season and slowly works his way out to long points where the weeds meet the drop-off. Bonus monster ‘gills are caught working these areas.

Around the first of July, look for deep flats. On lakes like Muskegon and White Lake, these flats might be in the 20- to 30-foot range. On lakes like Hamlin Lake, we pop walleyes in the 60- to 80-foot depths. Super-deep water with some current holds plenty of fish. The mid-day hours are best. We start around 11 am and fish until 4 pm. Rarely have we met another boat fishing this super deep-water haunt. If fish are near bottom, we fish 3-way rigs with Smile Blades.

Suspended fish are overlooked. We use our side scan and start maybe 50 feet from the weed line. I set my side scan at 60 feet for each side of the boat, and also scope out long points.

.

Because more anglers are using forward sonar (Live Imaging, Live Scope,) and learning how to use side scan, anglers are finding more opportunities to use a slip float.

The key to a slip float is in the balance. Weight down your float with either a jig or a few small split shots. A properly balanced float will have just the tip of this float above the surface, making it easy for a fish to pull it under.

We use a 1/8-ounce jighead with either a live minnow or a leech, tied to an 8-pound leader. Above the leader, we tie in a barrel swivel. And above that, we add a 1/8- or 3/8-ounce egg sinker to help get the bait down faster and fish more efficiently.

The beauty of slip floats is that anyone can fish them. Fishing a slip float with a leech on the business end will draw tons of action from gamefish. Slip floats can be fished in depths from 2 feet to 40 feet, with just about anything on the business end.

These tactics will keep you on walleyes all season. Give ‘em a try.