In mid-May, my son, my dad and I were on a small prairie lake in south-central Minnesota. This lake has a maximum depth of 22 feet, is mostly soft bottom, and has a good weed line around most of it. We headed to this lake on a day that would be too windy for bigger lakes like Mille Lacs, but could lead to a pretty good walleye bite all morning on this smaller lake. We started trolling the windy side of the lake, with 2-foot waves slamming against a weed line that followed the shoreline and formed an inside turn before extending out along a point.

We put a #7 Flicker Shad, a #7 Rapala Shad Rap, and a #7 Jointed Shad Rap to work just above bottom along the edge of the gradually-filling-in weed line in 12 feet of water. As we continued to catch walleyes and pike, we were able to shorten our trolling pass to about a 300-yard stretch from the tip of the point past the inside turn. That cloudy, windy morning, color didn’t matter, nor did the bait being jointed or not. Our first three baits all caught fish and stayed in the water all morning. We caught around a dozen 14- to 16-inch walleyes and boxed a fresh meal, and released about another dozen pike, one bass, and one crappie. The Amped-powered Minn Kota/Humminbird system came through like a champ again, battling the waves and keeping us on course and at the right speed.

This trip demonstrates a very effective, early-season walleye strategy: trolling crankbaits relatively close to shore. In addition to rocky shoreline flats and near-shore weed lines in these two examples, this technique works on shoreline gravel and sand flats as well.

This technique could range from trolling shallow-running minnow baits like Rapala’s Original Floating Minnows, Husky Jerks, or X-Raps over 4- to 6-feet-deep sand and gravel flats, to trolling deeper, shad-style baits like the Shad Rap or Flicker Shad along developing weed lines, at or off the first main shoreline break in as much as 16 feet of water. Deeper lakes with clear water will likely see you fishing deeper than on shallower, more stained-water lakes. Wind and cloud conditions will also impact which flats, and where on the flats, that you will fish.

The four main keys for this early-season trolling approach are:

First, find warmer water with baitfish activity near shoreline spawning areas.

Second, figure out the depth the fish are most abundant at. Depending on water temps and weather conditions, there could be walleyes up shallow, further out, and even hanging on or below the first major drop-off. Side-finding and Live Imaging sonar technologies can help identify areas fish are most concentrated in, or at least the depth they are scattered about in.

Third, match the right diving depth and action of lure as well as color. Diving depth can be figured out quickly, but you will have to experiment with the shape and action of your crankbaits, as well as the color, until the walleyes show you what they want.

Fourth, get the speed right. Generally, I am moving 1.5 to 1.8 mph with minnow baits, and 1.8 to 2.2 mph with shad baits. The colder the water, the slower I generally start out moving. I have had some good trips pulling a Rapala X-Rap over 4- to 5-foot sand flats at 1.2 mph, with subtle pulls forward of the bait every 10 seconds, allowing it to fall back to wobble along before the next pull forward. Again, you will have to experiment to see what the fish want.

For rods, reels, and line, I like a 7-foot to 7’6” medium-power, moderate-action baitcast rod paired with a baitcast reel spooled with 10-pound-test Berkley Fireline Crystal. My St. Croix/Abu Garcia combos in this length and action allow me to feel and see the swimming action of even subtle minnow baits, so I know if they get fouled with weeds; and provide plenty of power to fight and land walleyes and bonus pike and bass. The soft action also allows a fish to inhale the crankbait more before the rod loads up, giving you much more consistent hookups than you would get with a stiffer, faster-action rod. The thin diameter, no-stretch Fireline gets baits deeper without as much line out, and also helps telegraph the action of the lure up to the rod tip.

Set your drag a bit loose at first with the no-stretch line, and don’t set the hook hard, whether you are holding the rod or taking it out of a rod-holder. Just tighten up the line and start fighting the fish. You can tighten or loosen the drag as you fight the fish, depending on how big it is and how much pressure it is putting on.

When early-season walleye fishing gets started, pull out the crankbaits and cover some water to find and catch post-spawn walleyes. In Minnesota, this starts with the opening of our season in mid-May and continues through early June, depending on the lake and prevailing weather, weed growth, and water temps. It is a fun way to fish, and don’t let anyone tell you it is “simple” or boring. If you are doing it right, you are constantly making changes to your location, depth, speed, and baits until you get dialed in to a pattern that puts walleyes in the net.

What worked yesterday won’t always work again today, so you have to be active and flexible. The results will be worth it.

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