How To Fish For Walleye | Walleye Fishing 2020

MWOutdoors took a Walleye trip to Northern Wisconsin, July 19th – July 21. It rained the entire time with many T-storms and downpours. But we were determined to find the Walleyes even in this stormy, humid, and hot weather.

We knew the Walleyes would most likely be tight on the bottom and in deeper water, at least until the weather changed for the Fall or a cold front came through. But for locating Walleyes you always want to be prepared with different fishing techniques; working different bottom depths, drop-offs, and for the suspended Walleye.

Here are the top 3 fishing techniques/presentations I use in catching Walleyes and they are very successful; Bandit 300s for walleyes suspended, Jig with a stinger hook and rigged with a nightcrawler, and a jig with a crappie skirt and tipped with a small leech.

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Bandit 300s

The Bandit is a great Walleye crank-bait and the 300 will reach down between 11ft – 13ft. Work the weed lines, drop-offs, and sandbars. On a cool early morning or evening start with the weed-lines, then work out onto the drop-offs and then on to your sandbars.

Lake clarity (visibility) will dictate the colors you will need to use. Darker lakes, try Yellow, Red, or bright Purple. Clear lakes start with Blues, Greens, and Silvers.

Humblebee 300

The Bandits are great for catching Walleyes and Bass. For Walleyes use the 200 & 300 series. I prefer the 300 as it dives down to 13ft.

Nightcrawlers

When using nightcrawlers I recommend tying a small treble hook, called a stinger hook, on to your jig. Hook the nightcrawler at the head or tail (not the broken end) on to your jig. Hook the broken end of the nightcrawler, that is if you’re using only half of a nightcrawler, which works just as good as a whole, on to the stinger hook.

Toss your jig and let it sink to the bottom. Now drap slowly across the bottom. Two drags techniques I use are sideways to keep it next to the bottom and straight up letting it bounce off the bottom. Both these techniques work great!

Nightcrawlers

1/2 nightcrawler works just a good as a full nightcrawler. Adding a Stinger Hook will improve your bite to catch ratio.

Small Leech

Take a jig, red or orange and, using your fishing line, tie on a treble hook hanging down 1.5” to 2”. Now place a Crappie Skirt on that jig and tip with a small leech. Toss this out and drag sideways or straight up. This and the nightcrawlers are the best Walleye presentation I have found, with the Bandit 300s coming in third.