View Full Version : Big baits for big walleye
OTTAFISH
01-20-2010, 08:42 PM
Anyone ever try large plastics like 6 in with heavy jig heads maybe 2 oz to target bigger walleyes.
fishguyd
01-21-2010, 09:39 AM
dont need 2 oz, but for what its worth a big walleye will gladly eat a musky bait, 6 inch bait will catch a 3 lb 'eye, they are more agressive than anyone gives them credit for, good luck.
Pooch
01-21-2010, 08:01 PM
We sometimes use 6-9" live sucker minnows on a 3/8 ounce jig and the walleye really scarf them up at times, but not any more than regular minnows. I've never caught a large walleye on a big sucker minnow, but the average size is (maybe) slightly larger.
We also troll larger minnow imitators (6" and larger) and catch all sizes of walleye. A buddy casts large plastic worms and catches good numbers of walleye. Large and eaters.
Most guys that troll spinners have caught a lot of walleye that are no larger than the spinner itself. So they will hit about anything they can get their mouth around and sometimes even more.
You don't need a heavy jig to make it work. Most likely anything over 3/8 oz. would make it more difficult for the walleye to pick it up.
Save the two ounce jigs for deep lake trout along with those sucker minnows.
Pooch
Pezman38
01-22-2010, 08:40 AM
dont need 2 oz, but for what its worth a big walleye will gladly eat a musky bait, 6 inch bait will catch a 3 lb 'eye, they are more agressive than anyone gives them credit for, good luck.
Fishguy is right on, here is some proof for ya. I caught this 23" eye in Canada on a 10" perch colored suick casting for Pike.
As far as using large plastics read up on In-Fisherman as Doug Stange loves to use swimbaits on big eyes. I have read at least 3 articles in the last two years from In-Fisherman about swimbaits and big eyes.
Pezman38
01-22-2010, 08:43 AM
Had to resize the picture to upload it.
Raybob
01-22-2010, 09:45 AM
IMHO -the size of the bait (large to small) is upto the Eye (not the angler) for any given day/time/location... be versatile, listen to the Eyes...
We got tired of catching walleye, so we decided to power troll with red and white big daredevils. We caught a lot of big walleyes . surprised the **** out of me. Have caught them on smaller ones also.
Oh yea. If you wanna know about swimbaits just ask the Stangster.
AllenW
01-22-2010, 01:37 PM
Last weekend after a in fisherman show I went out to the garage and burned a swimbait...not sure if I irked the fish gods or made them happy, but I enjoyed it...:bigsmile:
Nailed about a 4 pound wallie on a very large Bang-O-B many years ago, would have been happy but it was during a musky tourny..
Al
Pooch
01-23-2010, 03:13 PM
Another quick comment about large baits.
Like the other posts say, we catch far more walleyes than one would expect throwing big Daredevels at the shore for northerns. Even in late July and August.
Besides proving that walleye take much larger baits than some folks realize, it proves that walleye are much shallower than some of us assume even at that time of the year. Doesn't have to be dirty water or overcast.
Pooch
FishDr
01-23-2010, 05:29 PM
Anyone ever try large plastics like 6 in with heavy jig heads maybe 2 oz to target bigger walleyes.
I've tried it in Colorado with some luck. Walleyes to 30" will eat 8" Huddleston Deluxe trout (~ 4 oz) and 8" BBZ-1 swimbaits (5 oz) at night, sometimes right off the surface. You just have to be willing to use the right tackle (a musky rod ought to work) and put the time in. I've also caught a handful of smaller (18 - 24") walleyes on the same baits. Here are a links to a couple of the fish - keep in mind that in each case, the lures are 8" long.
30" walleye on 8" BBZ-1
http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r326/camyrick/BBZ-1_30eye.jpg
30" walleye on 8" Huddleston trout (ROF 5)
http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r326/camyrick/Hudd-30eye.jpg
sdlabman
01-23-2010, 06:35 PM
WOW, doc, beautiful fish!
Way to work 'em! Congrats!
Further North
01-23-2010, 08:35 PM
Last weekend after a in fisherman show I went out to the garage and burned a swimbait...not sure if I irked the fish gods or made them happy, but I enjoyed it...:bigsmile:
That hadda stink.
Further North
01-23-2010, 08:39 PM
I've tried it in Colorado with some luck. Walleyes to 30" will eat 8" Huddleston Deluxe trout (~ 4 oz) and 8" BBZ-1 swimbaits (5 oz) at night, sometimes right off the surface. You just have to be willing to use the right tackle (a musky rod ought to work) and put the time in. I've also caught a handful of smaller (18 - 24") walleyes on the same baits. Here are a links to a couple of the fish - keep in mind that in each case, the lures are 8" long.
30" walleye on 8" BBZ-1
http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r326/camyrick/BBZ-1_30eye.jpg
30" walleye on 8" Huddleston trout (ROF 5)
http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r326/camyrick/Hudd-30eye.jpg
Before I moved to where I am now, my encounters with walleye were all accidental, and all of them involved them hitting lures I was chucking for pike in shallow water. Many times the fish was only twice as long as the lure.
FishDr
01-26-2010, 03:32 AM
Nice fish Dr!
WOW, doc, beautiful fish!
Way to work 'em! Congrats!
Thanks!
I'm not a a walleye fisherman, at least I wasn't until last fall, but seeing pictures of the walleye that some of the other CO guys were getting at night on jerkbaits got me thinking. I went to a local lake and threw a jerkbait for a while and caught my PB walleye on it. Being a bass guy (probably sacriledge) I also had my big swimbait rod and box in the truck and since I knew that big fish in the lake all ate stocker rainbows, I started throwing the swimbaits at them. That night I caught 1 more fish. the net time I went out I caught three, including a pair of 30s. Suffice to say, I was hooked.
Now I'm just waiting for ice-off so I can go out and try for some more. I've got some things I want to try in the spring and even the summer. Do you know if the big fish will still move shallow to feed in the evenings in the summertime?