Weeds and Jigs = Walley
By: Steve Jojos

Walleyes live in many different environments throughout Canada. One of my favourite is weed Walleyes. By now most fishermen realize in some lakes your best walleye fishing will be in or around weed beds. Now lets help narrow down the type of lakes we are looking for. The two main features I look for are as follows: 1. Depth- Lakes with a maximum depth of 30 feet. 2. Structure- These lakes will not have very many mid lake holding areas. What this type of lake does have is large flats within the 6 ñ 12 foot range. These areas produce the bulk of forage that walleye are looking for. The majority of insects will hatch on these weed flats and in return the heaviest concentration of baitfish and perch are drawn to these areas. Walleyes are no dummies, they know a good thing when they see it. The predators will live and feed here for as long as the weed beds stay healthy. Green weeds are alive and producing oxygen. Stay away from brown decaying weeds as they are dying or dead already. In some lakes weeds stay healthy throughout most of the year, even into the winter. Ice fishermen keep that in mind.

To find exactly where Walleyes are in these lakes we have to pinpoint to key areas. On lakes with smaller flats that do not extend far out into the lake, weed beds will be more defined and of course smaller in size. These lakes make it a little easier to find fish because they have less area for the fish to roam and feed i. Some lakes have vast weed beds covering they majority of the bottom. Very weedy lakes produce multi weed patterns even on the same flat. Since the weed beds can go on forever, it could take you forever to find walleye if you randomly fish. The key to finding fish here is something different. There will be a predominate species growing in a given lake. Looking for and finding patches of different weed type within the main weed, gives fish something to relate to, “structure”. Usually a change in the bottom composition allows another species to grow. Sometimes it will be a depth change in the weed bed that gives one weed type an advantage over the other. All fish are attracted to changes in structure. They use these areas as an edge to relate to and feed from. Actively feeding marble eyes after sunrise and again before dark. In stained or murky lakes Walleyes can be active any time of day. When inactive they filter right into the beds, settling at the base of the weed stalks.

This brings us to the #1 lure for this type of fishing. The Jig. Plastic twister tail grubs on 1/8 to 3/8 oz jig heads in perch imitating colors. Stay with the lighter jig heads 1/8 and 3/16 oz when the winds are calm. Only use the heavier _ and 3/8 oz heads when the winds cause you to lose feel with the lighter weights. Another advantage of the lighter jig heads is when walleye strike they inhale the bait. So a lighter weight goes deeper into their mouth. Cast these jigs on 8 to 10 lb test mono line parallel to the edge of the weeds keeping your casts fairly close. The reason for this is that walleye strike quickly and most days they will release your bait just as fast, so the closer you are to your lure the faster you can detect a strike and set the hook increasing your odds of catching one.

Lets say you’ve made one pass down the weed line and caught a few fish but also missed a couple of bites. Instead of moving onto the next bed, turn around and work your way back using a different color combination. This should produce a few more fish. The last step for us would be to change over to buck tail jig. They are made up of a jig head with deeper hair. This hair is dyed and comes in a multitude of colors. With these lures we find any combination of black and yellow, orange or red. These seem to be the most productive. Attach these jigs to 10 lb braided power pro line with a medium to heavy spinning rod combo. Cast the bait parallel to the edge, further than you would a line. When the jig stops use a fast moderate hook set, overhead, on a slack line. You want to pop the jig up and move it about 1 to 2 feet maximum. This will take a bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it this technique will trigger strikes even from the moodiest of Walleyes.
Ok, you say we have gone over this weed line thing three times and all available fish have been caught. Well maybe, but I’ll bet you if you fish on a particular weed line and catch fish, there will be other inactive fish passing over them. So before we leave we would make one or two passes right in and over the weed bed that was producing the fish. Stay with the buck tail and power pro line and now dunk the bait into any holes or openings you find in the weed bed itself.

Again, these fish will strike quick and release your bait just as quick, so don’t cast very far and watch your line. A little twitch where your line enters the water may be the only sign of fish taking you bait. As said before, set the hook fast and hard and keep moving the walleye towards you. If not the walleye will tangle you up in the weeds and more times than not it will get away. Braided line power pro line really shines under these conditions. This pattern works well on weed walleyes for us, from spring into the dog days of summer and right into ice up.
Give it a try.