When Reality Bites
by: Mark Martin
When the going gets tough, the tough get baiting. At
least that¹s the way I look at it when faced with adverse conditions
in the realm of the walleye. Sudden weather changes, fishing pressure
and factors unbeknownst to us humans can all put the fish off the
feed. Enter the great equalizer, live bait.
So many times, in fun and tournament fishing, I've seen
no better way to pluck fish than with the liveliest bait presented
with a measure of stealth and precision. It's a technique that works
spring to fall, whenever cold fronts roll in or a pack of boats sours
the walleye's mood. The trick is to stay over the fish with electronics,
check their exact position with an underwater camera, and then mop
up with a gentle touch.
The Place for Bait
I always start with the best bait I can find, and perhaps
my favorite is a lively leech. Leeches deter pecking panfish, won't
tear like crawlers, and absolutely do a number on walleyes. But you
have to take care of them. Even after weeks in my livewell, leeches
stay active and energetic with the help of a Beckman Leech
Bag, a mesh bag that not only lets the critters acclimate
to the temperature of the lake but also allows them to scrub themselves
clean and keep themselves from suffocating (which they commonly do
in a foam cup). When I reach for one, it's jamming. And it's going
to catch me more walleyes.
Crawlers are also an excellent summertime offering.
(But since there's no Crawler Tamer, you're just going to have to
keep them cold and in top condition.) I inject a crawler with just
a bit of air, otherwise you'll have an enormous sausage of a worm
that will often float too high off bottom. Rather, a touch of air
will keep the crawler down in the fish zone. Keep an eye on your electronics
to determine how high the fish are from bottom and how high in relation
you want to run your crawler.
Now I'm going to put either bait in a place where I
know there are fish, either from experience over the last few days
or with the aid of my electronics. Say you've fished for a few days
with bottom bouncers and spinners and cleaned up on the walleyes before
the bite goes south. I move in to the same areas with a Roach rig,
a live-bait rig with a sliding sinker and a long snell of six to 12
feet, and let the bait do its thing. The best way to present it is
by moving with the wind, controlling the drift with an electric motor,
letting the leech (or crawler) jam and jive. The walleyes are going
to take the bait.
If I don't have a history in the area, I look on structure
with my electronics, using a Lowrance X-16 liquid-crystal
unit, which shows fish in brilliant color, to find the walleye's whereabouts.
Another tack is to take out an underwater camera. While it's possible
to
work an area and catch a fish here or there, I'll take the opportunity
to drop my Aqua-Vu camera to see why I 've found
the walleyes in a particular place.
Sometimes you'll see walleyes relating to low-lying
weeds, or perhaps
rocks. When you know such information, it's easy to repeat the pattern
by finding similar areas.
Likewise, it's possible to find out if the fish are
atop the structure - say,
a point or reef, and then duplicate what you've found in the next
spot.
Typically I find that walleyes are down at the base of the structure,
often
on the transition from hard to soft bottom, unless the wind's howling.
Then they often move atop it.
At a time like this you can often look for the edge
of shallow breaks with
naked eye as well, at least with a pair of quality polarized glasses.
Good
glasses are just the ticket for spotting edges of breaks, shallow
rocks, even fish. On clear waters, even in wind, it's possible to
spot walleyes cruising the shallows. This is a time to toss a lively
bait in there on a light Roach rig or with a split shot.
Tackling Up
One of the most crucial elements to fishing bait the right way is
proper
tackle and technique. As I grow older (dare I say wiser?), I've lightened
up my spinning tackle to feel bites and to tease walleyes into taking.
Where I once used a medium-action rod for live-bait rigging, I've
switched to a medium light. And while I once used tiny hooks, ones
as small as No. 8, I now seldom go smaller than a No. 4.
Why the changes? I ve gone with a Berkley Series One in that medium-light action for its ability to sense light
bites and to "weigh up" fish. By that I mean it's possible, when you
sense a bite, to feed line to a fish and then tighten up a touch to
a point where the walleye bends the rod a bit. This gives me an indication
of whether a fish (and not a rock) has a hold of the bait and lets
me tighten up before setting the hook.
It helps, meanwhile, to have a sharp and wide-gapped
hook such as a No. 4 octopus from Daiichi in the
Bleeding Bait Series, red hooks that often seem to make a difference
for their color and attraction when fishing bait.
One final piece of vital equipment is a powerful
set of trolling motor
batteries. From there, with the boat in position, the rest is up to
you‹and your bait
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