Jig Fishing For Walleye

When it comes to jigs, Versatility is the key for walleye fishing.

The amount of ways you can work a jig are endless. You can work em slow, you can work em fast. You can use em with live bait or without. You can cast em or work em vertical. To maximize the effectiveness of the jig, you must be versatile. Versatility is the key to success. There are many, many ways to fish jigs. So don't get in a one way rut. Add new methods to your jigging arsenal and catch more fish

For starters,

The most basic retrieve for jigging is lift then fall. The lift is the attraction, the fall is the trigger. Always keep this point in mind when jig fishing. Walleyes most always hit jigs on the way down, not the way up. Don't be afraid to vary the speed of your retrieves. Try fast, try slow, and then try in between. Play around with the retrieve

Active fish,

I am going to look more indepth at one of the methods. It is casting action tails.
One thing to try is tipping your jigs with action plastics. Fuzzy grubs, shads, vibra tails, beaver tails, and double curly tails (especially good for slower presentations) are just some that work good. I use tipping plastics for live bait presentations. A little scent squirted on the plastic works great in cold water.

Action tails are great for locating active fish. Here's how. Use 8-10 pound test line on a medium stiff spinning rod and rig a 3/8 oz. barbed jig with an action tail. Three inches is ideal, shorter is good in colder waters, below 50 degrees. Cast to points, sunken islands, rock reefs, and weed edges. When the jig hits bottom, sweep the rod forward two feet (the attraction), and then let the jig settle back to the bottom (the trigger). Then sweep forward again and let it settle. All the way back to the boat This is a relatively fast approach, we're looking for active fish. Sassy shads, beaver tails, and double twister tails work very well for this approach.

Don't spend to much time on any one spot. Keep moving until you find fish. After the action starts to slow, try dropping back to an 1/8 oz jig, and then to a 1/16 oz. before moving on. This will allow you to take more fish from the spot.

Also make color changes as well. Mix colors, giv'em more choices. Don't hesitate to experiment. You never know with walleyes. Be versatile, silver shad on a blue jig. This sort of thing. Pink and white is good in the spring. Brown body on orange jig as the water warms. Try all sorts of color combos.

Cheap Way To Spool Line

I was told about this from a fishing buddy of mine a long time ago and it is a great tip that I will share with all fishing freaks.

Here is a very inexpensive and practical way of spooling reels. You'll need some new line, The big yellow phone book, and a reel. After you have your rod and reel cleaned, put the phone book on the floor opened up to the middle of book. Put the spool on the floor at the top of the phone book and run the line through the book and out the bottom. Close the book and rest your foot on it Tie a knot on the spool and reel it all in. Very easy.

Steelhead/Salmon Fishing Rods

As someone that is pretty new to steelhead fishing, it took me some time to find the right rod. But after trying a couple and reading up on them all I came up with a list that I feel are some of the best ones out there. I not going to post this big review of each one because I have always felt like each person is different and they should find the one that's just right for them. It takes work to find the right one. This list I put together is just a starter's guide for you to get going finding the right rod for Steelhead or Salmon fishing. These rod also will work good for trout. I like light action rods when it comes to Steelhead fishing. Also, I would look for rods in the 8' to 11' size. Where I fish, I don't like to go over 9' rod

Fenwick HMX - around $100
Loomis GL2 - around $200
South Bend Noodle Rod - around $25
Berkley Select Air Salmon/Steelhead Rod (IM8 or IM7) - around $75
Daiwa Heartland Noodle Spinning Rod - around $80
Shakespeare Agility IM8 Noodle Rod -around $45

Loomis is by far the best one out on the market but the price is a little high. If you can afford it then by all means look hard at this rod.

Fenwick is second on my list and it a very good rod. The price is very fair.

The other ones are very good rods also. As you can see you don't have to have a lot of money to get a good rod. I own two of these rods. I own a Fenwick HMX rod and a Shakespeare Agility IM8 Noodle rod. I love them both.

I hope this help you get started when you are looking for a rod. Again, each person is different and you need to pick what feels right to you.