Spinner Rigs for Walleyes

The arrival of August means several things – football season is right around the corner, a new school year is rapidly approaching, and walleyes often continue to be found in predictable locations while displaying expected feeding patterns. The summer months offer an abundance of food and cover options to walleyes; thus, the key to catching marble eyes during late July and into August is to first recognize available habitat options and then determine potential fishing patterns.

One such pattern that excels for locating and catching walleyes is scouring deeper water targeting fish that are suspended and roaming the basin or relating to edges. While crankbaits are an effective tool for trolling in open water, perhaps my favorite weapon during this time of year is a spinner rig. A spinner rig is a thing of simplistic beauty – a couple of quality components combined for a no-frills approach that is absolutely dynamite for catching walleyes from the post-spawn period on into autumn.

Spinner rigs by themselves are extremely light and thus need to be combined with either snap weights above them on the line or run behind a bottom bouncer to achieve sufficient depth. Depending on hook configuration and placement the rigs themselves are typically baited with natural offerings including night crawlers and leeches. Plastics such as those produced by Mister Twister offer another tipping alternative and are very popular as they are not only as effective as live bait but more durable and less fuss, especially on long trips in the hot sun. Whether using plastics or live bait, I like to add a few doses of Baitmate Live Walleye to each spinner rig as I set or re-set lines.

Boat speeds ranging from ½ to one mile per hour are optimum when pulling spinners. Fish too slowly and the blade doesn’t turn while the rig snags or drags on the bottom, fish too fast and the lure rides too high in the water column and loses its appeal to finicky biters. Pulling spinner rigs is an exercise in paying heed to the little details and ultimately the difference between catching fish and going home empty handed.

Anglers have the option of making their own rigs by keeping a Plano box or two of components at the ready or may select from an array of pre-made rigs on the shelf of the local tackle shop. My personal choice when I am not tying my own rigs is the Mepps Trolling Rig. Not only does it feature top-notch construction and components, but an interchangeable spiral-wound stainless steel clevis which allows me the ability to adapt to changing weather and water conditions and the mood of the fish; in addition, the floating body means I can fish the Trolling Rig at slower speeds without having to worry about the lure sinking and getting snagged. In recent weeks both the gold/firetiger and copper/brown/orange have been quite effective on the Wisconsin River and her flowages.

Enjoy the late-summer walleye fishing; I’ll see you on the water…

Tight lines,