If you know that you’re showing your lure to fish that aren’t cooperating, consider tipping it with a leech, a piece of a night crawler, a minnow or another natural offering.

Sometimes instead of using a plain bait hook, it pays to use a floating jighead to attach your offering to. This keeps it suspended off the bottom behind the sinker where it’s more visible to the fish. You also can buy rigs with a small float threaded on the leader but separated from the hook to suspend the bait. Still another option is to use a worm blower to inject air into night crawlers.

Drifting is the simplest way to present this offering to walleyes. Simply let the breeze push you along, adjusting the amount of weight you need according to the depth of the water you’re fishing and the strength of the wind.

At times, though, the wind speed won’t be just right. It may be too strong or not blowing enough. That’s the time to try backtrolling. Use the electric motor in reverse and work over dropoffs, weedlines, points, flats, reefs and other likely walleye hangouts.

Using the motor in reverse lets you control the boat precisely and keeps the speed slow so you can present your offering at the snail’s pace walleyes usually prefer. Make sure the sinker maintains bottom contact and even shift into neutral or turn off the motor every now and then to allow the bait to pause, which can often trigger a strike. Use a marker buoy if you hook a fish, then re-troll or drift through the pay dirt zone.

SLIP-BOBBER FISHING
Sometimes when walleyes don’t want a trolled lure, vertically-jigged offering, cast jig or even a live bait drifted on a Lindy rig, it’s time for the final ace in the hole. A little-used but deadly walleye technique, slip-bobber fishing is the ultimate finesse tactic for marble-eyes.

Use a free-sliding float and small plastic bead plus an adjustable stop on the line that’s small enough to go through the rod’s line guides. This way you can adjust the float for any depth and cast it easily -- even if fish are hanging 18 feet deep.

On the terminal end attach a small split shot and size 2 to 6 bait hook with a minnow, night crawler or leech. Alternately, you can use a 1/16- to 1/32-ounce jig tipped with one of these offerings. It’s easy to make your own bobber stop. Simply tie a knot or two on the monofilament with a small rubber band or piece of Dacron and clip the ends. Alternately, you can buy bobber stops from walleye specialty companies.

Use enough split shot so the float barely suspends above the water and finicky walleyes can sink the bobber with the slightest nibble.

The reason slip-bobber fishing is so deadly is that you can leave your offering over the spot where you know walleyes are for a long period until you entice them into striking. It’s a terrific method for points, reefs, flats and the edge of islands and weedlines where fish are stacked up tightly but not in an aggressive mood. It’s also a good tactic to turn to when snags are a problem, since your bait hovers off the bottom above the potential hook-snaring brush and rocks.

A bit of experimenting may be required until you get the right depth so the bait is hanging just off the lake floor for optimum results. Adjust the stop until the float sits on its side, indicating it’s on the bottom. Then move it down a few inches until it just barely floats the bait. That’s usually the payoff zone, but sometimes the fish will suspend and you may need it 5 or 10 feet above the bottom. Experimenting is the key.

This is a technique best reserved for spots where you know walleyes are going to be concentrated or where you’ve seen them on the sonar. It’s a slow method and you want to be sure you’re presenting your offering in front of fish before devoting a lot of time to the tactic.

Drift the boat over the potential areas carefully until you’ve probed every likely hangout. You can even twitch the bait occasionally if you feel fish are there but just not striking. Adding that extra movement is often enough to get a stubborn walleye to smack the offering.

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Keep these five ploys in your arsenal and I’ll wager at least a couple of them will produce on any given day on your favorite walleye waters.