"During mornings and evenings in the vegetation, you're more likely to catch lots of walleyes on these crankbaits," Courts said. "During midday, your best bet if the walleyes are in the weeds is with a weedless jig tipped with a plastic trailer."

Courts prefers a plastic trailer on the jighead because live bait is ripped off the hook too easily. His favorite trailer is the Berkley Gulp Minnow and the Power Worm.

Courts' favorite location for early-season walleyes is a sand or rubble point, especially if it drops off sharply on the sides.

"Walleyes will be roaming in water just a couple of feet deep on the cobblestone and rubble points when the light is low in the mornings and evenings," Courts said. "This is where you tie on a shallow-diving crankbait and make long casts to the fish. It's amazing how shallow those walleyes are, but they're there."

As the sun rises higher and the light penetration pushes the walleyes deeper on the points, Courts turns to a jig.

"The walleyes you find on the points are going to be the males, so they're going to be aggressive," he said. "Unless the weather has slowed the bite, you can get by with a plastic trailer when going after the walleyes that are in deeper water on the points."

If the walleye bite does slow down because of foul weather conditions, Courts will shift to a stationary approach where he anchors outside the deep edge of the point and uses a slip-bobber. "Cold fronts will push the walleyes to the deep edge of the dropoff and they won't be as aggressive, but they will take a leech if it's dangled in front of them long enough," he said.

If your early-season lake has shoreline rock or shallow rockpiles here and there, Courts said you're in luck. "Those walleyes that recently spawned in those rocks will hang there for awhile before transitioning into deeper water," he said. "It's the perfect spot to cast or troll crankbaits."

Courts explained his trolling setup for shallow rocks. "I have two 12-foot rods that I put out on each side of the boat. That gives me quite a spread between the two outside lures. Then I use two 7-foot rods off each back corner of the boat. This way I'm covering about 30 feet of structure."

There's a rule of thumb that says when trolling crankbaits over rocks it's imperative that the lure occasionally tick the bottom. "I agree with that," Courts said. "My favorite lures for trolling shallow rocks are the No. 5 and No. 7 ShadRaps and the medium-diving Husky Jerk. I make sure my inside line is occasionally bumping a rock here and there while the others may be above the bottom just a little bit. If it's a sharper-tapering bottom, I'll run the No. 5s on the inside and the No. 7s on the outside, and they might all be kissing the bottom occasionally."