Walleyes on river flats are easy to spot with electronics. Check the entire flat, as one part may hold no fish while another is loaded. (Shutterstock image)
April 12, 2024
By Scott Mackenthun
The snow is melting and spring rains are running off half-thawed landscapes to swell rivers as Old Man Winter’s grip on the Midwest loosens. Anglers are taking boats out of storage and grabbing rods off their garage racks. Walleyes are gathering en masse, preparing for the upcoming spawn, migrating upriver and hanging out in huge schools as they make the journey. This window may represent the best chance of the year to net a pot-bellied trophy or experience the season’s best walleye action. Let’s examine how to find and catch the hot bite or that giant memory maker.
SPRING SWEET SPOTS Walleyes begin moving upstream to gravel, rock and rubble-lined spawning grounds along shallow banks shortly after the ice comes off rivers. Males start first, often staging adjacent to spawning areas while waiting for females. Warm days accelerate spring melt and runoff, and the surge of additional water combined with warming trends bump up water temperatures. When temps near the mid-40s, the spawn kicks off in earnest. Those precious weeks and days between ice off and the start of the spawn can provide some of the best walleye fishing of the year.
“A single warm day can thaw a heavy snowpack, get the flow going, draw in fish and produce incredible fishing, as was the case in spring of 2023,” says Chad Burns of Burnsies’ Guide Service . “Once that river opens, there are thousands of fish waiting to be caught, and it is game on.”
The walleye’s movement upstream is a marathon, not a sprint. They make their journey as efficiently as possible, taking breaks where they can escape the current and feeding as they go in off-channel areas with plenty of forage. Will Pappenfus, National Walleye Tour pro and owner of EyeCrazy Guide Service (320-360-5333), says that when the current is ripping, fish will often hang out on river bends.
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“You’ll have the current wrapping closer to the shore, and the walleyes will be staged up right on the edge in an eddy or off a current seam,” he says. “You can find them waiting there, hiding behind rocks or behind brush piles.”
The guide, a top-ten finisher on the 2023 National Walleye Tour, recommends anglers look for places that are breaking up the current and then pick through these areas. When doing so, he says you can sit up front with your sonar and simply flip out a jig and swim it right in front of fish or work it up-current or on the edges.
For Burns, shallow river flats are solid spring walleye hot spots, too. He especially likes areas with a bit of a current break and a sandy-type bottom, and where the sun can penetrate to the bottom. He says that walleyes often move up on those shallow flats but aren’t heavily targeted because some anglers view these spots as somewhat hit-or-miss. With modern electronics, he says, anglers can easily see if walleyes are hanging on these flats. If fish are present, action can be excellent on walleyes that are there to rest, feed and enjoy the sunshine and warming waters. If the fish aren’t there, continue the search.
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However, he cautions anglers to look over each flat carefully. While one part may not hold walleyes, another may have a few, and another still may be absolutely loaded with them. If the flat has bait, chances are you’ll probably find walleyes somewhere.
“They can hang in one spot for an hour and then move 25 yards,” Burns says. “That’s the beauty of electronics. Now you can see the fish and the bait they are chasing.”
Other spots Burns likes are mid-channel humps and bumps, even when the depth variation appears minimal. He says that while many anglers see a 2-foot difference in depth and keep driving, even a change that small matters to walleyes. It can be enough to break the current and hold fish, he suggests, and sometimes these features act like underwater wing dams.
As a guide, he tries to avoid fishing near big groups of people if possible, and targeting these overlooked areas often allows him to do just that. Burns fishes on top of these humps when walleyes are feeding, but he’ll also target the back sides, where fish rest out of the current, and often that’s even more productive. These small, neglected spots tend to produce Burns’ largest fish, as they don’t get pressured as heavily.
Pappenfus similarly appreciates fishing shallow, sandy areas of rivers. He, too, loves that he can easily see the waves of sand on sonar and spot walleyes sitting nearby out of the current. He says these fish are typically just waiting to pick off a wayward minnow. He adds that the nice thing about sand is that anglers won’t lose nearly as many jigs as when fishing rocks or other bottom types. While he appreciates new advancements in fish-finding technology like forward-facing sonar, he says that side imaging is “your best friend on the river” when it comes to finding walleyes.
RIVER-READY TACTICS Three-way rigging is an especially effective technique for chasing spring river walleyes. A Dubuque rig is one such option. To construct the rig, tie your main line to one ring on a three-way swivel. Then, connect a foot-long leader tied to a light (1/8-ounce) jig or floating jig head and plastic to another ring and a 3-foot-long leader tied to a heavy (3/4-ounce) jig and plastic to the third ring. A Dubuque rig offers two different presentations: one that fishes on the bottom and a second that floats just off bottom.
Wolf River rigs are also popular on many of the waters where Burns guides. He says these rigs help anglers present baits to walleyes in very snaggy waters full of timber and other potential hang-ups. Wolf River rigs feature pencil weights from 1 to 3 ounces to combat current. This weight is tied on a roughly foot-long dropper line and is designed to break off if it becomes snagged, preventing the entire rig from being lost. Behind the dropper weight on the three-way swivel is an Aberdeen hook and a minnow.
Burns’ Wolf River fly rigs are a variation on the original. On a three-way swivel, he attaches a 1- to 3-ounce pencil weight using a Palomar knot, making the tag end long, with about a foot to 1 1/2 feet of line for connecting the sinker. He attaches a couple flashy minnow-imitating flies on a 4- to 6-foot leader and runs them in tandem. Burns ties his marabou or deer hair flies on No. 2 Aberdeen hooks and makes them long (about 2 inches); he mentions that you can always trim hair jigs later, but you can’t add more hair once they’re tied. Burns says anglers should fish these against the current and snap them intermittently. He especially loves doing this on very windy days on Wisconsin’s Wolf River.
When Pappenfus uses three-way rigs, he opts for stickbaits trolled slowly behind weights. He especially likes this tactic to escape the crowds and cover water while doing something different. When fish are really spread out or getting pushed around by other anglers, Pappenfus says walleyes will often hit stickbaits more than other baits.
Depending on current, he’ll use a 2- or 3-ounce weight. In clear water, he recommends getting your presentation as far from the boat and motor as possible. In stained or dirty water, he’ll shorten things up a bit.
“When things get really dirty, it’s raining or the tributaries break, you can pull crankbaits on three-way rigs and still catch fish, but you may get some fouling,” Pappenfus says. “The big thing is it’s a bigger, flashier bait compared to a small jig. But when it’s clear, you have to long-line them. If you’re fishing 12 to 18 feet and going through deeper holes, a 2- or 3-ounce weight with a No. 9 Rapala floater in bright colors is tough to beat.”
Both guides like the simplicity of using jigs in the spring, too. On sunny days, Pappenfus throws a gold jig and minnow; on cloudy outings, he prefers orange or chartreuse. He uses minnows for much of his jigging, but if he’s dragging up-current or if there is a lot of current, he’ll use soft-plastic paddle-tail swimbaits instead.
“If you can’t get the perfect vibration with your paddle tails when you fish them downstream, then you have to drag them up-current to get that effect,” Pappenfus says. “If it’s a jig and minnow, you just hold a tight line, barely pulling it along, and you’ll feel it bumping rocks and the bottom subtly. The walleyes will either crack it hard or pick it up and swim away.”
The two guides also employ some more aggressive jigging strategies when the situation calls for it. During really hot bites, Pappenfus loves throwing blade baits and Rippin’ Raps. Burns similarly relies on blade baits; however, his top lure is probably a Moonshine Lures Shiver Minnow. He often tries to fish aggressively with clients, and the heavier, hard-bodied jigging bait gets down to fish quickly. Because of its weight, anglers can also put them right on a walleye’s head regardless of wind or current conditions. However, when fishing blade baits or jigging rap-style baits, anglers must use the right rod—ideally one without a soft tip.
“When you’re snapping these things, if you have a soft, spongy rod, it will absorb two-thirds of what you’re trying to impart to the lure while jigging it,” Burns says. “A medium or medium-heavy rod with a fast or extra-fast action works best.”
If aggressive jigging strategies aren’t working, though, consider slowing things down. Burns suggests that if you’ve moved to three or four different spots and have seen fish on your electronics, but still aren’t getting bites, it’s time to try some finesse tactics.
“There are absolutely days that you have to be more subtle,” the guide says. “My favorite finesse bait is a hair jig, and when I come across those days when the walleyes are really crabby, then I’ll give them the jig and a minnow.”
’EYE ESCAPES Five rivers that offer exceptional pre-spawn spring walleye fishing. The Midwest is blessed with a wide array of productive river systems, many of which have booming walleye populations and offer excellent pre-spawn fishing. From the Great Plains states out West to the eastern bounds of the region, there are plenty of rivers that provide quality opportunities at spring walleyes. However, there are a handful that especially stand out.
BORDER BEAUTY Serving as a boundary between Minnesota and Ontario, the Rainy River from International Falls to Baudette in Minnesota cranks out plump walleyes. In fact, there may not be a better spot to land your personal-best walleye. Resorts along the river and the Lake of the Woods Tourism department provide daily river condition updates for visiting anglers.
MISSOURI RIVER MAGIC The Missouri River from Mobridge to Chamberlain, S.D., is an incredible stretch offering fantastic fishing for big numbers of walleyes. Once the ice is out, anglers flock to the Missouri to troll cranks or drag jigs.
WISCO WONDERS Walleyes by the thousands cram into Wisconsin’s Wolf River, which eventually dumps into the Fox River. Both produce excellent numbers of walleyes, including some remarkably outsized ones. Some walleyes are resident river fish, whereas others come in from Green Bay.
OLD MAN RIVER The Mississippi River is big, channelized and full of commercial and recreational boats. However, the stretch running along the Minnesota-Wisconsin, Iowa-Wisconsin and Iowa-Illinois borders is full of walleyes. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wing dams hold lots of fish, as do side cuts and humps. There’s a reason many early-season walleye tournaments take place on the mighty Mississippi.
MOTOWN MADNESS The Detroit River along the Michigan-Ontario border below Lake St. Clair is a spring walleye jigging paradise. It features relatively snag-free fishing and has an incredible spring spawning run of walleyes. Catching huge walleyes in the shadows of the Motor City’s skyscrapers is a unique experience.
This article was featured in the March 2024 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe .
