Jigs are a staple of cold water fishing. They could be tipped with plastics or live bait, but regardless they are extremely popular. There is an alternative to jigs though: its suspending jerkbaits. These are generally a hard plastic bait with a minnow profile. Often they have rattles inside of them, but the key to the presentation is that they stay exactly still in the water column when paused. I really like using Rapala X-Raps in this situation, but Rapala Husky Jerks work well too. These are just a few examples. There are a lot of options based on angler preference.
Location
Location is a major driving force in this presentation. This situation is really going to present itself on sunny, warm days. Early in the spring the water temperatures are going to be extremely low. This means that the fish are going to be searching for those shallow areas that heat up the fastest during the day. It is important that there is deep water adjacent to the areas as well so that they can slide out should adverse weather situations develop. This means look for the shallow, 1-3ft areas, that drop of to about 5-8ft or even deeper. Rock or timber also will capture heat from the sun and make these areas even better.
Dealing with the extremely shallow water situation means that you need a bait that runs shallow. The #6 X-Rap runs 3-5ft so that is why I favor it. You want a bait that you can tick-tick across the bottom on top of the shallow area and then drop it off over the deep water. If the fish are sitting on top in the shallow water I can catch them there. If the fish are sitting right on the edge of the drop off they’ll often whack it as it comes off the shallow area.
Presentation
The presentation is critical. The goal is to emulate a struggling minnow. A #6 X-Rap is larger than a fathead minnow: however, it is very similar to an age 1 walleye or perch. Check out the pictures me and my buddy, Tyler Frideres, took while experimenting with this presentation. The first picture is a fathead minnow he incidentally snagged on a retrieve.
The second is a small walleye that was aggressive enough to take the bait roughly its own size.
The third is the fish we were after! Tyler is an excellent jerkbait angler and really helped me learn a lot about this presentation.
This basically means the bait is similar to what they are foraging on. The bait itself provides flash, vibration, sound and color as well. This sweetens up the deal and makes it more likely that a fish both finds and consumes the bait.
Walleye, along with all other fish, are ectothermic. This means that when the water is cold their metabolism is down. Lower metabolism, less energy and less need for food. The fish aren’t actively feeding so we need to force feed them.
The key to force feeding a fish is to give it a meal it can’t resist. Once you’ve narrowed down your search area it’s time to saturate it. Cast the bait out and right from the start of the retrieve go slow. I like to “engage” a hard bait. By doing this I give just give a couple turns just to feel the bait run on the rod tip. This tells me it’s not fouled and everything is ready to roll for the retrieve. Once I have my bait engaged I pause it. There are days you cannot fish it too slowly.
This is not a search mission. Really focus on an area and hit it with a variety of retrieves. The first retrieve is just a straight reel with pauses every certain distance. The second retrieve you can incorporate some sharper twitches and jerks in between pauses. This draws more attention to the bait. The third retrieve just slowly bring the rod tip back and then pick up the slack line for your pause.
The big thing here is try a wide variety of retrieves, vary your pause times and stay committed to your area until the fish tell you what they like. It’s important to stay mentally focused so you know what retrieve has worked and what hasn’t. Many times I have lost focus and caught a fish and then thought “how did I do that?” Then I’m back to square one. Stay focused, stay committed and you’re going to have some success.
Rationale
It’s important to understand why this presentation works. Early in the spring there is not much for prey availability. This means that previous year’s baitfish, which are quite large, are going to be the top option. Fish are targeting the larger profile forage. This is also a time that energy expenditure is critical. The bait needs to look easy to catch and worth the effort to obtain it. I like to go with a bait the same size, or larger, than the forage in the system. The color and flash will couple with the size to make it more enticing than the natural options.
The pause is what seals the deal. Fish might not be willing to chase, but if a bait is sitting infront of their face they will not be able to refuse it. This is because they only have to go a few inches or feet and not get involved in a huge chase. This means very few calories spent towards obtaining that meal. The fewer the calories to obtain prey the more likely they are to take it.
Small invertebrates, like scuds, sitting helpless in the water column are a popular meal for many gamefish. This is not because they have a ridiculous amount of nutrients, but because they take no effort to catch. Imagine these as chicken wings. They are rich in protein, but it takes many wings to make a meal. A larger bait, or steak dinner, with the same lack of effort is absolute gold to a trophy walleye. Make your presentation a free steak dinner.
When presented with warm, sunny days that heat up shallow water don’t be afraid to attack with a shallow suspending jerkbait. Mix up the retrieves, try different baits, colors and sizes and really saturate the high percentage areas. If you give a free steak dinner, they will come. Good fishing!
Good article!