The 2025 open water season is upon us, and that makes now a great time to take a look at 25 easy tips to help you catch more fish this season! Oftentimes it’s those small adjustments that can pay big dividends! Try these tips when you’re out on the water, and you’re likely to catch more fish!
Jigging Tips
Use a One Size Lighter Jig
The best rule of thumb when it comes to finding success pitching jigs for walleyes is using the lightest jig you possibly can. Make a challenge to go just one size lighter than you normally would!
Add a Fluorocarbon Leader to Your Jig Set Ups
Fluorocarbon leaders give you more resistance against abrasions, and also helps add some finesse to your profile. Tie a 12-18 inch fluorocarbon leader and increase your bites!
Save a Minnow, Pitch a Ripple Shad
Sometimes you just need a reaction strike, and if that’s the case there is no better option than a Berkley Ripple Shad!
Switch to a Large, Bright Plastic
If the minnow isn’t magic and the Ripple Shad can’t make them go, back it down with a bright colored BFishN Moxi Ringtail. It’s almost so crazy it just might work!
Mix in a New Jig Stroke
Sometimes you just need to switch it up a bit. Whether it’s a lift, shake, or twitch just mix in a different jig stroke and see if that can be what scores an extra bite or two.
Get Yourself Vertical
Don’t forget to drop your heavy jigs right below the boat, these are extra chances to pick up a couple bonus bites while you’re busy pitching!
Trolling Tips
Check the Tune of Your Crankbaits
Before you send them to the depths, give a check of your baits and make sure they’re running straight. If they’re kicking erratically, veering off to a side, or worse coming out of the water they’re not going to run at the depth or in the way you’re hoping. Making sure you’re in tune is quick and easy, but critical to success!
Sail with the Wind in Your Favor
When the wind decides to blow make sure you’ve got it at your back anytime you’re trying to troll crankbaits. This will give you better boat control, prevent your baits from surging or stopping, and make your planar boards operate smoothly.
Speed Up Your Presentation
Walleye aren’t a timid fish, they’re predators in the food web. Treat them like it, I promise, your bait will never outrun a hungry walleye!
Get Yourself Suspended
Suspended walleyes are often the biggest walleyes, you don’t have to be running down at the bottom. See what those big marks are suspended in the water column, I’m betting they’re pretty good ones!
Drop a Crawler Harness Instead of a Crank
Fishing a crawler harness allows you to slow down your presentation, and put together a really big profile. If the cranks aren’t hitting, don’t be afraid to try a crawler harness!
Have a Board Meeting
Planar boards allow you to cover more water, get your baits away from the boat, and give you better organization of your lines. Make sure you’ve got your planar boards on when you’re trolling this season!
Bottom Bouncing Tips
Boost Your Speed When Bottom Bouncing
Bottom bouncing with larger blades is a great way to trigger aggressive strikes, and speeding up allows you to cover more water and thus contact more fish.
Reduce Your Speed When Bottom Bouncing
Once you’ve located the best pod of fish, don’t be afraid to back the speed back down. Sometimes way down, this keeps you on fish longer and can trigger more neutral fish to bite as well.
Be Bright, Pull Something Bright
Bottom bouncing ,especially with large blades, isn’t a finesse activity. This means don’t be afraid to send down some gaudy colors, you’re looking for aggressive fish anyways!
Serve Up Something Shiny
When the sun shines, water is clear, and wind is calm the flash and shine often can, well, shine! Don’t forget about that silver and gold!
Slow Pull a Smile Blade
The Mack’s Lure Smile Blade, especially the .8” size, can be fished extremely slow and often provides the perfect amount of flash and vibration to draw the fish to your bait without stealing the show!
Stop Tangling Your Bottom Bouncers
If you end up catching yourself or your fishing partner more than the fish, you might need to check your weight. Not your body weight, your bouncer weight! Heavy weights in the front, light weights in the back!
Mix in Triggers
Speed up, slow down, turn, send a text and veer off course-whatever you have to do to trigger bites is up to you! Just do it!
General Walleye Fishing Tips
Switch to a Super Line
Super lines, such as Berkley Fireline, are stronger, more sensitive, have no stretch and no memory. They make a great main line whether you’re jigging, bottom bouncing, or casting cranks!
Clip Your Fish for Cleaner Filets
Right before you head in clip your fish to let them bleed out on the way in, this will make your filets, cleaning table, and live well cleaner!
Switch Out Your Hooks
You wouldn’t run the same tires for 100,000 miles, so you better not think you can get away with 100,000 casts on the same hooks! Order a supply of replacement hooks, and don’t be afraid to swap them out after a busy day on the water!
Cast a Crank at Them
Casting crankbaits might seem like a bass fishing technique, but it’s not just for bass. When you have walleye shallow and/or concentrated, casting a crank right at them can produce some vicious bites!
Slab a Spoon
Speaking of vicious bites, how about dropping a slab spoon on their head. Rip that bait, then rip it even harder. The hardest rip? When the fish decides to strike back.
Slip in a Slipbobber
Slipbobbers aren’t just for panfish. In fact, floating a slipbobber along submerged weeds or timber can be the most effective way to target walleyes on shallow structure!
There’s plenty of ways to get out and enjoy walleye fishing, and if you mix in a few of these tips this season, you’re sure to catch a few more! Good fishing!
