3/8 oz. and 3/4 oz. jig heads:

The color of the jig heads is not that important. The color of the rubber or bait you attach makes the difference. In the spring or at night, the walleyes are in shallow water so you would want to use a lighter jig like a 3/8 oz or even smaller. During the day or in the Summer when it's warm and sunny, the Walleyes go deeper so you may want to use a heavier jig like a 1/4 oz.

Twister Tails:
Scented or un-scented - 2 inch to 4 inch single and double tail

In the spring, the hot colors are white, bright yellow, bright red and black. As Spring turns into Summer, you will find that white and bright yellow slow down as the best colors. Black always works but you should try a dark smoky yellow or a transparent green as the water warms up.

Many people believe that bright colors work in the Spring because the Walleye are still in protection mode over their spawning grounds and that they hit your jig on the act of defending and not eating.

Try adding a little piece of worm to your jig setup just to give it some flavor. You can also use dead or living minnows on a jig. Many people fish with live minnows. When a minnow dies in your minnow pail, try putting the minnow in a salt bag for a few days. There is a scientific reason for this. When a fish swims through the water, a fish ejects positive (+) charged particles in the water which game fish can sense. Salt has the same effect thus the salt on the minnow will attract game fish. Try it. It works.

Minnows:

The most common minnows found in the north are:

Common Creek Chub
Yellow Chub
Red Chub
Horned Chub*
Shiners*
Stickle Backs*
Suckers

Not all of these minnows should be used. Stickle Backs have spines that the fish do not like. The horned Chub gives off a secretion which leaves a bad taste thus they are not good for bait. Shiners are good for bait but it's very hard to keep them alive in a minnow pail because they need so much oxygen to survive. So when buying or catching minnows, try to use the other species.

Worm Harness:

In the Summer when it gets hot out, many of the big trophy Walleyes go deep. In this case, you should try drifting really slowly in the deep water with a worm harness. To keep your worm harness off the bottom, many people use a three-way-swivel set-up which is used with Lake Trout techniques. Below is a diagram.

Rapalas or Thunder Sticks:

In the Spring, the best way to catch a big Walleye is to troll along the shoreline just before dark or at day-break with a Rapala or Thunder Stick. A 3 or 4 inch Original Floating Rapala or a Junior Thunder Stick with a little touch of liquid fish scent will bring in the big ones.

Rapalas and Thunder Sticks are also good in the summer. You can fish for those suspended deep water Walleyes or troll shallow along weed beds and drop-offs.

In the Spring the best colors are red, chartreuse, blue and most of all "Fire Tiger". As Spring turns into Summer, silver and brown pick up as the other colors die off. The one color combination that works all year is "Fire Tiger". It's probably the best color combination every created.