Gear We Recommend for Your Walleye Fishing Trip
One of the pleasures of anticipating your fishing trip to Andy Myers Lodge is assembling the kit of gear that will allow you to successfully catch the fish you want. Here is the basic gear list for walleye. For those new to this fishing, the Andy Myers Lodge website has an overall primer entitled Planning Your Trip: A Year on Eagle Lake.
Walleye in Eagle Lake are generally caught with three basic approaches: casting and jigging; rigging; and trolling and bouncing. The gear for each method is a little different. Professional Backtrolling Techniques; Smoking Walleyes at 5th and Broadway; and Slipbobbing Eagle Lake.
Jigging and Casting
- Rod/reel/line combination – 6’3” to 7’6” medium to medium-light spinning rods, with fast to extra-fast taper, such as St. Croix Eyecon, Mojo, Legend Tournament, and Legend Elite, with a Shimano 1000-2500 series Sahara, Stradic, or Sustain spinning reel, spooled with 6 to 8-pound monofilament or cast-able fluorocarbon, or 20-pound braid, or 10 pound Berkley Fireline Fused Line. Monofilament and fluorocarbon have more forgiveness and are better for trolling and extremely clear water. There is no need to tie on a leader, and they’re less expensive. Braid or Fireline/Fused lines have more sensitivity, so they’re better for deeper water or finesse presentations, and, with no stretch, they offer better hooksets. Tie on a 4 to 12-pound monofilament or fluorocarbon leader with a uni-knot or small swivel. Make the leader 2′-4′ to match your presentation.
Lures
- Jigs of 1/8th to 3/8th oz (1/8th is most used) in blue, black, chartreuse, silver/plain lead.
- Bullet sinkers or round shot of 1/16th to 3/16th oz, #4 chartreuse, and orange glow Eagle Claw octopus hooks.
- Assorted plastics such as Kalin’s Minnows and Grubs, and Berkley Gulp Minnows.
- Crankbaits such as the Livingston Jerk Minnow, Rapala Shad Rap, and Berkley Flicker Shad, in perch, black, silver, and gold.
Rigging
- Rod/reel/line combination – 7’ to 7’6” spinning or level-wind reel rods, medium action, with extra fast taper, Shimano 2500 series spinning reels or 200-300 series level-wind reels, spooled with 20 to 30-pound braid, with an 8-15 pound fluorocarbon leader 4-6′ long.
Lures
- Lindy Rig, with sinkers 1/4 to 1/2 oz (3/8 oz is the most used), #2-6 red octopus hooks, small swivels, fluorocarbon leader spool in 8-15 pound; #2-4 spinner rigs and crawler harnesses, in assorted bait fish colors like perch, cisco, and shiner.
Trolling and Bouncing
- Rod/reel/line combination – 7’6” to 9’medium action rod, such as the St. Croix Eyecon, with a Shimano Tekota LC 300-500 series level-wind, line counter reel, spooled with 10 to 12-pound monofilament trolling line, or 20 to 30-pound braid for bottom bouncing.
Lures
- Crankbaits – Livingston Jerkmaster and Walleye 90, Berkley Flicker Minnow and Flicker Shad, Yozuri Crystal Minnow Shallow and Deep, Reef Runner, and Salmo Hornet.
- Bottom Bouncers – 2 to 4 oz, #4-6 crawler harness spinner rigs in assorted colors, like purple shiner, perch, cisco, firetiger, and gold shiner.
Great info.. how about gear for catching northerns? Hopefully we’ll be able to make our June 20-26 trip. Thanks, cliff