6 Canadian walleye pros reveal their secret go-to baits

EXPERT ANGLER: PAUL POWIS

GO-TO LURE: MINI STREAK

Legendary Lake Erie charter captain Paul Powis has been putting his clients on fish for more than 30 years, and his go-to walleye lure throughout that time has been Wolverine Tackle’s Mini Streak (below), but in a very specific proprietary colour: Jerry Lee Copper. What’s surprising about Powis’ pick is that if you canvassed 100 walleye anglers, you probably wouldn’t find one who uses spoons, let alone calls them a confidence bait. But not Powis. “That one spoon has literally put tens of thousands of walleye in the cooler for me and my guests,” he says.

HOW TO FISH IT

Powis chooses spoons over other lures in order to match the profile of smelt, the main forage in Lake Erie. He likes the Mini Streak, in particular, because it maintains its action at faster speeds. “That’s important for a charter boat captain like me, who is continually searching for active fish on a huge body of water that has little or no structure,” he says. Simply put, you can cover twice as much water when trolling at three miles per hour than you can at 1.5.

Powis also prefers spoons because he can deploy them in several different ways. He runs his Mini Streaks off downriggers, for example, as well as on leadcore outfits and behind accessories to get them deeper, such as Dipsy Divers, Jet Divers and Snap Weight systems. “I know a lot of anglers think spoons are regional lures, only good on the Great Lakes,” Powis says, “but they’ll work on any body of water, provided the temperature is warm enough for the walleye to be aggressive.”