Pared-down presentations shine when bad weather or too much fishing pressure make for a tough bite

When early-season walleye get lockjaw, try these 5 simple baits and tactics

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Drop waypoints on every group of fish you spot on your graph

#5  MOP UP WITH NED RIGS

And now for the coup de grâce of simplicity. As you slowly troll your slow-death presentation across the flat and catch the nymph-eating walleye with wild abandon, you’ll occasionally spot clusters of four to even eight or more fish.

Every time you do, hit the waypoint button on your chartplotter. Then after a half-hour or so of slow trolling, return to your waypoints, put the electric trolling motor on spot lock and cast the same Ned rig you would use for bass.

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My favourite combination is the lightest VMC Swingin’ Ned Rig Jig I can get away with, based on the water depth and wind conditions, tipped with a three-inch green pumpkin or green pumpkin/watermelon CrushCity Ned BLT. As it descends slowly into the walleye cluster, it resembles a mayfly nymph that ran out of stream while struggling its way to the surface. The walleye typically go berserk when they see this appear.

For an even more effective presentation, remove the soft-plastic dressing and grab the box of crawlers you were using to tip your slow-death hook. Cut the thickest, juiciest crawler in half and thread it, cut end first, onto your jig. I know, I said earlier not to do that, but this is an important exception to the rule. Now, using a syringe, insert a small drop of air into the trailing head of the worm. Then when you cast it out, let it settle to the bottom and dead stick it on top of the mud. It will slither, wriggle and twist—head up thanks to the dollop of air—looking like a giant mayfly nymph about to claw its way to the surface to escape. Guaranteed, it will go down the throat of a walleye instead. Like I said, never underestimate the power of keeping things simple.

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BONUS TIP: MENU FAVOURITES: Ciscoes and mayflies are nature’s perfect fish foods. Ciscoes have smooth, silky skin, delicate fins and soft internal skeletons, so there’s nothing hard or sharp to catch in a walleye’s throat. Mayflies, on the other hand, are invertebrates, meaning they lack a backbone completely. They’re also almost 100 per cent pure nutrition. In fact, mayflies are so important to walleye recruitment, that the years with good hatches typically produce the strongest year classes.