Best Walleye Lures & Baits To Catch More Year-Round

Are you up for the walleye challenge? Targeting this freshwater species as your next catch is the perfect opportunity to step outside your angling comfort zone! Practice mixing up the techniques and methods you use — like fishing with live bait, trolling with a lure to cover a ton of water quickly, or jigging a classic soft plastic setup.

Take the suggestions for the best bait for walleye out on the water. With our walleye experts’ tips and tactics, you might just hook that marble eye! This is your complete guide to learn:

• Best bait for walleye: The most popular bait choice amongst walleye anglers continues to be minnows. Shiners and flathead minnows yield fantastic results! Stick to bait between 4-6” if you’re specifically after larger walleye.
• Best walleye lures: Lures have their time and place in walleye fishing. Jig a soft plastic worm or grub when you want to imitate live bait that’s unavailable. Otherwise, crankbaits, blade baits, and even paddle tails give you great results.
• Best seasons for catching walleye: With the right tackle, presentation, and retrieve, walleye bite year-round. However, the peak time to catch them at their most active remains in the spring both burning and after when they spawn. Fish them in the fall to catch them at their bulkiest.

Walleye are carnivorous, aggressive fish with sharp teeth. You’ll find them most active and hunting for their next meal at dawn and dusk.

• Their main diet consists of fish like spottail shiners, emerald shiners, yellow perch, bluegills, crappie, bullheads, crayfish, and other small fish.

• They may also eat aquatic insects or large invertebrates.

• Young walleye often eat zooplankton and insects — though this can vary depending on what species are popular in the lake where they are. If their usual fish are scarce, they won’t hesitate to eat other fish.

If you’re a beginner angler or haven’t fished for walleye before, it’s best to start with using live bait. This is because walleye can be picky about biting on bait and are more likely to bite live bait than artificial bait.

Live bait is preferred for beginner walleye anglers. They are a finicky species. However, most experienced fishermen can usually enjoy success using artificial lures. There are a variety of artificial lures that can attract walleye with specific movements, appearances, and even scents.

• Blade bait lures: Blade baits work year-round, but they’re especially beneficial when the temperatures drop and you can’t use leeches or nightcrawlers.

• Crankbait lures: There are many types of crankbaits, but the best for walleye are long and skinny to mimic minnows.

• Jig lures: Anglers make a vertical, jerking motion of the bait to mimic the prey of walleye and other species, which brings them close and causes them to bite.

• Swimbait lures: These baits imitate the swimming motion and appearance of baitfish to attract fish.

• Soft plastic lures: Since walleye are feeding heavily after bait fish spawn in mid-summer, using a soft plastic bait that mimics baitfish through grass flats can attract bites.

• Twitch bait or jerkbait lures: Before casting your lure, you should bend the nose and tail down as far as possible, so it will sit in the water better and have a more natural presentation.

Blade baits for walleye cast quickly and sink deep fast due to their bulkier weight. But why — out of all the other types of lures flooding the market — do blade baits work so well for walleye? The answer is inclusive of a few things:

• A blade bait’s metal creates a rhythmic pulse when lifted or retrieved in the water because of a special weight located on the belly
• Its vertical presentation is the master of vertical fishing in either cold or warm water.
• They can penetrate deep through a river’s quick current whereas lures like lipless crankbaits resemble a kite at the mercy of a strong gust.
• Blade baits for walleye attract strikes on the slow, vertical lift rather than a strike on the fall (or sinking)

Crankbaits are a type of bait that attracts fish by imitating smaller fish with a natural wobbling action. Use this type of lure to fish both shallow (usually between 0-8 feet) and deep (as far down as about 12+ feet).

Jigging is one of the most popular methods for targeting walleye. Do so by using a weighted heavy metal sinker with an attached fish hook to attract your next walleye. Since walleye and other species prey on the same forage, it can be tricky to keep aggressive fish like smallmouth bass away from your bait. You should use subtle jigs and less movement to avoid this problem.

Swimbaits — specifically paddle tails — are versatile fishing lures that work throughout the year for walleye. Many swimbaits come pre-rigged and have an exposed top hook.

Soft plastic baits are beneficial for a few reasons. First, they produce more action at all retrieve speeds. You can also fish quicker and more aggressively than you can with live bait. They can help slow down the descent of your jig.

Jerkbaits tend to have slender and long bodies that resemble minnows. They usually have 3 treble hooks and can be used all year round.

Walleye follow a seasonal cycle that impacts your fishing success — unless you know how to tailor your hook and tackle to each season.

• In Spring, walleye start spawning and moving toward shallow water.

• In the Summer, walleye start to move to deeper waters and structures like weed lines, reefs, and mud flats.

• Fall will bring walleye in both deep and shallow waters, so anglers can generally fish in both areas.

• In Winter, walleye go deep and can be hard to catch. Using the right type of bait in each season can maximize your chances of reeling in a walleye.

Walleye Fishing in Spring

Walleye Fishing in Summer

Walleye Fishing in Fall

You’re all set to use the best baits for your next walleye trip! Stock up and plan your next outing to the lake! Read about our other top picks for freshwater lures here or check out our other baits and lures guides by different fish species:

• Looking to catch a prized hawg? Learn all about the best baits and lures for bass!
• Excited for a tasty challenge? Catch your next catfish with these best baits and lures.
• Bring home the biggest red drum of the day! Use these best baits and lures for redfish.
• Reel in a nice speckled fish. Catch your next crappie with these baits and lures.
• Cast out the right tackle for your next striper. Learn all about the best striped bass baits and lures.
• Ready to catch your next rainbow trout? Don’t forget these best baits and lures!
• Looking to stock your lake trout tackle box? You can’t miss these best baits and lures.