Matching subtle refinements in livebait rigging style to weed type, height, and density, as well as walleye position and mood, provides the edge for contacting weedline walleyes.

Planer board trolling with crankbaits or spinner-crawler harnesses, anywhere from tickling bottom to off-bottom to near-surface, typically produces most of the larger fish.

In reservoirs, walleyes often migrate to the current of feeder rivers or smaller tributaries in creek arms, keying on gravel and rocky sections near incoming rivers and tributary streams, main-lake points, and shorelines.

Most of the walleyes I catch this time of year prowl shallow flats, in water less than 6 feet deep, even in the daytime. But at night, the bite can be furious in 2 to 4 feet in many different types of water.

Several different designs of spoons and blades exist. Jigging spoons that are narrow, thick, and heavy.

Walleyes react to increasing currents and changing water levels as winter creeps almost imperceptibly in transition toward spring.

Casting or trolling shallow midriver rapids and riffles by night and jigging the deeper pools immediately below them during the day have produced many a walleye in the teens -- some even bigger -- including the world record.

As lakes and impoundments edge past midwinter into some aspect of late winter conditions, triggering prespawn urges, saugeyes take up predictable positions and exhibit classic behavior.

Fall is big-fish time, particularly for walleyes. Gone are the uncomfortably warm surface temperatures and fussy feeding attitudes of summer. It's a great time to be on the water.

During the ice season, searching for walleyes on flats or in lake basins often requires drilling lots of holes, moving often, and believing the effort spent searching will eventually pay off-even though hole after hole reaps no reward.