Jigging spoons or bladebaits are easy to fish where current is minimal. Blades, in fact, are popular river baits, often triggering strikes from fish that bypass slower jigging presentations. Bladebaits like a Heddon Sonar or Reef Runner Cicada provide vibration and action on the rise. Spoons like Bass 'N Bait's Rattle Snakie, Northland's Buckshot Rattle Spoon, and Lindy-Little Joe's Rattl'r feature rattles that further enhance their attracting power while wobbling on the fall.

Present blades and spoons on about 10-pound-test line with either spinning or casting gear. Use a 6- to 7-foot medium-heavy casting or spinning rod to work 1/2-ounce bladebaits. Drop a bladebait to the bottom, then engage the reel, taking up slack until the line is tight and the spoon is just off bottom. Beginning with your rod tip pointed down at an angle (about 8 o'clock) toward the water, lift your forearm slightly while modestly snapping your wrist upward to about 11 o'clock. Use aggressive lift-drops of perhaps 12 to 18 inches. As the lure begins to descend, follow it downward with the rod tip. Walleyes typically strike on the fall, so avoid excessive slack or you'll miss feeling the bite.

"Jigs, spoons, and bladebaits are great midwinter options. One of my favorite and most productive presentations, believe it or not, is a castable minnow rig that features a 12- to 14-inch leader. The short leader allows me to lob-cast the rig much as you would a slipbobber onto, say, a sandflat or the top edge of a hole. Winter walleyes are somewhat lethargic, and the castable rig allows for fishing the bait without letting the fish feel any resistance. I use a 1/4-ounce weight, like Lindy's Rattlin' No-Snagg, and I work the system much as I would a jig, dragging it and stopping, drag and stop. When I get bit, I instantly feed the fish line to give it time to eat my bait, then I reel in the slack and set the hook."

A 1- to 1 1/2-ounce three-way rig baited with a minnow is another good bait that can be drifted or trolled, or fished in place. Keep the dropper and leader short -- each maybe 15 inches -- to position the bait near bottom where walleyes tuck down tight to the basin.

Crankbaits are effective for finding walleyes in rivers. Troll them through known concentrations of schooled fish, possibly even triggering bigger fish. Hard-body baits -- minnowbaits, suspending jerkbaits, crankbaits, and rattlebaits -- tend to trigger big fish bites in rivers all year, even in water temperatures below 35F. At this time of year, long, slim deep divers in smaller sizes, like the Reef Runner Lil' Ripper, Storm Deep ThunderStick Jr., or Rapala #10 Deep Down Husky Jerk produce.

Open water below dams is the coldest flowing water of the year. Personally, it gives me chills to think about bobbing around in a boat on water that would otherwise freeze if it weren't for the constant current. Not to mention that the air temperature and wind chills often are colder than the freezing point (32F) of water. But walleyes and sauger can be found staging, if not stacked, in specific spots below dams during midwinter. And it's amazing how fast you forget about the cold once you start catching fish.