There are various schools of thought when it comes to catching walleyes. One group, which favors zipping in quickly, catching the active fish, and then moving on to the next spot in search of willing biters, believes in the move, move, move approach. It's great for catching the easiest fish and can be dynamic when the ones that are biting are big, such as amongst vast schools of suspended, oversized Great Lakes walleyes.
Another group favors a different approach. They like skimming off those first few easy fish--who doesn't?--but then are willing to hang around to tease out a few more, possibly larger walleyes. They may have to switch lures, adjust tactics, and exhibit some degree of patience, but in the end they feel it's worth the effort for a chance at larger 'eyes.
And then there are the real diehards--anglers for whom the word patience is an understatement. These guys are willing to sit in one or two spots all day, anchored or fishing from shore, waiting for active fish to move through, or for fish to turn on and bite. Their approach is often the product of learning to fish amidst heavy fishing pressure and boat traffic, where patience and savvy are required to extract rather than catch fish--especially big ones. It takes confidence in your spot, and being there when the short window of opportunity opens, to catch big 'eyes passing through.
The ultimate in teasing tactic for bass, developed in the clear-water reservoirs of southern California, incorporates tiny inch-long movements of soft plastic baits, interspersed with long pauses. It's called stitching, and takes the lion's share of whoppers caught today in these ultra-heavily-fished waters. But son of a gun, it sure sounds a whole lot like sitting and soaking livebait for walleyes, doesn't it?
Basically, we're talking apples and apples, just with slightly different flavors. Bass anglers tend to use artificials. Most walleye fishermen go to livebait like leeches, crawlers, or minnows when conditions are tough, like cold muddy water in rivers, or severe cold fronts that shut down the bite.
The ultimate stitching tactic for walleyes probably dates back to the old split-shot rig, which features a tiny lead shot crimped on 6-pound-mono line about 18 inches above a small light-wire hook. To the hook is affixed a lip-hooked minnow, nose-hooked crawler, or sucker-hooked leech. The idea is to cast out, let the bait settle to bottom, and wait, letting it wiggle and entice nearby gamefish. You can use two rods where legal, picking one up, lifting the rod tip a few inches, retrieving slack, and setting it back down again. Then shift your focus to the other rod, repeating the process. When one of the rod tips begins to bend, something good is happening on the other end of the line.
Next up in the stitching category for walleyes would be slipbobbers, which suspend a lightly hooked livebait just above cover or bottom, using the action and motion of the waves to drift, hover, bob, tempt, and tantalize the critters below with squiggly livebait. In the event of no wind, well, just wiggle the rod tip a little to make the bobber dip and move, take up the slack, and go back into patience mode. One cast takes a long time but is almost guaranteed to extract even an unwilling candidate from below. If it's there.
Now move into the mixed artificial-livebait combo mode, like a jig & minnow. No reason you can't anchor, dabble a jig & minnow below the boat, pause, and wait 'em out. Adding a rattle to the combo adds sound. Adding a bulky plastic body, like a lizard, increases bulk, visibility and profile in dark or dingy water. But like in ice fishing, the movement attracts, but the pause triggers, when fish aren't aggressively smashing baits. A darn good tactic for extracting fussy walleyes in tough conditions.
Now, can you do the same with artificial-only tactics, like a jig & plastic tail? To some degree, sure, under the right conditions. Make some noise with your jig by bouncing it a few times, attracting fish with movement, then letting it sit in their faces, motionless, for an extended period. It's like ice fishing in open water, wouldn't you say?
As for bass, do you have the confidence to stitch a soft-plastic bait for walleyes, letting it sit for extended periods to attract and trigger a big 'eye? Well, maybe, but wouldn't it make you more confident if the offering were a big wiggly chub, a squirming crawler, or an undulating leech, down there independently working for you while you munch your sandwich? You make the call.
As it stands at this juncture, most soft-plastic walleye tactics incorporate artificial-livebait combos, some degree of movement, and only brief pauses. The whole extended pause and "let them eat plastic" concept may be on the horizon, but a lot of skeptics still are waiting to be convinced. They more likely believe that a jig and plastic tail, sitting still for 15 seconds and then ripped through the weeds or skipped across the rocks by a snap of the rod tip, is likely to trigger a strike. But a soft-plastic tail lying motionless on the bottom for 5 or 10 minutes to tempt a bite, well, maybe not. Unless you have the patience to grip the line between forefinger and thumb, stitch it a couple inches back toward the boat every 5 minutes, and wait for a bite, that is.
If so, happy hunting. You won't cover a whole lot of territory, but on a key spot, you certainly will saturate the coverage.
