In light of Walleye season approaching, I thought I would share an article that I have been holding for a while.

Most anglers know that a wounded minnow can turn great results for walleye. Please keep in mind that I am an enthusiast for aquariums and have monitored and studied injuries in my aquariums for years. These observations have provided me with the knowledge of when predators in my tank would hit a wounded partner in the tank and why.

Imitating a wounded minnow with artificial bait can be more difficult that some know. Choosing the right bait for this presentation can be just as difficult as the presentation itself. Before you decide to deploy an artificial bait and present it as wounded, think of how you want to present it as wounded. If you are imitating a wounded fish, think of where they could be wounded. For example, are they wounded on the Pectoral, Pelvic, anal, tail or dorsal fin? A wounded minnow will react different to each of these scenarios and rigging your bait properly can portray the injury the correct way mixed with the right presentation technique. I tend to use two different presentations to imitate an injured bait fish while jigging and play around a lot with jerkbaits to hook into walleye.

Pectoral Fin and Pelvic Fin Injuries

When a fish suffers a pectoral fin injury it tends to swim and drop in a circular motion. In my tanks I’ve observed that it’s not when the fish is swimming in circles upward those predators hit the minnow. It’s either on the fall or when it hits the bottom and rests. This is one of the most effective presentations for walleye and is best imitated while vertical jigging. The way that your lure drops through the water columns is the most important part. It needs to be spinning in circles on the way down. When you jig it up and down, the lure needs to do the same.

My most favourite bait to use for this presentation are the Berkley Gulp Minnows. (Try to match the hatch with your offering… Size is most important). I use to use any old jig head that I could find however, I know only carry two jig heads in my box. First is the XPS Bass Pro Brand flat back jig heads. Second and more recently added are the Gulp Jig heads which increased the life of your bait as well as drop flat which has been a great presentation thus far.

When rigging the jig head through the minnow, don’t put the hook straight out the back. Slide it through the back; however keep the hook a little to one side of the minnow.

Anal and Tail Fin Injuries

When a fish suffers an anal or tail fin injury, the fish will over thrust its injured tail fin for periods and then rest for longer periods of time. Predators most often hit the injured fish when it rests or the moment it starts another struggle to swim. It’s rarely towards the end of the struggle that the predators hit. To best imitate and match this presentation, you want to choose the right bait again.I tend to use the Berkley Jerkbait Gulps for this.

More recently I have found that a modified Havoc swim bait works well too. I’ll leave it to you to play with the modifications and figure it out. When choosing the right jig head, again consider the new Gulp jig heads, they rock for this presentation. Make sure that the hook is rigged perfectly straight through the centre of the back of your bait.

While presenting it, lift the jig off bottom slightly and twitch the bait ever so slightly and very rapidly. When you lay it back on bottom let it pause for long periods of time before doing this again. You can also pause it suspended off bottom and very slowly lower your tip until the bait hits bottom, then pause it at bottom. This can be an absolutely deadly presentation.

Finally as mentioned I also use jerkbaits, which I’m not going to expand on. If you wish to read more about jerkbaits, please take the time to read my previous post Working the Jerkbait So It Doesn’t Work You.

If you have any questions, or ever want to talk techniques, feel free to reach out anytime.

Yours In Boating