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Eyes of the Flow

March 19, 2025
Jim Edlund

A quartet of techniques for plying early-spring river walleyes

The river rats are already out and about, seeking out walleyes in transition from wintering spots to spawning locations. The Mississippi River is seeing increased angler traffic and other locations are warming up, too – like the Fox and Wolf River in Wisconsin, Illinois River, the heralded Detroit River, and soon, the annual Rainy River run on the Minnesota/Ontario border and the Missouri River in the Dakotas.

New to the early-season river walleye game? First, know it’s not brain surgery. Fish can be found in many areas, including main river channels, current seams, the confluence of other rivers/creeks with the main river, bends, eddies, rip-rap, slack water areas, etc. The key is covering water, which makes the first two techniques on this list favorites with many seasoned river walleye anglers.

Pulling Stickbaits

Rigged much like a Dubuque Rig—but with a dropper weight on the bottom—and a stickbait (or one stickbait tied to the hookless last split ring of the first stickbait), the technique is especially good for covering areas near center channel and covering water. Once again, a 6- to 10-inch, 10-pound fluorocarbon dropper tied to a ½- up to 3-ounce bell sinker or cylindrical dropshot style sinker helps keep the bait(s) near bottom – where they need to be. Especially in areas with stronger current, this technique is a go-getter when lots of other strategies fail. In terms of baits, consider the Mad Scientist Floating Predator Jerkbait or classic #9 floating Rapala on a three- to four-foot leader. Bright, Easter basket colors, which current-loving saugers quite readily slurp up.

In terms of trolling speed, abide by the same practice as pulling a Dubuque Rig with current-cutting 10-pound braid, moving just fast enough to make headway against the river current while maintaining your weight’s bottom contact.

Jig and Minnow (or Plastic)

Where a lot of anglers start—especially once fish are located—is with the tried-and-true jig and minnow—typically something that resembles the type of bait in the river you’re fishing. Fatheads are cheap and mimic the size of the small emerald shiners and eaten by walleyes. Rainbows work great, too, and are a bit heartier than run-of-the-mill fatheads and chubs.

You have a couple of choices when fishing a jig and minnow: You can fish them vertically below the boat or make short pitches to current seams, eddies, sand dune troughs, wingdams, rip rap—even wood—essentially, any current break that might serve as a resting point for upstream-migrating walleyes.

Fished vertically, you want to match your jig weight to the current speed. It’s best to carry a selection of jig heads ranging from 1/8-oz. up to ½-oz, although on most rivers, 3/16^th, 1/4^th, and 3/8^th ounce get the most play. Mad Scientist River Jigs are awesome.

However, on faster-moving waters like the Detroit and Columbia River, you may end up fishing 1-ounce—even 1-ounce and half—jigs to stay vertical. And if the fish are super-shallow—pushed right up on shore—1/8 oz. is a good candidate to prevent snags. Especially in these situations, anglers often opt for soft plastics over live bait, like a Z-Man DieZel Minnow, B FISH N Tackle Moxis, or ringworms.

The key is to feel the bottom and limit your movements to small pops or wrist-twitches only a few inches off the bottom. You want the walleyes to feel and smell the bait because given low water visibility in most early-season river scenarios, walleyes are not sight-feeding.

No matter what weight jig you fish, if the walleyes are short-biting and you’re missing lots of fish—or your minnows are coming up bitten in half—add a VMC or Gamakatsu stinger hook to the jig. That typically stops the short-biting issue and will put more fish in the livewell.

Blade Baits

No matter what brand blade baits you fish—and we suggest you carry a number of different sizes, weights, and colors—they simply produce when other methods fail. For spring walleyes, they can be hard to beat.

First, the tendency is to fish blades too fast and with hops that are two far off bottom. Especially in colder water, walleyes won’t chase quickly. In fact, with blades they typically grab the bait on the fall or pin it to the bottom and inhale it – seriously, a ¼- ½-ounce piece of metal.

Although you can catch walleyes on blades in warm water, the ideal water temp is anything from just above freezing to about 60 degrees; basically, what river water is at right now.

While you can fish blades deep in winter—as in targeting scour holes, often vertical jigging, in spring fish you’ll want to pitch shallower. Even when walleyes are in a foot to three feet of water, blades work fine—especially lighter ones—1/8-, 3/16-, and ¼ ounces.

The biggest thing with bladebaits is using your wrist and not over-working the bait. Pitch it out, let it hit bottom on a tight line, and snap the rod top up a couple inches to a foot with wrist motion – rinse and repeat – always on a tight line to prevent the bait from fouling.

In terms of colors, gold, silver, purple, and chartreuse pattern are all standbys. And shape can make a difference: from classic Heddon Sonar minnow shapes to shad-shaped baits, it’s best to have a collection of shapes, colors, and weights.

As far as a good bladebait set-up, 10- to 15-pound braid tied to 10 to 15-pound fluoro leader with a tiny barrel swivel and a 6’10” to 7’2” medium-light or medium power rod with fast or extra-fast action is recommended.

The Dubuque Rig

A Dubuque Rig is a three-way rig comprised of a dropper jig on a 6- to 10-inch lead to a three-way swivel, and then a 3- to 4-foot 8-pound monofilament leader with much lighter jig, plain hook, or walleye fly off the back, the last eye attached to the main line. On the dropper jig, anglers have their favorite plastic profiles and colors, but mainstays include B FISH N Tackle Moxis or Ringworms, typically in bright colors like chartreuse, green, or orange. As far as jig dropper weight, river current dictates that, but starting with a ½ ounce is typically a good bet. 8- 10-pound mono or fluoro is a typical line test for the dropper, which makes breaking off fairly easy if you snag. Any heavier than that and you might be turning the boat around to undo your snag, rather than just breaking off and re-tying another dropper jig. DAIWA’s J-FLUORO 100% pure fluorocarbon is a great choice.

On the longer lead off the back, anglers will fish ultra-light jigs, plain hooks, and walleye flies. Plastics, Gulp! Alive Minnows, and live minnows are all used in the system.

How do you work a Dubuque Rig? The biggest thing is matching the dropper jig head weight to the current flow and maintaining a 45-degree angle off the boat so the bait is occasionally bumping bottom, not dragging. Speed is crucial; you want to troll upstream just fast enough to get your baits moving while maintaining occasional bottom contact. (Check you local regulations about the legal use of multiple hook rigs.)

Dress the Part

Early spring walleye fishing can equal cold days on the water – the kind of days where the air temp hovers around freezing and you have to spray your line or rod eyelets with PAM or silicone spray.

On those days, you’ll want to dress in merino base layers, Whitewater Buoy HD Fishing Hoodie, Whitewater Torque Heated Vest, and a suit like the Whitewater Great Lakes Pro Jacket and Bibs, which was designed by pros and guides for situations exactly like these. And don’t forget some good wool fingerless gloves.

But let’s say the mercury climbs a bit – that doesn’t mean the Great Lakes Pro isn’t suitable, just means you can ditch the merino base layer in place of sweatpants. I’ve fished lots of days where I need all the layering, but also my share of later spring days where the jacket comes off and it’s just me, a hoodie, and the bibs.

Spring river walleye fishing can be a great time. Armed with the four techniques above, we have no doubt you should boat some fish!

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