02/13/2021
Here is an article I wrote in Nov. of last year on how to fish blades. I hope you find it useful.
HOW TO FISH BLADE BAITS:
Hello friends, my name is Travis and I am a zealot walleye fisherman and owner of The Fisherman's Foundry which specializes in Blade Baits. About 1/3 of my customers ask the question: How do I fish these?
Fishing Blades or Jiggin' in general is not easy to explain, because it is a feel. But I can promise you that if you spend just a little time practicing on the water, you will get better. It's kind of like driving on snow or ice. At first it's awkward, but after not too long, you develop a feel for it and can sense when things aren't right.
Blading in Summer is vastly different from blading in late fall or winter. As we are approaching the cold season, I will focus on that. In mid to late November, the water turns over and fish will move deeper simply to get into warmer water, below the thermocline. There metabolisms drop due to the temps and they lose that early fall aggression that we all love.
Fishing blade baits follows the rules of jiggin', but in my opinion, offers so much more. Blade Baits offer the perfect mix of a crank bait and a jig. You can get the precision presentation capabilities of a jig, along with the variable speed choices....(fast or slow, no pause or long pauses) with the waggle, wiggle, thump vibration of crank bait.... If you try a blade bait for the first time, you will immediately know how it differs from a jig.... It wiggles and sends massive amounts of vibration into the water.
This time of year, the metabolisms of the fish are dropping faster than inventory in gun store, on an election year...... Come late November, all of December and January, those fish are going to be grouped up on structure and totally willing to feed, but not aggressive about it. They want presentations ON THE BOTTOM and they want them slow.
I have found that the best presentations for Bladebaits is to let the bait sink to the bottom, and then to (slowly) lift the bait enough to produce (3-4) waggles......then drop. You want to simulate a slow moving sculpin or burbot that is just chinning it's way along the bottom and occasionally kickin' up a dustcloud. The walleyes love it. They get to casually come and check it out and casually pin the bait to the bottom.
The BITE: Walleyes aren't slammin' anything in late Nov. or any other winter month.... Their bite becomes very light, usually quite subtle and almost undetectable. Where you get them is on the next lift. Your bait should always waggle... If it doesn't.......set the hook. If you feel like the weight of the rod/line is slightly heavier....set the hook. If the rod feels "gummy" or offers a pause........ for God's sake, set the hook.....
A LOT of times what happens is that the walleye has used it's lips/chin to pin the bait against the bottom, but hasn't actually opened it's mouth the eat it yet..... If you Blade, you will eventually hook walleyes on the under side of mouth.... (Their "chin" if you will) When this happens, you will know that it tried to pin the bait the bottom. The other scenario that is far more common, is that the walleye grabbed the bait as it was falling. (classic walleye and perch behavior) this makes it difficult to detect, but you can on the next rod lift.
Nov. and Dec. Bladebaiting is all about slow..... Lift the rod ( I use and prefer fast action, 7 footers) enough to produce 3-4 waggles of the blade and drop. It's slow, but enough to produce some thump and a slight dustcloud.....just like a wounded sculpin or burbot..... Wait 3-5 seconds and do it again...slight lift.....drop. You'll feel the bait wiggle. Give it short wiggles and slow reps..... When you lift again and your imagination says: "this one feels a little different"..... Set the hook. Hook Sets are free and if you miss it, nothing is lost. But if you don't, you could be losing a big Girl...... Damn big walleyes are caught on blades in the winter......
Good Luck!!!
- Travis
