Don’t Overlook Casting Crankbaits for Walleye

They say the only differences between a rut and a grave are the depth and how long you’re in there. Well, if you are like me and many other walleye anglers, you might be in this rut. I’m talking about the rut that keeps us trolling crankbaits but rarely casting them. To be honest, I absolutely love casting cranks, stickbaits, lipless rattle baits and the like. Even so, I find myself hesitant to plan my fishing day around casting them.

We get so good at fishing tactics where we control the presentation with the movement and placement of the boat that we limit ourselves to presentations where the boat does the work. Oh, but there’s so much more to modern walleye fishing.

A little history. Many years ago, I was at the local causeway that connects a Missouri River reservoir to a small muddy lake. I was sitting on the riprap shore when some Minnesota tourists pulled up in their motorhome. They got out on the opposite side of the causeway from me, and the driver started slinging a hard bait. About the third cast he had an extended fight with a hefty rainbow trout. Two casts later he stringered a chunky 4-pound walleye. The travelers loaded up in their rig, and in less than 10 minutes they were gone. 

While other bait-dunkers sitting along the riprap just kept sitting and waiting, I took a page from the tourists’ book. I opened my trusty tackle box and dug out a Rebel Crawfish. Every angler owns at least one Rebel Crawfish, right? About the fifth cast a heavy thump was followed by a strong run. Wow! No net and slippery rocks made the landing a step more exciting than it should have been. In the end (with wet feet), I held up what my Fisherman’s De-Liar said was a 7-pound-plus walleye!! 

I’m betting many of you reading this have had similar crankbait walleye stories. So why don’t we cast cranks WAY more often? Casting hard-bodied lures for walleyes is simple. and no specialized rods or techniques are required. Chuck-and-wind, chuck-and-wind… 

Crankbaits (or hard baits in general) are the great unifier of boaters and shore anglers. This is a technique that applies equally to all of us. It even applies to the forward-facing sonar crowd. More on this to come.

One of the big draws to casting cranks is that we get to cast at stuff like rock piles, docks (yes for walleyes), downed trees, boulders, pockets in weeds, shoreline juts, coves and more. So instead of just dragging past interesting stuff with the boat, or sitting tight dunking bait on shore, this is our chance to get precise while focusing on the most interesting objects and casting to them. 

Causeways – As I learned from the Minnesota tourists, the mouths of causeways connecting two water bodies are prime territory to cast crankbaits. Current flowing through draws bait and hungry walleyes. The typical riprap shoreline reinforcement provides ambush spots and current seams. Perhaps most importantly, ALL fish traveling from one water to the other pass through the mouth of the causeway. The fish will be there. Will you be there too?

Dam Tailraces – With few exceptions, tailraces draw walleyes and provide great fishing with hard-bodied diving lures. The first time I was in a national walleye tourney at the Bay of Green Bay, small craft advisories closed the open-water crankbait trolling bite. The tourney was limited to the river. The eventual winner and several other top-finishing anglers focused on the tailrace of a dam, casting shad baits along current seams in the shallows. I didn’t have much to say about my river jigging when Tommy Sanders pushed the microphone into my face. Should have cast cranks! I’ve since had tremendous days (and nights) tossing stickbaits and crankbaits both by boat and from shore on several Missouri River tailraces. This is a consistent pattern that produces tons of fish!

Weed Beds – Everybody knows lots of baitfish live in the weeds, so predators like walleyes feed there often, even in waters with other open-water food sources. Weeds may seem like a difficult place to cast cranks, but the key is to use the precise diving depth of hardbaits to skim over or around the weeds. When the weed bed only reaches halfway to the surface you can use the depth of the weed tops as a pseudo bottom. Weeds top out 7 feet from the surface? Run a 6-foot diver right over the top of the vegetation. Walleyes will pop up out of the weeds to grab your lure. 

Every year, my local reservoir has a big influx of water from late spring mountain runoff. This extra water piles on and submerges the weeds a few extra feet. Sometimes this makes just a narrow band of open space above the weeds. So, I throw shallow diving jerkbaits/stickbaits over the weed tops – even over fairly deep weed beds. It got an 11.5-pounder a couple years ago while casting a Bomber 15A that only runs 3 feet deep on a long cast while the weeds were growing in nearly 20 feet. 

Wing Dams – River anglers know that tailraces are only one option. On the mighty Mississippi River wing dams concentrate both forage and walleyes. This occurs in other rivers too, though less anglers exploit it outside the Mississippi. Depending on current levels and boat positioning, you’ll find that sometimes you are best off casting downstream and reeling into the current; sometimes, the opposite. Each spot has its own “best practice” methodology, depending on flow. Learning the nuances of each wing dam helps you dial in the casting angles. 

Boulders, Rock Piles, Jetties & Riprap – Who can resist casting at boulders and other rocky targets? While these rocky spots can consume jigs faster than a wolf pack of Northern pike, crankbaits bounce through almost entirely snag free. It’s shocking how well you can dance and bounce and careen your Bandit Walleye Shad through a patch of big reef-rock. And if you’ve never tried it, the technique is not about avoiding the rocks. You’ll want to use medium or even deep divers so the big bill can run interference and block the rocks from touching treble hooks. You definitely want to bash the rocks! Bump your line up a notch heavier and re-tie often. Your line won’t handle the rocks as well as your lures will!

One of the challenges with modern forward-facing sonar is the goal of fishing at the same depth as the fish. When I’m fishing more than 40 feet away from the boat with a YUM FF Sonar Minnow on a jig it’s tough to mope (dangle at the fish’s level) or stroll (ultra slow roll at the fish’s level) while maintaining precise depth control. This is the ideal situation for casting a crankbait! Each crankbait has a running depth that’s constant and consistent, and your sonar shows you exactly how deep your lure is running. A Bandit Walleye Shad #2 runs 7 feet deep on the retrieve on 10-pound fluoro. You can see it plain as day on your sonar. Fish hovering at that depth are sitting ducks! 

To be a Killer at casting cranks with live sonar you’ll need to build a mental depth chart for your favorite hard baits and follow that up watching the running depth onscreen. I tend to lump my favorite stickbaits/jerkbaits into a shallow group. Whether throwing a Bomber 15A or Smithwick Rattlin' Rogue or a Cordell Ripplin’ Red Fin, you can expect about 3 feet of running depth. Switch it up to the heavier suspending models of each of these three to get 4 and maybe 5 feet of running depth. The new BOOYAH Flash Point Deep gets you even deeper! 

You’ve probably noticed that I tend to talk about stickbaits, as opposed to jerkbaits. To me they are the same lures with a different retrieve. I tend not to get very “jerky” with the retrieve. Walleye are a “Steady Eddie” type of fish that commonly snap best with less aggressive action. Yes, when they are really on the chew you can jerk like you are fishing stripers in the surf. But most times that’s not the best approach. If I get too wild in the reservoirs near my home in Montana, that draws 3- to 5-pound rainbow trout. They may be fun, but they aren’t walleyes. Similarly, in the Midwest when I get too jumpy with the jerkbaits at Devils Lake or Lake of the Woods the Northern pike tend to come screaming in from a distance to inhale and steal my lure. Unless the bite is really on, I recommend mellow retrieves and either steady reeling or sweeps and pauses. The fish on your sonar will tell you what to do!

When the fish get deeper than about 5 feet it’s time to grab your mid-depth and deep runners. I’m partial to the new Bandit Walleye Shad series. The #2 gets you 7 feet, and the #3 will get you 11 feet, and these lures have a weighted casting system, so they don’t tumble on the cast. That gives you more distance AND more accuracy. The Bomber Deep Flat A Next Gen has an internal casting system too. I’ve been crushing walleyes with Flat A crankbaits since they came out back in the ‘90s. Expect 7-8 feet of running depth with the Deep Flat A. To reach a bit deeper, I grab an old favorite. I’ve thrown more casts with the Bomber 7A than any other lure. The shape and weight cast well, and it’s my go-to for 8- to 9-foot walleyes on my screen. 

You can play even deeper with some specialized extra deep runners. I’ve been catching huge walleye on the Bomber Fat Free Shad series for decades. The big Fat Free Shad hits 16 feet on the cast to get after those deep suspended fish as well as deep rock related fish. 

Of note, don’t overlook the Bomber Next Generation lineup for great values priced on Fat Free Shad, Deep Flat A, 7A and more.

Whether you are casting at visible objects and structure or whether you are casting at blips on your screen, don’t limit yourself to the jig and plastic game. Crankbaits can be your unsung hero with their consistent running depth and snag resistant design. And the best reason to throw ‘em is because big, gnarly walleye love to bite hard baits!