What does it mean when someone tells you to “bounce your bait” when Walleye fishing?
When someone tells you to “bounce your bait”, they are referring to a bottom bounce rig when using live bait. The wires are shape as an L and have a molded lead weight on the shaft. When you retrieve the L-shaped rig, it bounces to create some slack in your fishing line by bouncing off the bottom. This will allow the walleye to easily inhale the bait, which is what a walleye does best. Walleyes open their gills and inhale the bait and water that is around them. It is also best to use minnows on your line to attract walleyes. Walleyes are known to eat live minnows, therefore keeping your bait alive is essential to hooking a walleye. If you use the “bounce your bait” method, you will more than likely hook the fish rather than have them snatch the bait and be gone without you even realizing what happened. Seasoned walleye anglers know all about the walleye and how sneaky they are at stealing the bait. After you become more familiar with their habits, you can plan better strategies to hook and reel in a nice size walleye. As the walleyes grow and become bigger, they need more food than the smaller walleyes. This might account for the success of the average anglers luck in catching a fine tasting fish. Some anglers have used insects to hook a walleye when they are smaller, but as they grow larger, they are attracted to bigger prey such as a live minnow.
