Pro Guide: The Best Walleye Lures – The Ultimate Guide To Walleye Fishing Lures

Table of contents:

• What Makes a Good Walleye Lure
• Jigs
• Live Bait
• Soft Baits
• Jerkbaits
• Spoons
• Crankbaits
• Blade Baits
• Best Walleye Lures

Walleyes are one of the premier fish to catch for anglers, especially in the Midwest. With walleye being so sought after for trophy fish, as well as a delicious meal, who better to break down the best lures for walleye fishing than the bait and tackle shop that is in the heart of the Midwest, and on the walleye capital of the world, Lake Erie.

Walleyes are large, toothy, freshwater fish in the perch family that are an aggressive predator. They are native to the Great Lakes, and Mississippi River drainage basins. With long and slender bodies, they are almost shaped like torpedoes, combined with a mouth full of sharp, conical teeth, these fish are among the top predators in lakes, rivers, and reservoirs.

When fishing for walleye, you can become overwhelmed with what baits and lures to use as they are active predators, especially at dusk and dawn. Luckily, we will review the best baits and lures for walleye fishing since you can use anything from jerk baits and jigs to live bait and spoons. While it seems like these freshwater beasts will eat just about anything, they can be a little trickier than just throwing a lure into the water.

What Makes a Good Walleye Lure?

Like any lure, you want to mimic the type of prey your target species is eating. In this case we want our walleye lures to resemble what the big walleye are eating:

• Minnows
• Perch
• Freshwater Drum
• Insects
• Crawfish
• Leeches
• Gizzard Shad
• Worms

To properly mimic these and other prey that walleye eat, we want the proper color, size, movement, and depth in the water. Since walleye live and feed in deeper low-visibility water, the best walleye lures are commonly found in gold, white, silver, and neon colors to help improve visibility during dusk and dawn. Since walleye eat such a variety of prey, the size of the lure and bait can vary from small grubs on a jig head, to much larger jerk baits, this is also determined by the size of the walleye in the area that you are fishing. Finally, walleye are opportunistic eaters, so they will strike on the prey that is in front of them, so any lure that moves naturally like a swimming or injured fish like jerk baits and crank baits, or something like and insect that jigs up and down will create a tasty looking presentation for the walleye to take a bite.

Jigs For Walley Fishing

Jigs are at the top of the list for every walleye angler due to their versatile presentations and actions. Jigs can be paired with live or soft baits to be one of the best walleye lures in the game. With a soft plastic attached, you can drop the jig, and jig it back up, you can swim it through the water column, or even do a creative jig and reel retrieve, there really isn’t a wrong way to reel in a jig.

Ball head jigs are a staple in almost every tackle box, they are in almost all fishing kits that you get when you are a little kid, and a common introduction to fishing with lures. This doesn’t mean they are not a good lure for walleye. Also, you can get more specialized jigs that have spinners, weed guards, and lips to help the swimming action. Combine this with different weights of jigs like the 1/8 ounce or 3/8 ounce, even ½ ounce jigs to fish heavier swim baits to target the bigger walleye.

Best Walleye Jigs

• Rapala Jigging Raps
• Northland Deep-Vee Jig
• VCM Moon Tail Jig
• VMC Bucktail Jigs
• Spro Prime Bucktail Jigs
• Northland Mimic Jig 1/2oz
• Z-Man Chatterbait WillowVibe
• Berkley Fusion 19 Swimbait Head

Best Live Bait For Walleye

Live bait is one of the best ways to catch walleye due to their action, smell, and obviously life like presentation. Some of the most common live bait for walleye fishing are minnows, leeches, and worms.

Minnows

Minnows are a great option since they are such a natural forage for walleye. You can combine a minnow on a spinner bait, or jig depending how you want to fish the minnow. Some of the best minnows for walleye fishing are shiners in the spring and summer, but in the fall when walleye want to fatten up, try switching to a chub and fishing it on the bottom.

Leeches

Leeches have always been a favorite bait for walleye & walleye fisherman alike. Leeches are excellent when added to rigs, spinners, and jigs, however, avoid using them when waters are too cold, as leeches ball up in the cold water and the fish will not find this as appealing.

Worms

Finally worms or nightcrawlers, probably the most popular live bait of all time, also work very well for walleye. One of the most popular ways to rig a night crawler for walleye is to troll a worm harness with a nigh crawler attached to the back. Night crawlers are typically best used in the summertime as the warm weather will keep them livelier. Another great presentation is attaching a half or full worm to a jig, dropping it to the bottom, and jigging it back up to the surface.

Soft Baits For Walleye Fishing

There are an incredible number of soft baits on the market that can be used for walleye fishing. Some of the best types of soft baits for walleye fishing are:

• Swimbaits
• Minnows
• Grubs
• Wroms

Soft Plastic Swimbaits For Walleye Fishing

A soft plastic swimbait is very similar to a hard swim bait, but made of soft plastics, smaller in size, and typically geared up with a jig head or weighted hook to help it get some depth in the water. The paddle tail that comes with swimbaits thumbs through the water driving walleye crazy. You can slow roll a 3.5 inch – 4.5 inch soft plastic sim bait along the bottom, dropping them off of points, and swimming them by structures can often lead to a walleye striking. Some of the best options are a the Berkley Powerbait Swimmers, Keitech FAT Swing Impact Swimbaits, Zoom Swimmin Super Fluke Swimbaits, and for an ultra-realistic presentation try the Berkley Powerbait The Champ Swimmer.

Soft Plastic Minnows

Soft plastic minnows are very similar to soft plastic swimbaits, with the major difference being the shape of the tail. Minnows have a forked, V-shaped tail vs a swimbait that has a paddle tail to create a thumbing motion. Adding a soft minnow to a rounded jig head is the most common way to fish these kinds of baits for walleye. Check out the best in soft plastic minnows with the Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flatnose Minnow, Z-Man Scented Jerk Shadz, Zoom Flukes, and for a super realistic look go with the Berkley PowerBait The Champ Minnow.

Soft Plastic Worms For Walleye Fishing

Soft plastic worms can be used in multiple presentations when walleye fishing. Plastic worms are a great bait for walleye fishing by trolling, casting in a Texas-rig, or wacky-rig. With a realistic action, strong scents, and natural colors, plastic worms are great for both casting and trolling for walleye. Here are some of the best plastic worms for walleye fishing:

• Berkley Gulp Nightcrawler
• Roboworm Fat Straight Tail Worms
• 6th Sense Divine Shakey Worm

Jerkbaits for Walleye Fishing

Jerkbaits are among the top fishing lures on the market for almost all species, but they are simply one of the best walleye lures in the game. With an erratic movement mimicking injured bait fish, the walleye can’t resist the tempting motion of the jerkbait. Cast a jerkbait to shorelines, shallow flats, and the edges of weed beds and enjoy catching walleye to fill your live-well. If they are sitting a bit deeper water throw on a deep diving jerkbait and twitch it over their heads, this will drive them crazy causing a huge walleye bite. Some of the best walleye jerkbait lures are:

• Rapala Husky Jerk
• Strike King KVD Jerkbait
• Berkley Stunna Jerkbait
• Rapala X-Rap Jerkbait
• Smithwick Suspending Rattlin Rogue

Walleye Spoons

A spoon lure is typically made of metal, they are long, with a concave shape and can resemble a spoon. Some are just the metal lure either flat or dimpled, and others have hair or a tail on them. These lures typically attract fish by reflecting sun with their metallic surface, and the wobbling motion they create in the water.

There are a few different types of spoons that can be fished very differently. The first being casting spoons, these are classic spoons that you can just cast out and reel in and are great for shallow to mid depth fishing. Topwater spoons on the other hand float on the surface and are used for a morning surface bite. Trolling spoons are designed to be trolled behind a boat triggering an aggressive walleye bite. Finally, there are Jigging spoons which are molded lead with spoon like finishes and treble hooks, these are meant to be vertically jigged in deep water which is typically used for walleye fishing.

Here are some of the best spoon lures for walleye fishing:

• Michigan Stinger Spoons
• Daredevle Spoons
• Strike King Sexy Spoons
• Johnson Silver Minnow Spoons

Walleye Crankbaits

I’m sure most of you know what a crankbait is, but just to be sure, crankbaits are an artificial lure made of wood, plastic, or resin with a lip or bill that helps it dive to deeper water while it’s retrieving action is a wobbly side-to-side action resembling a baitfish. They are typically round in shape; the bill can also sometimes be square or not exist at all. Crankbaits are often colored to mimic shad, shiners, bluegill, with some variations or additions of chartreuse colors.

Crankbaits are often casted out and reeled back in at your desired pace, with faster paced retrieval causing the crankbait to dive deeper into the water.

Crankbaits are one of the best lures for walleye fishing because they nearly perfectly imitate small fish, cover water quickly, and have a wobbling action that walleye just can’t resist. Crankbaits are also effective at triggering a reaction bite from walleye because the walleye believes it is a wounded baitfish. Some of the best crankbait lures for walleye are:

• Rapala Shad Rap
• Bandit Walleye Deep
• Berkley Flicker Minnows
• Rapala Deep Tail Dancers
• Reef Runner Ripshad

Blade Baits For Walleye Fishing

A blade bait is very similar to a spoon in that, it’s a small, thin, metal fishing lure that vibrates and is reflective in the water which is how they attract walleye so well. These blade baits are typically made of metal blades, with a tungsten or lead weight combined with hooks, it is also common for them to be painted in patterns that resemble bait fish like perch, shad, or bluegill. They create thumps and vibrations in the water accompanied by the reflecting of the sun can create aggressive walleye strikes.

Blade baits are a top walleye lure since they can be fished in various ways like jigging, casting, and even trolling if you wanted to slowly roll a blade bait behind your trolling motor. They are also a great option for cold water as they can just push the walleye over the edge when they are sluggish and not as interested in eating. Our top blade baits are:

• ACME V-Rod Blade Bait
• Heddon Sonar Flash
• Rapala Rap V Blade

Best Walleye Lures

Overall, there are so many different lures that can be effective when fishing for walleye. Walleye are reactionary eaters so when it comes to getting the best walleye lures choose anything on this list form the ultra-realistic soft plastics, to suspending jerk baits with erratic movements, or a blade bait vibrating through the water shining in the sun, get it in front of the walleye and hook into a real lake monster! If you have any other questions about the best walleye baits and lures, give us a call or contact our expert walleye fishing team with a contact us form. If you found this article helpful, please let us know what you thought and share it online with your fellow anglers. Good luck and let us know what you catch!