That was especially effective in shallow water. Same tackle, same technique we used with hair jigs but we mixed it up by dragging sometimes-pausing a little, then dragging it again. The bodies are unconventional, too, and I primarily stick to the 31⁄2-inch version TRD in green pumpkin and green-pumpkin goby. “Everything else performed the same as previous years, but the unconventional 1/10- and 1/6-ounce Ned Rigs were crazy good. “The Z-Man Ned Rig was good for walleyes last year,” Kerempelis says. Try as we might to limit people to one jig, most had to mention at least two. A darker hair jig imitates a goby and it’s going to trend that way as long as the gobies hang in there.” Walleyes are always full of gobies here, and the walleyes we’re catching are hunting gobies on bottom. A 5-foot, 10-pound fluorocarbon leader tied in with back-to-back uni-knots resists nicks from rocks and mussels. Ten-pound braided line produces better casting distance, a quicker drop, and better feel. We use 7-foot medium-power Pflueger spinning rods with a fast or extra-fast tip. “Pop bottom and create a little puff of sediment. The technique is similar to snapjigging with Shiver Minnows.“With hair jigs, though, we want it to hit bottom on every drop,” he says. Livebait gets annihilated by gobies here.” Dark colors always work best-black and purple especially. Straight bucktail is most effective, but sometimes a little Flashabou helps when the water clouds up. Most are tied by local guys, not big companies. Aspirins are more efficient around rocks, and Green Bay has rocks to spare. We use both aspirin-style heads and mushroom-style heads. “I’m going to body-style jigs like the Moonshine Lures Shiver Minnow or Rapala Jigging Rap more and more, but a straight, quarter-ounce bucktail jig is very effective. “Year-after-year, a straight hair jig is a very effective tool and we rely on it most out here,” Kerempelis says. Mike Kerempelis guides on Green Bay, one of the world’s true walleye treasures. Things like environment and fishing style seem to drive preferences for one version over another. We asked guides, pros, editors, and other major players what walleye jig they could least live without. If walleye fishing was an Olympic event, which jig would win gold? Apparently, it depends on who you are, how you fish, and where you live. From the season opener into early July every year, slowly swimming soft plastics on light tackle puts walleyes in the net wherever I go, but better walleye warriors take the floor first. The jigs I depend on for walleyes need to make plastics behave like that. But the ‘eyes rushing from those shadows are the vulnerable ones. Like Pepe Le Pew, prancing along, eyes closed, humming a love song, its reflection appears in sinister, unblinking eyes in the dark. Could be an unconcerned minnow, oblivious to danger. Moving slow on a horizontal plane, it saunters over rock and gravel, past emerging weeds, in and out of shadows.
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