Get Walleye Trolling Shallow

Trolling a shallow-running crankbait or minnowbait is one of the best ways to catch walleye from mid spring to early summer. Here are some can’t-miss tips to get the most of your early season walleye trolling adventures. 

Key advantages stemming from trolling shallow-running lures are being able to cover water quickly to locate willing biters, as well as trigger reaction strikes from walleye that weren’t actively feeding. Here are a few lures guaranteed to payout big dividends when trolling for walleye in depths of 12 feet or less. 

• Shad Rap and Shad Rap Elite
• Shallow Shad Rap
• Original Floating and Jointed 
• Husky Jerk
• Scatter Rap Series
• Shad Dancer
• BX Jointed Minnow
• Hot N Tot
• Original ThinFin
• Original ThunderStick

Pro Tip: Maximize fishing efficiency and protect lures with RapStack Tackle Trays, featuring heavy-duty, see-through plastic construction, a smart design with rigid, customizable dividers, and intuitive Quick Latch System.

During the initial weeks of the season, many post-spawn walleye stay shallow and close to spawning sites (e.g., rocky shoals and shallow gravel bottoms). Shoreline points, rocky reefs, boulder piles, gravel deposits and sand bars commonly hold fish. Shallow sand or mud flats are also prime locations. Walleye also frequent weed beds, cabbage and milfoil clumps, sand grass, and other healthy vegetation.

Having a low-light vision advantage, shallow walleye are active early morning and late evening. Overcast skies often stimulate walleye feeding throughout the day. Waves diffusing light penetration can similarly ramp-up walleye activity. 

Hedging your bets by fishing the above conditions is a smart play. Though, walleye are catchable at other times during the day, particularly once they get over the post-spawn blues.

Productive spring and early summer shallow fishing grounds will be bursting with life. You should be able to see yellow perch, minnows and other forage swimming around the above-noted shallow areas — or, mark baitfish with sonar. If areas aren’t holding baitfish, you’re likely best to keep moving until an area offering walleye plenty of foraging is found.

Pro Tip: Matching lure size, profile and colour to the forage fish species you see swimming in the shallows can get you more bites.

Trolling Shad Raps, Husky Jerks and other lures for shallow walleye can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. Casting a shallow-diving lure behind the boat, closing the bail and cruising along fast enough to get the rod tip dancing from the lure’s action is a straightforward and effective way to catch shallow-feeding walleye. 

At the other end of the spectrum are scenarios involving a fishing party trolling inline planer boards, which pull lures away from the boat. Running several boards out to one side of the boat while trolling down a shoreline is a common strategy. Another is setting boards out on port and starboard sides to cover a wide band of water for walleye scattered on a shallow sand or mud flat.

Bait running depth:

Spring walleye trolling success often centres around running lures between 3 and 8 feet down. Trolling this depth range will still produce in early summer, but lures that dive a couple feet deeper.

Trolling speed:

Productive trolling speeds can span 0.7 to upwards of 1.5 miles-per-hour. Experiment to learn the best pace for the water temps and fish activity level.

Use a round snap:

VMC’s Crankbait Snap has a curved shape, which ensures a lure produces its best action. Using a snap also makes changing lures fast and easy.

Lean on mono:

It’s tough to beat 8-pound Sufix Advance Monofilament for shallow trolling. Clear and low-vis green are great all-round colours. High-vis Neon Lime is beneficial during low light conditions and when night trolling.

Keep walleye guessing:

Make micro adjustments to trolling speed by adjusting the motor’s throttle, making S-turns, and pumping the rod back and forth when handholding a trolling combo — unpredictable moving lures trigger more walleye strikes!

Run crankbaits above their heads:

Shallow walleye are always looking for an easy meal. During lowlight conditions or when night trolling, running a Shallow Shad Rap, Husky Jerk or Original Floating only a two to three feet beneath the surface is deadly. 

Rotate lures regularly:

Let the fish tell you the type of lure profile, length, action variety and colour they want. Try different hard-baits until you’re catching walleye consistently. Supporting this strategy is the importance of regularly updating inventory with new lures, like the 2024-released Shad Rap Elite, as well as fresh colour offerings, such as the paint finishes in Rapala’s smash hit custom-inspired collection.

Don’t overdo the hook set:

Let the boat’s momentum do the hook-setting work. Your job is maintaining proper rod position and ensuring steady pressure on the fish.

Trolling shallow-diving crankbaits for spring and early summer walleye is a tried-and-true technique. Though, Shad Raps, Husky Jerks, Hot N Tots and the other shallow-running lures mentioned above are deadly anytime walleye are feeding shallow or hunting high in the water column, which makes having these baits in larger model sizes just as important from mid-summer to fall.