Swimbaiting For Bigger Walleye

Swimbaits deliver incredible bang for your buck when it comes to catching walleye in the fall. Here’s a look at why these paddletail plastics rank as one of the best walleye baits among legions of anglers, and how to get the most from CrushCity’s Heavy Hitter, The Mayor, The Suspect and other swimbaits in autumn.

The versatility of swimbaits cannot be overstated. They come in a range of sizes to match different types of baitfish. Having swimbaits ranging from 2.5 to 6 inches also gives you the flexibility to downsize, upsize or use something mid-sized, depending on fish activity and interest in feeding.

Also advantageous is a natural profile, lifelike swimming action and steady tail-thumping vibrations — all of which help a swimbait stimulate a walleye’s predatory senses. This holds true in clear to dirty water, as well as during the day and at night.

In autumn, walleye regularly prey on shad, ciscos, smelt, emerald shiners, alewife, yellow perch and other baitfish, which collect in specific locations in lakes and rivers. As such, anglers are wise to focus on making long casts with swimbaits in forage-rich areas.

For example, cisco spawning activity causes them to gather in huge numbers on shallow gravel and rock shoals near deep basins. It’s also common for minnows to form large “bait balls,” and position around tributaries, drop-offs, deep weeds, points and offshore structure. And lets not forget about how perch collect on soft bottom flats and around deep weed edges this time of year.  

Catering to the hungry appetites of walleye is easily done most days using the 4-inch Heavy Hitter or The Mayor. These CrushCity baits share similar bulky shad profiles but differ in their plastics, PVC (plastisol) and ultra-durable Super TPE, respectively. 

The 4” Storm Largo Shad is another meal-sized plastic worth having in your collection. As are several of Storm’s pre-rigged swimbaits measuring 4 to 6 inches (see below).

Several factors influence the best jig head weight for swimbait fishing techniques. These include the depth walleye are feeding, retrieve speed and the plastic’s buoyancy/fall rate. 

Consider the scenario of walleye chasing perch on a 14 to 16 foot flat in the fall. Slowly swim a 4-inch Heavy Hitter or The Mayor on a 1/2-ounce jig and it won’t take long for your rod to load up. Need to go faster to cover water and trigger strikes? Upsize to a 3/4-ounce VMC Boxer Jig. 

Fishing deeper with bulky paddletail swimbaits typically requires heavier jigs. Think 1/2- to 1-ounces. 

Ready to fish right out of the package, the internally weighted Storm WildEye SwimShad is impressively durable and a time-proven walleye catcher. Its weight system and wide bottom give it a different falling action than “nose-diving” swimbaits rigged on a jig. These design characteristics also make the WildEye SwimShad less snag prone when fishing rocky areas. 

Storm’s 360GT Searchbait series are other reliable pre-rigged swimbaits. Look to the 3.5-, 4.5- and 5.5-inch sizes for fall walleye casting tactics.

Despite the reliability of large swimbaits for catching trophy walleye in autumn, there’s also a time and place for finesse swimbaits. For instance, the 2.75-inch The Suspect or 2.5- and 3-inch The Mayor on a 3/16- to 3/8-ounce jig are excellent at coaxing bites from neutral and inactive walleye in clear water.

Slowly swimming a finesse swimbait along bottom can also fool walleye uninterested in chasing big meals. This can be common in midmorning when walleye are swimming around with full bellies after feeding aggressively at dawn.

The bite-sized profile, tail swing and swimming action of a these CrushCity finesse swimbaits also deliver results when fish are in a funk. These downsized offerings are excellent at triggering strikes during unseasonably warm, sunny days in October, for example. 

Tip: VMC’s Hybrid Swimbait Jig, Finesse FootBall Jig, Ned Rig Jig and Neon Moon Eye Jig are just a few great options for pairing with smaller swimbaits.

Fishing big swimbaits on heavy jigs in autumn is best done with a medium or medium-heavy spinning rod. Finesse plastics rigged on light jigs match with medium to light rods. 13 Fishing’s Defy Gold, Fate Black, Omen Black Gen III and Omen Gold in 6’8’ to 7’6” lengths are a few swimbait rod options to consider for walleye fishing. 

Investing in a high quality spinning reel is always a good idea, but especially for fishing in cold weather. Fishing’s Aerios and Axum reels are excellent for fishing swimbaits for walleye in the fall, or anytime of year, really. 

Braid with a fluorocarbon leader is the gold standard for walleye swimbait fishing techniques. You can’t go wrong with 10- to 15-pound Sufix 832 Advanced Superline tied to 12- to 15-pound Advanced Fluorocarbon Leader for big swimbaits, and 8- to 10-pound 832 with an 8 to 12-pound fluoro lead for finesse swimbait tactics.

Aside from crankbaits, few presentations can compare to the effectiveness and consistency of soft-plastic swimbaits for catching walleye throughout the fall. This comes as no surprise, of course, since casting a natural baitfish presentation gives walleye exactly what they’re looking to eat this time of year — which is as good a reason as any to have a swimbait tied on the end of your line in autumn.