Northern Ontario is the walleye capital of the world, with so many lakes that hold good populations of walleye, an angler has endless opportunities to hook up with a trophy fish. The bread and butter of walleye fishing is the jig, hands down the most versatile and productive bait for catching these toothy critters. Plain jigs either tipped with minnows, worms or artificials and slowly bounced along the bottom is a top producer.

Some of the best colours for jigs include, yellow, white, chartreuse and orange, sizes range depending on conditions and depth of water, although the 1/8 oz and 1/4 oz are most commonly used.

Artificials used are usually curly tail jigs like mister twister, tube jigs, and gulp minnows. Live leeches can also be deadly at times. Fishing off drop-offs, rocky shoals, around islands and weedlines are prime holding areas for northern Ontario walleye. Another proven pattern for walleye is trolling worm harnesses along weedlines or drop-offs.

Walleye love worms and when paired with a flashy blade, they can be a deadly combo, especially when trolling at dusk or dawn. When walleye are active crankbaits can produce good numbers of fish. Some of the more common crankbaits, include walleye divers, rapala shad raps, and storm stickbaits. Basically any crankbait that imitates the forage in the area can be effective, these include perch, minnow and shad patterns.

Walleye can sometimes be finicky especially in early spring and late in the season. They can become elusive at certain times of year and fishing slowly in areas where they congregate can produce good results. Live minnows are your best bet when the bite is tough.

Many anglers will tell you walleye are most active at night. This is true since walleye have very good vision during low light conditions. If you catch a walleye during the night and shine a flashlight you will see where they get their name since their eye will glow a bright white. Some great techniques for night time walleye, include trolling shallow running crankbaits, usually equip with noisy rattles. It can be very exciting hearing the splash of a walleye lunging at your bait near the surface. Glow jigs and spoons are also good night time lures.

In spring, walleye will school and usually congregate in areas where there is current, since they like to spawn in swift flowing rivers, drift fishing with a jig and minnow in these areas can't be beat. Once the walleye finish spawning they can be quite aggressive as they try to regain weight after the expenditure of the spawn. Action can be quite good if you are in the right area. Look for deep water adjacent to where rivers enter the lake. Anytime you are fishing for walleye especially in the spring, ensure you read the fishing regulations for the area you want to fish, since many of these areas are fish sanctuaries and have special opening dates. Also pay close attention to any slot sizes and restrictions for the body of water you want to fish.

Overall walleye fishing can be lots of fun and very rewarding. These scrappy fish are not only fun to catch, but make excellent table fare, probably one of the best tasting fish in Ontario. Get out there and hook into a northern Ontario walleye. You won't be disappointed.