We’ll just state the obvious. Fishing for walleye is just plain fun. Thrilling and fast-paced, catching walleye means an angler has to be quick-thinking when it comes to fishing this predator. That’s why we asked walleye expert, Dale Gilbert, to share his extensive walleye knowledge with us. A walleye master, Dale, has fished walleye from Arkansas to Canada and Michigan to Montana, and he doesn’t disappoint.

Getting ready for spring means making sure your rods and reels are set up properly, ready for the catch. From stripping off old line and replacing it with new, walleye expert, Dale Gilbert shares his best tips for rigging a walleye jigging rod.

Video Transcription

Getting Ready for the Open Water Season

Today we're going to talk about doing a little spring prep, basically getting ready for the open water season. It's coming up here shortly, and getting on the water and doing a little fishing. First thing I want to talk about is actually respooling my rods and reels with new lines, so that I'm ready to get out there this spring and hopefully catch a whopper. It's something that I do every year. Every spring I'll go through and pull all the rods and reels out of the boat. I want to strip off all the old line that I've been using the last year, and replace it with new line. So hopefully want to get that bite that's maybe the trophy of a lifetime, I don't lose it because I've got old line, or bad knots, or whatever. So I'm going to show you what I do.

Best Walleye Jigging Setup

I've mentioned before, I get pretty particular about what I do. I do everything a certain way because I think it's the best way possible to do it. So what I've got here now is one of my jigging rods, one of my jigging setups. This rod right here is a Swate Brigade, a black label reel and spinning rod. The rod is a 6' 3" extra fast action. Now what I've done on these, with these reels, is I've actually put backing line on. As you can see, looking at a bare spool here, you can actually see where they've got a rubber, or thing built onto the reel that's supposed to keep things from slipping. But typically what I do is I'll put backing on here to the point that I can then put like 100 to 125 yards to the Fireline, which is what I like to use for jigging, so that I don't have to fill the whole spool full of the Fireline, because the Fireline is a lot more expensive than the monofilament backing that I use. That way I can get by with 125 yards and replace 125 yards every year.

Spooling the Reel to Cast Well

So you'll see what I've done here. This reel, this is a Brigade Black Label. What I've done is I've actually spooled this up with a 10 pound Berkley XD monofilament, this line here. On this Brigade Black Label 1000 series reel, I've actually put 43 cranks of this backing onto this reel to get it filled to the point where I can then put my 100 to 125 yards of Fireline on, and have my spool fill to where I want. That makes the thing cast really well. I get more line per crank or retrieve, and it just works really well. So again, I've got the 10 pound XD monofilament backing. I've got 125 yards, and in this case I'm actually using a Berkley Fireline. It's called Ultra 8 in a six-pound test. It's a great line for jigging. That's pretty much all I use anymore.

Pros and Cons of Fireline

The advantages of the Fireline is it's super, super sensitive. It's a thinner diameter, so it just works really, really well. The downside of the Fireline is it's got no stretch to it. So what I do for the terminal end of this, is I'll take my Fireline main line that I'm using, and then I'll tie it. Set this up with actually a leader. Then I'll take a small, in this case a little florescent green bead, stick it on the Fireline. Then I'll take a two to three foot piece of fluorocarbon leader, what you'll see in this case it's 15 pound test, and use that as a leader.

Tie the barrel swivel to the line

Now I've got that tied on a little barrel swivel here. Then you'll see what I do is I'll just take and tie this barrel swivel onto my Fireline using what they call a Palomar knot. You put the line through, bring it back through again, so you've essentially created a loop. Kind of let the whole thing just hang down here. There's my barrel swivel. There's my tag end. There's my loop right there. Then I do an overhand knot like I'm going to tie my shoe. Put that knot back through the loop that I created. Or take the loop and put it back through the line.

Then take whatever I'm tying on. In this case, I've got this monofilament, or this fluorocarbon leader. I've got a jig tied onto it already. I pull that whole thing back through the loop that I just pulled through, so it comes up like this. Put that whole thing back through that loop, and then just snug everything up nice and tight. One of the reasons I do this is because when you're using high end lines like this, and particularly when you tie the Fireline to your setup, the Palomar knot is not going to slip. So then I moisten this a little bit, so we don't build up the friction from this, and just pull it all up nice and tight. Then we're good to go.

The Perfect Setup for Jigging for Walleyes

This basically creates what I would consider my absolute favorite jigging set up. Just take the scissors or a clipper and snip off the tag end here. Now what you got is what I would consider the perfect setup for jigging for walleyes. We've got, again, we got the 6' 3" extra fast Swate Brigade Spinning Rod with a 1000 Series Black Brigade Spinning Reel. Hook this on the keeper like that. Then we've got here what I think, is in my mind, the perfect setup.

Where to Get Rod and Reel combinations

If you're interested in these rod and reel combinations, you can stop down again at any of the North 40 Outfitters stores. They've got these in hand on stock. It's a great, great setup for a really good value in price. So if you've got any questions or need any further information, just stop by any of the North 40 Outfitters stores, or check the website at north40.com. Thanks for watching and hope to see you again. Thanks.