Minnows, night crawlers and leeches comprise the three principal baits for walleyes. Wise anglers sometimes bring all three, since walleyes often show a preference for one bait over others.

The night crawler, a fat earthworm 6 to 10 inches in length, is widely available in bait shops and easily collected after dark on damp lawns with the aid of a flashlight. Store night crawlers in some type of worm box filled with a commercial worm bedding.

Condition crawlers before fishing trips by placing them on top of a few inches of bedding in a carton. Stuff wet paper on top of the crawlers and put the carton in a cooler or refrigerator for 24 hours. The crawlers absorb the moisture, which makes them fatter, friskier and more enticing to walleyes. A faster conditioning method is to place the crawlers in a small bucket of ice water an hour or so before you need them.

Ribbon leech is the only one popular among walleye anglers. The ribbon leech has a firm body and displays a lively squirming motion when fixed on a hook.
Bottom bouncers are perhaps the best way to take walleyes with sand rubbing their bellies. I’ve had my best luck with standard, Plain Jane, unpainted bouncers. Bottom bouncers can be used as an effective drifting presentation, but they really shine when slowly trolled.

One of the biggest mistakes anglers make is not using a heavy enough bottom bouncer. I rarely use lighter than two-ounce bouncers and typically use three or four ounces. Walleyes are attracted to the silt that the bouncers kicks up, but the key is to let out just enough line so the wire tip skips on the bottom without dragging. For bottom bouncing I rely on Fire line. The no stretch feature of Fire line communicates every tic and bump to the rod tip so the angler can adjust the setback or re-bait after a perch attack. I usually stick my rods in the holders and run the bouncers right behind the boat, however I sometimes run a couple on diminutive, TX-12 inline boards and watch them like a hawk. I usually try to keep my speed under one mph when pulling crawlers across the bottom but sometimes it pays to experiment with speed.