Live Bait fishing for walleye accounts for at least 2/3rds of all walleyes caught on a fishing rod and reel. Live bait is still used by many of the advocates of fishing for walleye primarily with walleye artificial lures when the walleye fishing gets slow.

Minnows and other small fish, night crawlers, and leeches top the list of the best walleye live baits to use when fishing walleye. In some unique walleye habitat situations at different times of the year, other kinds of baits such as water dogs and frogs will work, but the majority of the time they won't produce like the old reliables.

Live bait used for walleye fishing are not always available all year round. For example leeches cannot be caught if the temperature of the water is below 50degrees because they are not active yet and will not swim into the leech traps. It will be hard to find a bait shop in the summer that will carry shiner minnows because it is so hard to keep them alive in the summer months in the bait dealer's tanks and in the anglers minnow bucket.

The first thing you need to do when you are making live bait selection for walleye is to determine what live baits work in the different seasons. Although night crawlers are a poor choice for a bait selection to fish for walleye in the spring time when the season changes to summer night crawlers are one one of the best baits to use to catch walleyes. Spring and the fall are the best time of the year to use minnows for walleyes, but they do not work very well in the summer months.

There are times of the year when the type of minnow you use is very important. For example, during the spring time shiner minnows is a good live bait choice and will produce better the some other species of minnows such as redtail chubs. When the season changes to the fall shiner minnows are a poor choice for a live bait selection while fishing with redtail chubs may catch walleye very well. It's a good idea to check with your local bait shop to find out what live baits work best to catch walleye in that area.

There has been discussion by many fisherman that ribbon leaches are the best live bait for walleye.Leaches are an excellent bait because because they swim, and squirm constantly after they are placed on the hook when the temperature is above 50deg. They are not a good choice in cold water because they are not active at temperatures below 50degs.

Make sure the live bait you use choose to fish for walleye, it is active and lively. When walleyes are really biting you can get by with a half dead minnow or chewed-up night crawler, but a struggling minnow or squirming crawler will normally catch more fish.