If you could start from scratch, how would you build a tackle supply for June fishing? Main focus walleye, but certainly want to be able to go after pike and SMB as well.

Don't go overboard but maybe pretend you have $100 to stock up a couple little plano boxes. Just wanting to see what others would line their box with and what mine may be missing or need purged of.

6 shad raps,various colors
10 each 1/16 , 1/8th , 1/4 OZ jigs assorted colors
Plain hooks, assorted
various split shots
2 slip bobbers
couple steel leaders
3 mepps silver #3

3 mepps silver #4
3 inch twister tails , various colors
1 pound of leeches
couple lindy rigs

Plain hooks, sinkers, slip bobbers, lead head jigs, leeches, lighted slip bobbers that's all you need, unless of course you want to spend hours dragging crankbaits over unproductive water.

Gold J-9 jointed original floater Rapala
Gulp leech jigs - some 1/16, 1/8, and 1/4 oz. black jig heads
Gold Rapala Husky Jerk
Bullfrog Lucky 13
Strike King Zulus or ZMAN ShadZ - pearl or anything with a pearl combo
Spro size 3 and 4 barrel swivels
1/0 Gamakatsu worm hooks ( other people also like to use bigger EWG )
Green pumpkin seed 3.5 inch tube baits
Tube bait jig heads 1/16 and 1/8 oz
Booyah Chartreuse double willow blade spinner bait
Rebel Pop-R in a shad color( blue back )
A couple of slip bobbers
Mouth spreader
A couple titanium leaders
Measuring tape
#5 Mepps in -line spinnerbait
Red and white Daredevil spoon

You could probably get all of this for under a $100

+1 Walllee...

Exactly what I would get... I might take out the mepps and grab some original Raps and original double-jointed raps instead.

Put the $100 on 21 at the closest roulette table. Win. Buy $3500 in crank baits.

Ok, ok....joking. Just want to get a rise out of a certain member...

I'd focus on a good amount/variety of jigs/twister sizes colors
Minnow shape deep cranks (4 or so in blue/chrome, clown, perch)
Couple topwaters (frog skitterpop, white/red head super spook)
Hooks, split shot, bobbers for live bait
Leaders
Shad rap (black/gold)

quote starman: "Plain hooks, sinkers, slip bobbers, lead head jigs, leeches, lighted slip bobbers that's all you need, unless of course you want to spend hours dragging crankbaits over unproductive water."

This is sort of a silly thing to say (with all due respect of course).

Let me guess........you go to the same places year after year and drop your bait down?

How about this.......put us both on a new and unfamiliar body of water and you can have your bobbers (which I love BTW) and I will pull cranks and we can compare results at the end of the day. While you may have figured out 10% of the puzzle on day 1, I will have eliminated the vast majority of unproductive water, put several quality fish in the boat and can easily switch gears now if I desire > and that would include slip bobber fishing or nightcrawler finesse tactics.

But to answer your question........ What would be your focus? Is it primarily a walleye trip? Going to target Lake trout? Or maybe it will be a weird sort of trip where your goal might be largemouth bass in the sunken treetops and panfish. Are you going to basecamp or is it a travel trip? Are you going to familiar bodies of water or new? Are you trophy fishing or just looking for dinner?

My tackle list is very different on each and every trip. It also always includes some new offerings which I make a point to use (In the past I have brought new lures and they stayed in the case the entire time).

I see no large Tail dancers? whats up with that? Color is important with them and the rainbow trout color finish out produces all other colors with the purple coming in second IMHO. I have had VERY limited luck with the metallic finishes. The Tail dancers excel with walleye and lake trout.

quote mastertangler: "

quote starman: "Plain hooks, sinkers, slip bobbers, lead head jigs, leeches, lighted slip bobbers that's all you need, unless of course you want to spend hours dragging crankbaits over unproductive water."

This is sort of a silly thing to say (with all due respect of course).


Let me guess........you go to the same places year after year and drop your bait down?


How about this.......put us both on a new and unfamiliar body of water and you can have your bobbers (which I love BTW) and I will pull cranks and we can compare results at the end of the day. While you may have figured out 10% of the puzzle on day 1, I will have eliminated the vast majority of unproductive water, put several quality fish in the boat and can easily switch gears now if I desire > and that would include slip bobber fishing or nightcrawler finesse tactics. "

I don't think it's that silly, he said he wanted to mainly target walleyes not lake trout, if he's asking for info about starting a tackle box from scratch I assume he does not have a lot of experience. Cranks can be wonderful if you know how to fish them and have experience with running depths in relation to speed, current and line diameter. I see far to many people who fish the BWCA by trolling a crank behind their canoe while blindly paddling across a lake and are surprised when they don't catch fish. For a non fisherman or novice in the BWCA fishing below moving water or using a lake contour map and a live bait rig will bring in more fish than an entire box of shiny new crankbaits in my opinion.

I understand your point, but I'm not sure you understand mine.

Live bait fishing of any kind is usually productive, wether it is slip bobbers or just dropping down a night crawler and a split shot........

But you have to fish where the fish are for starters and slip bobbers is a catch'em tactic and not a find 'em tool. It would be easy indeed to spend several hours fishing "unproductive" waters slip bobbering a shore. That same shore can be explored fairly quickly and efficiently with a depth finder and a crank bait. Lures/ baits are little more than tools and a good mechanic has a wide variety of tools at his disposal. Knowing how, when and where to employ a tool is the key to being a good fisherman.

To completely disregard crankbaits in favor of slip bobbers/ hooks/ leeches would be like a mechanic tossing out his metric wrench set and boasting all he ever needs is SAE ........and of course a Toyata pulls in.

quote starman: "

quote mastertangler: "

quote starman: "Plain hooks, sinkers, slip bobbers, lead head jigs, leeches, lighted slip bobbers that's all you need, unless of course you want to spend hours dragging crankbaits over unproductive water."

I don't think it's that silly, he said he wanted to mainly target walleyes not lake trout, if he's asking for info about starting a tackle box from scratch I assume he does not have a lot of experience. Cranks can be wonderful if you know how to fish them and have experience with running depths in relation to speed, current and line diameter. I see far to many people who fish the BWCA by trolling a crank behind their canoe while blindly paddling across a lake and are surprised when they don't catch fish. For a non fisherman or novice in the BWCA fishing below moving water or using a lake contour map and a live bait rig will bring in more fish than an entire box of shiny new crankbaits in my opinion."

AMEN, BRO!!!!

For smallmouth, my minimalist list includes:
Soft stick baits (Dingers or Zeros) black/blue fleck and green pumpkin ; and hooks
Poppers (Pop R, Chug Bug or whatever)
Jigs 3/16 oz, 4” twist tail grubs (pumpkin) and swim baits (pearl?)
Spinnerbaits (white, white/chart)
Jerk baits (Rapala, Bomber, etc)
Snaps

From there, you can add just about any bass lure (divers, tubes, flukes, finesse worms, drop shot, spooks).
That leaves plenty for walleye stuff, about which I only know second hand.

Don't forget the rubber worms.

quote SaganagaJoe: "Don't forget the rubber worms. "

Indeed! My ultimate go to option for smallies when conditions are tough (clear water, sunny skies) is a cheesy little Charlie Brewer slider head in 1/16 oz and a 4" Roboworm. Can you say "slay'em"?

I hate the cheap little Brewer hooks but quite simply there is no other jig head made in the shape of a slider head. I went so far as to contact the company and offer to supply the hooks (Owners) if they would run me a batch special order, I never heard back.

Couple with 4lb green XT or Gamma clear 6lb and your in business.

Seeing as I've only been fishing in earnest for five or six years, I am not so far from building up a collection. About three quarters of the stuff I originally bought, I don't use. So my advice is start simple and see what works for you. But here are some tried and true baits that continue to work for me even though I've gotten a little more sophisticated as the years have passed.
For Walleye and trout, nothing beats trolling with deep diving Taildancers in 15, 20 and 30 feet, for simplicity and results. I don't find them particularly elegant - a lot of drag - but all you have to do is throw them out there, let out plenty of line and even a beginner will catch something. As MT pointed out, TDs are great for finding Walleye and trout. The color I've had the best luck with has been fire tiger. Once you find Walleye, switch over to jig heads (¼ and ½ oz) and 4" white single tail grubs. Just cast them out there and pop them off the bottom and you'll get hits. So keeping it simple - some TDs, which will get down on their own, no weights needed and some jig heads and grubs. I was able to catch plenty of fish from day 1 with just that - not necessarily trophy size fish but lots of 'em.
For smallies I think the simplest is still wacky rigging Senkos. So all you need for that are some 1/0 octopus or wacky hooks and some different color worms - I like Senkos but there are cheaper ones, which I'm sure work just as well. 4" is a pretty good size. And if you want to get fancy you can pick up some little rubber rings to slip on the worm, which makes wacky rigging a little quicker and gives the worm longer life. And that's it.
Pike, of course will go after anything that moves and you're bound to catch them when you're fishing for something else and not catch them when you're after a pike. Anything that's shiny (spoons or blades) will catch a pike but usually whatever you're using to fish for Walleye will also catch 'em.

quote mastertangler: "

quote starman: "Plain hooks, sinkers, slip bobbers, lead head jigs, leeches, lighted slip bobbers that's all you need, unless of course you want to spend hours dragging crankbaits over unproductive water."

This is sort of a silly thing to say (with all due respect of course).


Let me guess........you go to the same places year after year and drop your bait down?


How about this.......put us both on a new and unfamiliar body of water and you can have your bobbers (which I love BTW) and I will pull cranks and we can compare results at the end of the day. While you may have figured out 10% of the puzzle on day 1, I will have eliminated the vast majority of unproductive water, put several quality fish in the boat and can easily switch gears now if I desire > and that would include slip bobber fishing or nightcrawler finesse tactics. "

I don't think it's a silly response at all. The reason I say that is because after over 30 years of chasing walleyes all over God's green earth the one thing I've learned is a productive pattern (lighted bobber and live bait) works very well...and once you establish the kind of spot it works well in it is as simple as locating similar spots on other bodies of water. You can sink the boat bringing a tackle-box over-loaded with pretty crank-baits but it's not necessary. Having said that, my tackle box is pretty limited...hooks, sinkers, bobbers, a couple cranks of both the shallow and deep variety, and a handful of jigs and plastics. That should cover just about any situation you're going to encounter for walleye.

Ah.......now I remember why I hate communicating through text and emails.........nobody really reads what you write but rather they skim through and pick up bits and pieces and then respond to what they think you wrote.

I took a group tripping/fishing once and after miscue after miscue happened the inside running joke from me was..... "it was in the Email".

You can drop a lighted slip bobber all you want but if nobodys home it isn't going to do you much good. First you have to find the fish..........Give me a crank bait any day of the week and I will find fish 10 times faster on average than a guy casting bobbers. And there is a very good likelihood that the walleye I will catch on crank baits are likely to be much larger on average than a guy dropping leeches in 12ft of water who is tearing up eater size walleye.

Once you FIND fish I'm all in with the slip bobbers.........

So yea......I think its a bit silly to put all your eggs in any one basket......Mr Starman dismissed crank baits with a wave of his hand, as if they are irrelevant and a waste of time....to say such a comment was silly is being quite polite IMO. Maybe Mr Starman should ride along with me some evening on a hot bite with walleye after walleye coming in between 4 and 7 for 2 hours straight. He might view the effectiveness of crank baits a little differently..

Masterangler I apologize if my post offended you in some way or came off as a challenge I was only offering my opinion.

Good Luck

First off 100 bucks doesn't get you many lures these days, but... Echoing a lot of what the guys abve have said, I would say one perch original rapala floater, one natural, both in #11, one original rap, perch #9, one husky jerk, Tenesee shad, #12, 2 shad raps, both perch, #7 (can't have enough of those!), one spinnerbait, willow leaf blades, black skirt, orange blade, 4-5 black bucktail jigs 1/4oz and 3/8oz, you can tip them with a pce of crawler, leech or minnow, or even run them without bait, some zulu type soft plastics, in watermelon, a few plastic grubs, black, with some jig heads to match, three bottom bouncers, 4-5 spinner rigs, orange, gold, and chartreuse blades, a black jitterbug, a natural colored pop r , and some hooks, weights, and a couple slip bobbers, one gold mepps and one black fury mepps, both #3. That is no doubt more than 100.00 but there you go. And some black, hi quality wire leaders.

Moonman.

quote starman: "Masterangler I apologize if my post offended you in some way or came off as a challenge I was only offering my opinion.

Good Luck"

Geez, you took all the wind out of my sails.......an apology? Man I was wanting to throw down! (hey the big fight is Saturday)

I get passionate about stuff (fishing, politics, God and the good old USA) and don't always worry about how I come across.......yes, some see it as a character flaw. I don't and wish more would stand and fight for life, liberty and our Constitution..........and oh yes, uh,er, crank baits! Here ye, here ye!

I gave some thought to your perspective and should have mellowed my response. What you have to say is not without merit.........in the hands of someone who doesn't have much experience pulling a crank bait is likely to have the results you pointed out......hours of pointless and fruitless fishing.

I suppose the point I should of made is what we are capable of accomplishing on an individual level doesn't always translate to others. For example........2 summers ago I brought 8 deep diving crank baits for a 2 week trip and 1 rod/reel. That was all I needed. But I would never suggest that to anyone else. I would apply the same standard > that would be silly advice to give to others and yet for me it was perfect.

I see having live bait as an excellent option. For the experienced but especially for kids and the inexperienced. But stuff happens..........ever have your leeches die? How about a turtle getting into your locker? Or just forget and break camp and leave them? Or just plain run out! What then? Better have a fall back position that you have some confidence in..........maybe some jig spinners? Those work well and are quite versatile.

Your a stand up guy Starman. Its Master-Tangler BTW not Master-Angler, So much to learn about fishing I would never presume to be a Masterangler. :-)

MT

"and don't always worry about how I come across......." Really? :-)Haha

"Once you FIND fish I'm all in with the slip bobbers........."

With over 30 years fishing the BWCA I'm not exaggerating when I say I have to do very little searching anymore. Like I said, once you establish the type structure they relate to it really is as simple as finding that structure elsewhere. Maybe you "skimmed" over that in my post;) Anyway, we're talking fishing, so no need for you to get upset over other people's way of going about it. You can crank until your arms fall off for all I care:)

The troll crank baits to locate the fish myth is just that.
When fish are lethargic, you can pull cranks over them all day, and they'll never give them a second look.
Locating structure, then using live bait rigs are the best way to fish walleyes.
As was stated earlier, if you like to troll or cast with cranks, have at it!!

quote The Great Outdoors: "The troll crank baits to locate the fish myth is just that.
When fish are lethargic, you can pull cranks over them all day, and they'll never give them a second look.
Locating structure, then using live bait rigs are the best way to fish walleyes.
As was stated earlier, if you like to troll or cast with cranks, have at it!!"

i agree when trolling for schooling fish in cold water conditions with crankbaits. but cast to a spot in ice out conditions with a crankbait is productive (is it ideal no). i,ve caught many (big) ice out smallies with my fav 7a 8aq bomber crawdad crankbaits, walleyes not some much but some, even while trolling. so to say never is not true. big post spawn walleyes will chase down a crank. as far as the O.P. a person can find many good deals on used lures on ebay.

quote 2old4U: ""Once you FIND fish I'm all in with the slip bobbers........."


With over 30 years fishing the BWCA I'm not exaggerating when I say I have to do very little searching anymore. Like I said, once you establish the type structure they relate to it really is as simple as finding that structure elsewhere. Maybe you "skimmed" over that in my post;) Anyway, we're talking fishing, so no need for you to get upset over other people's way of going about it. You can crank until your arms fall off for all I care:)"

2old4u.....I understand Walleyes, like hard bottoms and smaller bodies of water that warm up faster. Do you have any other recommendations as to what structures I should look for? Old logs?

3 bags Yum Dingers $10
1 pack wide gap wacky hooks $4
3 slip bobbers $5
Small packet bobber stops $3
pack of chartreuse walleye hooks $3
pack of glow walleye hooks $3
pack of red walleye hooks $3
bunch of sinkers, both lindy and for bobber fishing $7
2 dozen jigs, from quarter to three-eights, plus a couple of half ouncers just in case, chartreuse, black, unpainted. $10
2 gold husky jerks $10
2 silver husky jerks $10
bag of 4 inch twister tails $4
bad of shad tail plastics $4
light steel leaders $5
#7 shad rap in firetiger $7
#7 shad rap in silver/black $7
#9 original floater on sale for $6

Grand total: $100 (all prices are estimates and subject to change without notice.)

Rapala Deep Tail Dancer 7 Clown Flash
Rapala Minnow Rap Deep Runner 9 Silver

quote lundojam: "3 bags Yum Dingers $10 "

Yum... Dingers???

quote mastertangler: "

quote SaganagaJoe: "Don't forget the rubber worms. "

Indeed! My ultimate go to option for smallies when conditions are tough (clear water, sunny skies) is a cheesy little Charlie Brewer slider head in 1/16 oz and a 4" Roboworm. Can you say "slay'em"? "

My number 1 smallie lure of all time is a 1/8 Charlie brewer spider slider head with a black 4 inch powerworm, it catches many many smallies of all sizes, works best in clear water.

quote The Great Outdoors: "The troll crank baits to locate the fish myth is just that.
When fish are lethargic, you can pull cranks over them all day, and they'll never give them a second look.
Locating structure, then using live bait rigs are the best way to fish walleyes.
As was stated earlier, if you like to troll or cast with cranks, have at it!!"

Nay way Jose'

Trolling crankbaits is all about learning the lake. You say "locating structure".........um, what exactly do you think someone is doing when they are trolling crank baits? Just curious.

I can catch walleye with live bait with the best of them........but as I have repeatedly stated casting slip bobbers and leeches can be a terrible waste of time and a very slow process indeed to catch walleye of substantial size if you haven't found the big girls first. Little fish are much easier and lots of people are quite satisfied to sit and catch 17" walleyes for hours.

But to each their own........I am simply not very interested in catching walleye under 25". Thats not what i go to canoe country for. Let me ask you a simple question........are more walleye tournaments won with leeches and slip bobbers or guys trolling crank baits and/ or spoons?

The formula for success is simple..........depth finder and a crank bait and spend several hours or a day getting to know the water. Fish caught along the way help fill in the picture. Then the entire range of possibilities open up.........wether jigging spoons, jigs, live bait or trolling.

Those who dismiss trolling crank baits in favor of one method and one method only restrict themselves IMHO. Lots of ways to skin the cat and the real angler is proficient and adept at a variety of skills.

As an aside and to illustrate my point:
We used to stay at a fish camp in Sioux Lookout Ontario (Minnitaki)_ for a week at a time. And while we liked to drift suckers, chubs and crawlers off a mid lake reef most of our really big walleyes came from speed trolling large crank baits. The Canadians were dumbfounded and astounded when they seen our boat go past them throwing a massive wake and rods bent over double. They would be back trolling to go as slow as possible and using leeches and crawlers.

Back at the dock there was simply no contest between what they had caught and what we were catching. By the 3rd and 4th day of our stay we would have people waiting at the dock to see what we had caught for the day. What I thought odd was that even though we were getting walleye between 6 and 8lbs and they had asked what we were doing they still couldn't bring themselves to try anything new. We would still burn by the several live baiters every day and not one of them could shake themselves away from the only thing they had ever known.

Oh you guys...
You're BOTH wrong! Just kidding. You are both right if you both catch fish.

Yum Dingers are rubber worms for wacky-rigging small mouth.

This post has a lot of great info. At the end of the day it is more about targeting fish holding areas for that time of the year.

quote mastertangler: "

quote The Great Outdoors: "The troll crank baits to locate the fish myth is just that.
When fish are lethargic, you can pull cranks over them all day, and they'll never give them a second look.
Locating structure, then using live bait rigs are the best way to fish walleyes.
As was stated earlier, if you like to troll or cast with cranks, have at it!!"

Nay way Jose'


Trolling crankbaits is all about learning the lake. You say "locating structure".........um, what exactly do you think someone is doing when they are trolling crank baits? Just curious.


I can catch walleye with live bait with the best of them........but as I have repeatedly stated casting slip bobbers and leeches can be a terrible waste of time and a very slow process indeed to catch walleye of substantial size if you haven't found the big girls first. Little fish are much easier and lots of people are quite satisfied to sit and catch 17" walleyes for hours.


But to each their own........I am simply not very interested in catching walleye under 25". Thats not what i go to canoe country for. Let me ask you a simple question........are more walleye tournaments won with leeches and slip bobbers or guys trolling crank baits and/ or spoons?


The formula for success is simple..........depth finder and a crank bait and spend several hours or a day getting to know the water. Fish caught along the way help fill in the picture. Then the entire range of possibilities open up.........wether jigging spoons, jigs, live bait or trolling.


Those who dismiss trolling crank baits in favor of one method and one method only restrict themselves IMHO. Lots of ways to skin the cat and the real angler is proficient and adept at a variety of skills.

As an aside and to illustrate my point:
We used to stay at a fish camp in Sioux Lookout Ontario (Minnitaki)_ for a week at a time. And while we liked to drift suckers, chubs and crawlers off a mid lake reef most of our really big walleyes came from speed trolling large crank baits. The Canadians were dumbfounded and astounded when they seen our boat go past them throwing a massive wake and rods bent over double. They would be back trolling to go as slow as possible and using leeches and crawlers.

Back at the dock there was simply no contest between what they had caught and what we were catching. By the 3rd and 4th day of our stay we would have people waiting at the dock to see what we had caught for the day. What I thought odd was that even though we were getting walleye between 6 and 8lbs and they had asked what we were doing they still couldn't bring themselves to try anything new. We would still burn by the several live baiters every day and not one of them could shake themselves away from the only thing they had ever known. "

You say the Canadians were "dumbfounded and astounded"? That's hard to imagine..

Have a good fishing season:)