Throughout the day my partner and I had been taking river walleyes with regularity, concentrating our efforts within a deep, slow current pool.

The tactic du jour had been drifting with the mild current, yo-yoing jig-and-minnow combos just off the bottom. While the action had been enjoyable for a late winter day, all the fish had been in the 12-to-16-inch range.

As the late afternoon sun dipped toward the western horizon, I positioned the boat at the back of the hole, where the 20-foot depths rapidly gave way to a four-to-six foot flat directly downriver. Picking up a rod rigged with a deep diving suspending jerkbait – in this case a Rapala Deep X-Rap – I cast the lure over the flat and cranked it down to achieve some depth, then began a slow, steady retrieve.

Pulling the lure into the current – a direction opposite of the way baits are commonly presented to river walleyes – activated the lure’s action with slow forward movement, that is until a 24-inch walleye stopped it.

This is just one example of going against the grain for cold water river walleyes, an approach that isn’t necessarily the best for numbers of fish, but one that typically puts much bigger ones in the boat.

Unlike their lake-dwelling brethren, where bigger walleyes often inhabit deeper zones, it’s common for the larger river specimens to be in shallower water. This is particularly true when they are feeding.

The opening story touches on four key points: It was prime feeding time (evening twilight); the area being fished was a shallow, rocky flat adjacent to a deeper, walleye-holding pool; the lure used was a large profile (a suspending jerkbait); the lure inched along into the current, hanging in the face of any walleyes it contacted.

When I expect walleyes to be up on the flats – evening twilight or during dark, cloudy days – I target these areas with suspending jerkbaits in two ways. Casting, and slow trolling into the current.

Casting excels at working the transitional zone, the edge where the deeper water gives way to a shallow, downriver flat. Often good numbers of walleyes will stay relatively close to the drop off, within casting range of an anchored boat.

To accomplish this, I either anchor the boat or use the Spot Lock feature on my Minn Kota Terrova to hold the boat just upriver of the shallow edge of the flat. In places where the depth of the flat is six to eight feet, I use a number 10 Rapala X-Rap Deep. The lure is casted downriver with a medium power, fast action casting rod like St. Croix’s Mojo Bass MJB68MF. I use 10-pound fluorocarbon line.

After winding the lure down a few cranks to achieve some depth, the lure is slowly and steadily retrieved back to the boat. While an occasional pause is okay, don’t make the retrieve erratic. This is a tight line technique; you won’t have trouble recognizing a walleye strike.

Angle your casts to the left and right, and re-position the boat as needed to cover all areas of the deep-to-shallow transition.

Walleyes will also spread out over a flat, particularly as twilight extends into darkness. To cover these larger expanses I’ll slowly troll upriver, using the bow-mount electric pull with just enough force to overcome the current. Tailor lure choice to the depth being fished. If the Deep X-Rap is bumping bottom with about a cast’s length of line out, I switch to a shallower runner, like Bomber’s Pro Long A. The key is to stay within a foot or two of bottom. If the lure is making frequent bottom contact, odds are it will foul with deep weeds or other debris, rendering it useless.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle