It never gets old, the sharp tick experienced when a river walleye inhales a leadhead jig dressed with a fathead minnow.

I don’t know how many river walleyes I’ve had the good fortune of catching during the past 30-plus years, but I’m sure the number requires a comma. And many of them came on this oh-so-classic of walleye presentations.

It’s not as easy to obtain fathead minnows these days. Traditional bait shops are dwindling, but still around if you’re fortunate enough to have one within a reasonable distance. And you can trap your own minnows, a worthy venture, but one that requires a commitment regarding storage once you’ve collected a bunch. No sense trapping enough for just a single trip.

In lieu of live minnows, substitutes like Berkley’s Gulp Alive minnow and Z-Man’s 3.75-inch StreakZ often fill the void as well, seemingly sometimes better, than the real thing.

As with most productive presentations, the fish-catching ability of the leadhead jig/minnow combination can be increased by knowing certain refinements of its use, namely adjustments concerning jig design and method of bait hookup.

A most compact offering can be accomplished by using a leadhead jig with a relatively short shank like Bass Pro Shop’s XPS Meteor Jig or Northland Fireball Jig, then hooking the minnow by running the hook down its mouth and out the back of the head. Rigged this way, the hook is in the optimal position to catch short-striking fish. It’s a particularly effective option for cold weather fishing – when bites are less aggressive – such as river fishing for walleye and sauger.

A slightly more active presentation can be accomplished by using the same style jighead, and then hooking the minnow up through the lips. The minnow has more freedom of movement, hence more action. Often, I’ll start off with this approach and switch to the compact option if I’m missing fish or having the minnow scaled back by short-biting walleyes.

For a bit larger profile, opt for a leadhead with a more standard hook length, like the classic Bass Pro Shops’ XPS Walleye Jig or VMC Mooneye Jig. The longer hook not only stretches things out to present a longer profile, but it also provides room for the addition of a soft plastic body. A piece of a plastic worm — or the body of a twister tail body such as the Galida’s Grubz with the tail trimmed off — not only bulks up the profile, but you can also show additional color. Only cover the hook shank (down to the start of the bend) so you maintain plenty of room for the minnow as well as hook gap to effectively hook fish.

When using larger minnows in conjunction with a leadhead jig, ones approximately three inches or longer, it’s often necessary to add a stinger hook to the setup to keep from missing fish. The Meteor Jig and Fireball Jig provide a second eyelet for a stinger hook clip, a nice feature. Insert one tine of the stinger’s treble hook in the tail or back of the minnow.

Stinger hooks are available commercially; these have handy clips for attaching to the jig’s second eyelet. Or you can fashion your own, ones that can be attached to the bend of the hook or over the eye of a standard jig (one lacking the extra line tie). Various YouTube videos are available that show the process of tying stinger hooks for walleye jigs.

Having two or three rods set up with various jig-minnow riggings allows you to test the waters efficiently to determine which is best that day. Also, all these options work well with the types of artificial minnows listed earlier.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle