Our many popular gamefish species provide challenges that make fishing for them interesting.

When it comes to walleyes, their nomadic nature makes consistently catching them a constant test, often calling for a mobile approach to make contact. Slowly trolling a spinner rig dressed with a nightcrawler is one of the best.

For those unfamiliar, a spinner rig/crawler harness consists of a length of monofilament or fluorocarbon line sporting a tandem of hooks spaced about four inches apart. Commonly a series of colored beads is threaded ahead of the lead hook, and above this a spinner blade. The hooks are dressed with a single ‘crawler.

Walleyes often find the combination of flash/color (spinner blade and beads) and live bait (‘crawler) hard to pass up. Here are a few rigging and fishing tips:

. It’s hard to find a better sinker style to fish in front of a spinner rig than a bottom bouncer sinker. The Vee shape wire form of the bouncer efficiently rides over the bottom, minimizing snags. Sizes in the one-, two- and three-ounce size cover most situations in our area.

· Shoot for a speed of around 1 mph when trolling spinners behind bottom bouncer sinkers. At this speed you can cover the water while still maintaining a natural look with the presentation.

· A snell length of around four feet seems to work best. A longer snell becomes cumbersome while a shorter snell squeezes things a bit too tight to the sinker.

· In addition to the colored beads, when fashioning a spinner rig consider a Styrofoam float designed for such rigging. The float helps keep the spinner rig up off the bottom, reducing debris that can collect on the hooks. Of course, you can purchase pre-tied spinner rigs, including ones with a floater.

· Finicky walleyes often nip at the tail of the crawler. As such, it’s a good idea to pinch off the tail of the worm to up the chances the fish will find hooks. This also provides a scent trail.

· Along this same line, when tying a snell for a spinner rig you can use a treble hook as the tail hook, again to better hook light biting walleyes.

· Bottom bouncer/spinner rigs should be fished with just enough line out to allow the sinker to occasionally tick the bottom. It should not be in constant contact. If you are fishing over cover such as emerging weeds or stumps, the sinker should occasionally tick the top of the cover.

· A rule of thumb in determining sinker weight is the angle of the line should be about a 45-degree angle with the boat is moving at trolling speed and the rig is at the desired depth. It’s a good starting point, but I’d suggest opting for the heavier weight when in questions. Going heavier – which keeps things more vertical -- makes it easier to maintain precise positioning of the rig. It also allows for tighter boat turns.

· An ideal bottom bouncer/spinner rods is seven to eight feet long with a relatively soft action. The “give” of the rod allows a walleye to eat the moving bait while feeling a minimum of resistance.

· While hand holding a rod is okay, it’s often better to place a rod in a rod holder when slow trolling spinners. This reduces the urge to set the hook too soon. Walleyes will hook themselves when the rod is in a holder, i.e., give them time to “hang themselves.”

· Along this same line, it’s a good idea to turn the reel handle a couple turns before removing the rod from the holder when you have a walleye hooked up. This helps secure the fish and reduces the chances it will get off as you make this transition.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle