It's a debate waged in every tackle shop from Henderson Bay to the Columbia River. Which is better for walleye fishing, live bait or artificial lures?

If you answered live bait, you're right. If you answered artificial lures, you're also right. A blending of both artificial lures and live bait make an unbeatable combination wherever walleye are found.

Matching up live bait with spoons, jigs, spinners, and even crankbaits is a trick that's guaranteed to attract the attention of walleye, no matter where you fish.

Live Bait Selection

Three different live baits are commonly used for walleye fishing: ribbon leeches, nightcrawlers, and minnows. It's important to emphasize that each of these live baits must be healthy and active. Fishing with dead minnows or crawlers that have been out in the sun too long isn't likely to fill many stringers or livewells.

All three of these live bait choices will help catch walleye, but there are many instances when one will significantly outproduce another. If all three types of live bait were readily available year around, it would be prudent to recommend that anglers experiment each on every fishing trip. Unfortunately, live baits are as seasonal as fruit.

During the winter months and into early spring, minnows are the only live bait you're likely to find at bait shops. In early spring, nightcrawlers become available to bait dealers. During most of the spring and early summer all three bait choices are available.

Unfortunately, with warm summer weather comes a decline in minnow availability. Warm water with a low dissolved oxygen content becomes a headache for minnows and live bait dealers alike. Even when healthy minnows can be located, they are likely to die in the bait bucket long before they find themselves attracting walleye.

Keeping minnows alive and healthy in hot weather is a chore. The water must be periodically iced to keep it cool and constantly aerated to provide adequate amounts of dissolved oxygen. Insulated coolers with portable aeration systems or built-in baitwells featuring water aeration and recirculation are the best ways to keep minnows frisky.

Nightcrawlers and leeches become popular summer baits simply because they are available and can be kept fresh and lively with little effort. I store my leeches in a unique cooler designed especially for fishermen. The Coleman Fish-N-Tackle cooler comes in two sizes and features a drop-in plastic container that takes up approximately half the cooler. Ideal for storing nightcrawlers in bedding or leeches in water, this container has a breathable spillproof top.

The rest of the cooler is filled with ice each morning providing the ideal atmosphere for live bait and a handy place to keep drinks and other food cold. A small flip-top door allows frequent access to the bait compartment without opening the main cooler lid.

Temperature is a key ingredient in keeping both crawlers and leeches frisky. According to George Sroda's book Facts About Nightcrawlers, worm bedding should never exceed 50 degrees. Commercial products such as Magic Worm Bedding are also important for holding crawlers in an environment that offers the ideal moisture content. Also commercial worm bedding is much cleaner on hands and boat carpets than the soil crawlers are often packed in.

Storing and fishing with leeches is a little less trouble. For best results this popular walleye bait should be kept in cool aerated water. Leeches may be stored for long periods by simply changing the water frequently and keeping the water temperature cool, but not cold.

An old refrigerator stored in a garage or basement makes an ideal place to store crawlers and leeches between fishing trips. Both of these live baits can be kept for weeks with little effort.

Leeches, like minnows, are available in a variety of sizes. Bait dealers sort the leeches and place them in containers marked small, medium, and jumbo. The medium size is best for most walleye fishing situations.

By late summer or early fall, healthy leeches become tougher to find at bait dealers. The best way to insure a selection of frisky bait for early fall fishing is to purchase a pound or more of leeches in the summer and store them until needed. Always keep your leeches in lake or stream water. Chlorine, salt, and other chemicals found in tap water will quickly kill leeches.

When the water turns cold in the fall, leeches lose a lot of their fish-catching wiggle. In cold water leeches tend to curl up on the hook instead of squirming and swimming, making them less desirable as bait.

When the water temperature dips below 50 degrees, minnows again become the primary live bait. In the fall larger minnows are often more productive than smaller ones. Redtail chubs, suckers, or dace minnows up to six inches long are a deadly walleye bait during the late season. Walleye seemingly know that feeding on larger prey is more efficient and helps them build a fat reserve for the approaching winter.

Larger minnows are expensive and difficult to keep alive in a bait bucket. It's best to store minnows in a cooler with a portable bait aerator or in a boat baitwell or livewell. Many of boats on the market today have two livewells. Use one to store your bait and the other to hold walleye in route to the frying pan.

While minnows are the number one choice of late season walleye anglers, nightcrawlers can also be an excellent bait in cold water. Like leeches, crawlers can be difficult to find in the late season. Many anglers purchase crawlers by the flat (approximately 500 worms) and use only what they need for a fishing trip. The remaining crawlers are stored in a refrigerator or other cool place for future fishing trips.

Few anglers realize that crawlers are sometimes even more productive than minnows when the water turns cold. During the spring and summer, half a nightcrawler threaded onto a jig is customary. In the fall, larger baits produce best. Use a whole nightcrawler when jigging, rigging or fishing spinners with crawlers.

Tomorrow, in Part Two, we will review live bait delivery systems.