I’ve been told that Walleye are “short strikers” – what exactly does that mean?

The term “short striker” means that the walleye attack the bait without being hooked. The walleye sometimes sneaks up on the bait and grabs the bait as if it were a muskie or a pike. For the most part however, a walleye swims up to the bait and inhales the bait with the surrounding water. When something disturbs the flow of water, you will have what is called a short strike, you do not hook the walleye. To prevent a short strike by a walleye you can take some precautions when setting out to fish.

You are going to want to use a light line, bounce the bait, pump the crank, shorten the stroke and troll as well as increasing the size of your bait. Four and five pound test line allows for less resistance, this will allow the walleye to inhale it easier. When you are pumping the rod, do it with a slow and smooth action. Pumping the rod in a jerky motion will upset the water around it causing a short strike.

If you seem to suffer with more short strikes then you do hooking the walleye, you can try bigger baits. This should help increase the area around the bait that the fish has to inhale. Bigger baits make it easier for the walleye to inhale it more so than smaller baits. Trolling and pumping the crank are also good ways to hook a walleye, and when done with a smooth delivery and retrieval will see more hooks than short strikes.