Just before, during, and after the spring spawn, Minnesota walleye pro Marty Glorvigen catches a lot of fish using a tactic that—given the current popularity of advanced trolling techniques—seems almost radical: He casts lipless, rattling crankbaits into water that's just a couple of feet deep.

"I wear the paint right off the noses of my crankbaits by working them so shallow," Glorvigen says. "It's a tactic that doesn't make any sense to a lot of walleye anglers, but it really works."

Here's how it's done:

UP THE CREEK
Motor up an inlet river where wall-eyes migrate to spawn. Usually, you'll find stained or muddy water, which allows walleyes to feel comfortable when they move to the shallows.

WATCH THE WIND
A steady wind will create a mudline along one of the banks. Concentrate your fishing efforts on this shoreline.

DIG IT
Use a bow-mounted trolling motor to sneak along the mud-line. Cast ahead of the boat and retrieve the lure parallel and tight to the shore, digging it into the bottom.

RIGHT ROD
Glorvigen uses a 7-foot medium-action Fenwick Techna AV. Its length permits long casts, and he can guide the lure along the bank by pointing the tip to one side of the boat.

ON THE SHELF
Here, walleyes relate to sand-and-gravel bottoms between 1 and 3 feet deep, particularly where these shallow shelves drop quickly into deeper water.

CRAW CRANKS
Glorvigen's favorite spring cranks are ½-ounce Rat-L-Traps and Berkley Frenzy Rattl'rs, both in crawdad patterns.