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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.