Newer walleye ice lures struggle to replace proven favorites

For the more than 40 years that I have been ice fishing on Lake Erie, the lures used to catch walleyes have been dominated by just a few designs. Yellow perch, white bass, white perch, channel catfish and steelhead trout are also attracted to these tried-and-true lures.SPOONSThe Swedish Pimple is a vertically oriented spoon made by the Bay de Noc Lure Company in Gladstone, Michigan. Based on a lure style used in Sweden for more than 100 years, the patented design available since 1957 is forged from brass, then covered with nickel, gold, white pearl, silver and copper finishes.The sizes used locally are #5 (1/3 oz.), #6 (1/2 oz.) and #7 (3/4 oz.) based upon the strength of the water current. Many experienced local anglers add a treble hook to the top split ring and/or a stinger hook.The top dozen colors sold are Fluorescent Orange, Fluorescent Yellow, Chartreuse, Luminous Glo, Red Prism, Green Pearl, Prism Yellow, Prism Blue, Kelly Green, Lavender, Hammered Neon Blue and Painted Pink.There are six colors of "Alligator Hammered" lures and a new line of "Crushed Ice" colors in copper, gold, black, yellow, pink, white, orange, purple, blue, green, red and nickel.There are small fractions of local ice anglers who use other spoon designs, notably the Lit'l Cleo, made by Acme Tackle, in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. It is a more rounded half-ounce spoon that can be casted and retrieved in open water or jigged through the ice.Locally popular paint designs include blue, green and orange that horizontally cover one-half of their outer surface with the other half and inner side left with the bare nickel finish.Their Kastmaster spoons now come in a Tiger Glow line that have stripes across green, red, blue, chartreuse, pink or neon glow paint on the front and a gold or chrome backside.Rapala in Minnetonka, Minnesota, now owns the former Luhr-Jenson Krocodile and Crippled Herring spoon lines, in myriad colors that are also used locally by a few ice anglers.Jig-a-Whopper Rocker Minnows were very effective but then became hard to obtain and lost their momentum locally.JIGGING MINNOWSAnother style of ice fishing lure is called a jigging minnow, which is a horizontal, painted, minnow-looking lure with a single stiff hook emerging from the nose and/or tail and a treble hook clipped from the center of the belly (which often are upsized by local anglers).The best-seller is the Rapala Jigging Rap. Sizes used on Lake Erie include the 2-inch #5 (5/16 oz), 2 ¾-inch #7 (5/8 oz.) and the 3 ½-inch #9 (7/8 oz.), depending on the strength of the currents.Now coming in 26 colors, locally the most popular include Firetiger Glow (262), Chrome/Blue (182), Gold/Fluorescent Red (005), Fluorescent Chartreuse/Silver (029), (Black)/Gold (022) and Silver (001).When Rapala "improved" its design to the plumper style, I caught fewer fish on them than the original, thinner model. Their Flat Jig, available in 10 colors, looks similar to their old-style Jigging Rapala, but with an 80-percent faster sinking rate.The sizes currently being offered are the (04), which is 1 ½-inches long (9/16 oz.) and the (06) which is 2 ½ inches (1 3/16 oz.).Some of us fishing at Put-in-Bay really liked the 2-inch (1/3 oz.) Nils Master Baby Shad when they were introduced in 1999, but they went through distribution problems and became hard to obtain in the U.S. I finally was able to order some from Finland, but only by the dozen.If you can find some, grab as many blue/silver (046), black/silver (043), chartreuse/white (048), orange/gold (088) and perch-colored (007) lures as possible because your fishing partners will want some, once they see how well they work. Snip off the thin nose hook, because fish break it off and come unhooked.When fishermen come from out of state, I see other jigging minnow brands and designs that are popular in their home waters. Some examples include Acme's Hyper Rattle and Salmo's Chubby Darter, but old habits die hard and they are rarely seen in local tackle boxes.An exception is the Moonshine Shiver Minnow, which has been gaining traction lately for their higher hook-up rates, unique long-lasting UV glow paint schemes and curved design. I was able to test their 2 ¾-inch #2 (half ounce) lure and caught a limit of walleyes with it on my last day on the ice.I am anxious to try each new lure as soon as I can get on the ice.A walleye caught on a #6 Lavender, Alligator Hammered Swedish Pimple.