Marty Glorvigen says to fish the deepest part of the lake and the adjacent deep weedlines in June. Walleyes use these areas to herd baitfish and then feed on them at the base of the weeds. Photo by Ron Hustvedt Jr.

Minnesota is a walleye-crazy state. We made it our official state fish. We even put anglers on our state quarter, and they are undoubtedly in pursuit of walleyes. Walleyes are the reason that hundreds of thousands of anglers go out for the walleye opener in all kinds of weather. We even fish through the ice for them. We collectively spend millions of dollars on gear to catch marble-eyes. Bazillions of hours are spent in pursuit of them.

Some folks even make a living off catching walleyes. Of all the professional anglers who fish the Professional Walleye Trail tournament circuit, there are more Minnesotans than any other state. Julie Meister, PWT tournament coordinator, said 48 of the pros are from Minnesota, while Wisconsin comes in second with 36, and Michigan takes third with 28.

With walleyes on our brains, it is no wonder Minnesota has produced so many top walleye anglers. We sat down with a "lucky 13" of them and asked them to share with us their nuggets of knowledge.

MARTY GLORVIGEN
Marty has a world walleye rank of 49, which puts him among the best of the best. He lives on Trout Lake, which is a classic northern Minnesota walleye lake, but his tip can be used on any walleye water statewide.

"When you get into June, one of the places I focus on is the deepest part of the lake and the adjacent deep weedlines. This is by far the premium part of the lake where the food chain is most active this time of year. Walleyes use these areas to push bait into the bank and feed on them at the base of the weeds. It's close to where all of their food sources are at this time of the year. It's like their refrigerator.

"Everybody has a favorite competence technique they are well schooled at, and walleyes can be caught in these locations whether you are a rigger, jigger, crankbait caster or troller," Marty continued. "I particularly like to throw rattle-type baits at the weed pockets no matter wherever I happen to be across Minnesota.

"Find the area where the break happens relatively fast, as close to a 45-degree angle as you can find. If you are on a southern Minnesota lake where it doesn't get too deep and structure is very subtle, you might be on an area where it jumps from 4 feet to 7 feet. On my lake, one of my favorite locations is where the deep-water weeds are at 18 feet, and then it drops to 80 feet. It's all relative."

Additional information about Marty can be found on his Web site at www.geminisportmarketing.com.

GARY ROACH
For anybody who pays attention to walleye fishing, this man needs no introduction. His official nickname is "Mr. Walleye," and he is a walleye fishing machine that the pros admire. Thankfully, he's also one of the nicest people around. These days, his focus is on fishing rods.