With only a small perch and two shiners in her belly, the fat female walleye wanted a more substantial meal. In the warm summer water, life bloomed around her. Between two rocks, she found a crayfish the smallmouth had missed. Flaring her gills and inhaling, she reduced the mini-lobster to mere protein.

Still, she was unsated. Her lateral line started to tingle. After zeroing in on the direction of the vibration, she approached a crippled yellow thing. Her brain retrieved a memory of the wounded frog she'd eaten not long ago. The frog had spun and twisted frantically, almost in place, like this yellow thing. The trigger was pulled. As the walleye tried to sink its teeth into the hard lure, an angler set the hook.

Treated by many walleye anglers as lures of a bygone era, wobbling-style banana baits, so called because of their profile, are often forgotten in favour of newer, racier crankbaits. Banana baits conjure up memories of warm cottage-country evenings, braided line, and cedar-strip boats. Yet, Flatfish, Kwikfish, Canadian Wigglers, Benos, Tadpollies, Lazy Ikes, and the like are still great walleye lures, and they really shine in summer.

This is when the walleye's world is filled with things to eat. There are insects, young-of-the-year forage fish, frogs, crayfish, snakes, and any number of things walleye consume if given a chance. They don't have to look far for a meal, so they're often full and hard to catch. You need to give them something they haven't seen, such as a banana bait. Their wide wobble is rivaled only by a spoon's action. Swinging from side to side, they move a lot of water, sending messages to walleye lateral lines. Once a walleye makes visual contact, the lure's wild swinging action is hypnotic.

As a group, these lures work at a wide range of speeds. Canadian Wigglers, for instance, can be fished quickly, covering lots of water. On the other end of the scale, Flatfish and Kwikfish continue to gyrate even at extremely slow speeds. Just mosey along and they still go berserk. Choose fast-running models for covering water to locate aggressive walleye. Use slower models for picking off finicky biters.

Banana baits come in all sorts of sizes and colours, and each one will catch walleye at times. The size and colour to use often depend on the forage base. For walleye feeding on mayfly and dragonfly nymphs, small fly-rod-size banana baits can be killers. For trophy walleye eating smelt or cisco, 4- or 5-inch models might be the ticket. The best overall size and colour combinations are 2- to 3-inch lures in yellow, orange, chartreuse, green, black, white, blue, or any combination of these. Metallics can also be great, especially when the sun is shining on the water.

Speaking of size, I have a friend who has guided in northern Ontario for most of his life. Trolling 5- and 6-inch Flatfish, he's caught 7- to 9-pound (3 to 4 kg) walleye from lakes that seldom produce them larger than 14 inches (35.6 cm). He fishes the big bananas near deep drop-offs. I should stop here, though, or else my friend might pay me an unpleasant visit for revealing too many of his secrets.

You can use these lures just about anywhere. Drop-offs, shoals, rocky shorelines, and flats are all great places. Avoid heavy weeds or wood, though, since these lures tend to grab onto whatever they touch, but trolling or casting one along a weedline can pull walleye out into the open.

While you can cast banana baits, they were made to troll. Trolling gets them down quickly and keeps them there. If you need more depth, use them with bottom-bouncers or rubber-core sinkers.

My favourite way to fish bananas is trolling over large reefs and flats. Work an area by using slow "S" turns. On the outside of a turn, a lure goes faster, while it almost stalls on an inside turn. When the boat turns the other way, the lure speeds up. This erratic action triggers walleye into striking.

Walleye often move shallow at night. Fishing unweighted, slow-moving, floating banana baits at night in shallow water near dropoffs is my favourite tactic. Trolling or retrieving them just under the surface can produce gigantic walleye from lakes that seem barren during the day.

A few years ago, I learned how effective trolling with a canoe and a banana bait can be. A friend wanted to fly-cast for smallmouth from the front of the canoe. I wanted to fish as well, but whipping a fly line around from the back of the canoe was not an option. I trolled a 3-inch Flatfish, while my partner cast to smallmouth near shore. After I'd landed three or four walleye, he put his fly rod away and we both spent the day trolling for walleye. We tried jigs and other crankbaits, with no luck. The walleye wanted that crazy banana bait.

Banana baits that work at slow speeds are among the few lures that can be trolled effectively from a canoe. Simply let out line, put the rod in a holder or tuck it between your legs, and paddle along structure. The way a canoe moves forward on each stroke and slows between strokes gives a trolled lure an even more erratic action, which often triggers hits. A canoe is also quiet, letting you fish shallower water without spooking walleye.

If you fish for river salmon and steelhead, you probably already know that holding a wobbling plug in front of fish in current provokes savage strikes. Walleye are no different. If you find them in current, drop a banana bait downstream and hold it in place. You can cover more area by moving the rod from side to side, letting out line, or dropping the boat downstream a bit. Work a pool slowly and methodically before changing location or lure colour.

Rods, reels, and lines for fishing banana baits are uncomplicated. A spinning rod with a medium action and a reel loaded with 8- to 10-pound-test line work well with smaller lures. For larger sizes, use heavier spinning gear or a light baitcasting rod and reel. Whichever you choose, look for a rod with some flex in the tip, but backbone to set a hook.

If you fish lakes that also have pike, use a steel leader. Otherwise, attach the lure directly to your line. The plug will appear more natural and have more action. While banana baits are great right out of the box, modification can help. Flatfish and Kwikfish can be doctored extensively. If a lure runs to the side, turn or bend its eyelet in that direction until it runs true. If you want a lure to run out to the side, in order to contact walleye moving away from the boat, play with the eyelet until the bait works the way you want it to.

Adding live bait is another option. Few plugs work well with live bait, but Flatfish and Kwikfish do. There are lesser known wobbling plugs in Ontario than the classic banana baits mentioned, but some are quickly making a mark. For example, a number of anglers had success on Lake Erie last season using Apex Hotspots and Gibbs Convex lures with single Siwash hooks baited with worms. A worm or leech adds scent and gives you extra time to set the hook. Walleye often hold onto a baited banana for an extra second or two. They're partuclarly effective when fish are fickle.

Tipping a banana-bait helped me save a day of guiding a few years ago. The sun was high, and combined with the hot, humid, still air, made for poor walleye fishing. I suggested we try for pike, but my clients wanted walleye for lunch. At 11 a.m, we still didn't have a fish in the boat. In desperation, I put on a 2-inch Kwikfish, tipped it with a worm, and started trolling. Over the next hour, three walleye took the lure and ended up in the frying pan. After lunch, the walleye fishing was slow, but steady, until lowering light intensity made them more active. If I fished the lure without a worm, hits ended. Yet, all it took was an inch of worm on the front hook to entice the fish. Since then, this trick has produced more shore lunches in tough fishing conditions.

My favourite modification is to remove the back hook of a banana bait, replace it with a single, and thread on a curly-tail grub, a tube-jig body, or a minnow or leech. This gives the lure an eel-like action. If you use a minnow, add a stinger hook to hold it on and catch short-strikers. Some banana baits come with small treble hooks on a wire spreader. They're great when tipped with worms, but not leeches, or for fishing around snags. Keep in mind that when you add something to a lure, it rides higher in the water. You might have to use a weight to reach bottom.

Almost every tackle box has a banana bait or two lying idle. This summer, take one out of retirement and see what it can do to walleye. Chances are that the new generations of walleye in your lake haven't had a look at these old favourites. It could be their undoing.

This article is written with permission by Fish Ontario. Visit their website, http://www.fishontario.com, for more Ontario fishing information.

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