In the tournament world, artificial lures have dominated the scene, leaving live bait more or less forgotten. Live bait’s downfall in tournament fishing is that it’s difficult to accurately cast live bait and keep it in front of fish on forward-facing sonar. Live bait is still very effective when it comes to catching walleye, so long-time guide and tournament angler Toby Kvalevog designed a system to put live bait on fish accurately and keep it there.
Kvalevog’s system is essentially Lindy rigging with a short leader but with a peg added to the line above the weight, as you would for Carolina rigging in the bass world. The peg inhibits separation, which causes the bait to go one way and the sinker to go another. With the weight pegged, the bait has no choice but to follow wherever the weight goes which allows for consistent, accurate casts. This rig can be floated above the fish, and Kvalevog likes using a tungsten weight, which can be easily detected on forward-facing sonar. This rig has given Toby a competitive advantage against anglers using artificial lures.
