Walleye Trolling
Well, here it is. The guide to help you troll better for walleyes. This
guide is going to assume that the reader doesn't know a lot about
trolling for walleyes. It will work out better that way. If you do know a
little or a lot about trolling, this guide can still prove to be beneficial to
you. This guide looks, at this point, that it will be more than just a
page of hints and tips. Lets face the facts, there are so many different
nuances of trolling. You can troll several different kinds of lures, you
can troll harnesses, you can troll spoons, you can even troll jigs, and
all of them can be extremely effective. One important thing to
remember is to never get stuck in a rut. I used to troll crawler
harnesses to a fault and I caught many walleyes this way, but
sometimes it is better to change things up and give the walleye what
they want.
Another thing we have to tackle here is not all walleye will be on the
bottom. Walleye will and do suspend in open water. Now you have to
know a lot more to make sure your presentation is getting to the
correct depth for the walleye. This adds more to the equation. Are
you trolling with a three way rig or a down rigger? Jet diver or dipsy
diver? Are you long lining mono filament or are you using lead core?
If the walleye are suspended, odds are you should be using a reel with
a line counter. But there is more to using a line counter reel than just
reading the numbers off the counter. We will first take a look at line
counters.
Depending on who you talk to and what you read, you will get a couple
of different answers. From everything I knew, reel counters counted
spool rotations and not line feet. This becomes an issue when you
want to replicate your offerings. Let's say you are long lining straight
out the back of the boat with two rods, and then you also have one
off each side. Let us say that one line counter is reading 25, another
50, 75, and 100. Now you pick up a suspended walleye on the one
that shows 50 on the line counter. It would make sense to set all four
lines to 50 so all four baits are in the same zone that is catching the
walleyes. Make sense so far? What if each of these reels have a
different amount of line on them? One is full, three quarters, half, and
one only has a quarter spool of line? If these line counters that are
built into the reel only count rotations, 50 won't equal 50 on all four
reels. Since each reel will have a different diameter with the fullness of
their spool, there will be more line put out with 50 rotations on the full
spool than will be on the quarter full spool. This means each of the
rods you have out in the above scenario will be running at different
depths even with the same number showing on the reel counter. The
one thing I am quite anal about is matching all of my rods and reels
up. I have the same rod for each side of the boat spooled with the
same line on the same reel. I currently run 8 rod and reel
combinations that are identical in every aspect other than rod length.
When I find out what is working, I can get all my lines in the water on
the same page in short order. The results is more fish in the boat.
I am thinking that this may have been the case on the original line
counting reels, but not so much any more. I checked the
specifications of some reels and they state they count the line in feet.
Seems more logical to do it like that anyhow. I don't use line counting
reels, I have line counters that I snap onto the rod and run the line
through the counter. This way I know the line is what is moving the
gears inside the counter, and once enough line has passed through
the counter, it clicks over to the next number. They have been
calibrated to measure feet. What is triggering the counter to move
from zero to one, to two, to three on a reel with the built in counters?
Is it the amount of line that has passed through or is the rotation of
the reel triggering it? Either way, it is something to make sure of
before you waste your time trolling at the wrong depth simply because
you're unaware of how the reel counted line.
Another thing that you need to consider when trying to replicate what
is working is your trolling speed. A GPS works better than any other
speed measure device that measures your speed by measuring the
water friction. This is another reason why you want to troll in a zip
zag or in the shape of an S, instead of in a straight line. When you
make turns while you are trolling, the baits on the inside of the turn
slow down, while the baits on the outside of the turn speed up. If you
are consistently getting bit on one or the other as you make your
turns, you know that you need to troll faster or slower.
Another consideration is what line to use. I use Fireline or Trilene
monofilament exclusively. Fireline is a bit more tough when dealing
with snags on the bottoms of lakes and rivers. When I am not
worried about getting hung on snags, I use monofilament. It will
outproduce all others when dealing with super clear waters. Waters
that are infected with zebra mussels will generally be clear as vodka, so
spooking the fish is a worry. More on that subject when we talk about
planer boards.
We have covered reels, line, speed, and now we need to touch on rods
just a little bit. The type of application of trolling that you are using
will somewhat dictate what kinds of rods you can use. You are going
to need to use a downrigger rod if you are running downriggers and if
you run dipsy divers, I would suggest dispy rods as well. Lead core
lines pretty much need to have their own rods as well. You can get
away with using different rods in these types of trolling, but you might
as well use a rod for it's intended use. When you get into long lining,
this is when you reach a point of personal preference for your rod
usage. I like to run fast action medium power rods off the sides of my
boat. The two off the back of the boat are the longer rods and they
have more line out than the front two rods off the side.
Normally when people think of trolling boards they turn their attention
to trolling Lake Michigan for salmon or for trout. But they are the
perfect application for trolling shallow water walleyes. They allow you
to get in close to shore where your boat might not be able to go, they
allow you to cover a lot more water quicker than you normally would,
and they allow you to put your baits in front of shallow walleyes that
would be spooked by your boat if you were not using the boards.
The use of boards can also allow you to troll at varying depths so you
can locate at what depth the fish are actively feeding at. You can also
run a lot more colors out at one time, more types of baits, and
different speeds to see which is triggering the bite. When you are in
the search and destroy mode, boards take away a lot of the time you
would waste if you just explored the lake by trolling a few lines behind
the narrow path of your boat.
Planer boards are small and light-weight enough to be used on your
lighter walleye gear. Using a longer rod to keep the line out of the
water will reduce the amount of drag you will encounter. You can vary
the lengths of line running behind the board to control your different
depths. Once a fish hits, you can reel in the board, and unhook it
from the line and continue the fight with the walleye without being
bothered with a big bulky board hindering the process.
Planer boards also allow you to troll your crankbaits at varying depths.
By changing your speed and the amount of line you have out behind
the board, you can control the depth of your crankbait. Even the size
of the line will change the depth your lure will run at. These facts are
true, to a degree. It is very hard to long line crankbaits and get them
to go much deeper than twenty or so feet without the aid of weights
or weighted line. So what is the solution? You can use leadcore line,
but if you run too much leadcore behind the board, you can sink it.
Another problem with the leadcore is that it can spook the fish. A
simple solution is to run only so many feet of leadcore behind the
board, then run a length of mono after that. The trouble with this is
figuring out how deep are you running?
Clip on sinkers came to the rescue. Just go 30 to 50 feet before the
lure. The board moved the lure out away from the boat and the sinker
got the lure to the specific depth you needed to be at. If you needed
the lure to be deeper, add a heavy sinker. Once a fish was hooked,
you could reel in to the sinker, and simply pinch it off the line and
continue to fight the walleye to the boat.
As I mentioned earlier, I like to replicate my presentations when I find
what the fish want. This holds true to using boards. They can be
troublesome to someone who is new at using boards. I like using a 8
foot rod with medium action. This way I can read the boards the
same. I can tell if there is a fish on by the way my rod tips are
behaving. If I can't tell by the boards, I can almost always tell by the
rod tip. Just like when you long line a crankbait, you get a feel for the
rhythm that the particular crank you are running imparts on the rod
tip. As soon as it changes, you know something is on your crankbait.
guide is going to assume that the reader doesn't know a lot about
trolling for walleyes. It will work out better that way. If you do know a
little or a lot about trolling, this guide can still prove to be beneficial to
you. This guide looks, at this point, that it will be more than just a
page of hints and tips. Lets face the facts, there are so many different
nuances of trolling. You can troll several different kinds of lures, you
can troll harnesses, you can troll spoons, you can even troll jigs, and
all of them can be extremely effective. One important thing to
remember is to never get stuck in a rut. I used to troll crawler
harnesses to a fault and I caught many walleyes this way, but
sometimes it is better to change things up and give the walleye what
they want.
Another thing we have to tackle here is not all walleye will be on the
bottom. Walleye will and do suspend in open water. Now you have to
know a lot more to make sure your presentation is getting to the
correct depth for the walleye. This adds more to the equation. Are
you trolling with a three way rig or a down rigger? Jet diver or dipsy
diver? Are you long lining mono filament or are you using lead core?
If the walleye are suspended, odds are you should be using a reel with
a line counter. But there is more to using a line counter reel than just
reading the numbers off the counter. We will first take a look at line
counters.
Depending on who you talk to and what you read, you will get a couple
of different answers. From everything I knew, reel counters counted
spool rotations and not line feet. This becomes an issue when you
want to replicate your offerings. Let's say you are long lining straight
out the back of the boat with two rods, and then you also have one
off each side. Let us say that one line counter is reading 25, another
50, 75, and 100. Now you pick up a suspended walleye on the one
that shows 50 on the line counter. It would make sense to set all four
lines to 50 so all four baits are in the same zone that is catching the
walleyes. Make sense so far? What if each of these reels have a
different amount of line on them? One is full, three quarters, half, and
one only has a quarter spool of line? If these line counters that are
built into the reel only count rotations, 50 won't equal 50 on all four
reels. Since each reel will have a different diameter with the fullness of
their spool, there will be more line put out with 50 rotations on the full
spool than will be on the quarter full spool. This means each of the
rods you have out in the above scenario will be running at different
depths even with the same number showing on the reel counter. The
one thing I am quite anal about is matching all of my rods and reels
up. I have the same rod for each side of the boat spooled with the
same line on the same reel. I currently run 8 rod and reel
combinations that are identical in every aspect other than rod length.
When I find out what is working, I can get all my lines in the water on
the same page in short order. The results is more fish in the boat.
I am thinking that this may have been the case on the original line
counting reels, but not so much any more. I checked the
specifications of some reels and they state they count the line in feet.
Seems more logical to do it like that anyhow. I don't use line counting
reels, I have line counters that I snap onto the rod and run the line
through the counter. This way I know the line is what is moving the
gears inside the counter, and once enough line has passed through
the counter, it clicks over to the next number. They have been
calibrated to measure feet. What is triggering the counter to move
from zero to one, to two, to three on a reel with the built in counters?
Is it the amount of line that has passed through or is the rotation of
the reel triggering it? Either way, it is something to make sure of
before you waste your time trolling at the wrong depth simply because
you're unaware of how the reel counted line.
Another thing that you need to consider when trying to replicate what
is working is your trolling speed. A GPS works better than any other
speed measure device that measures your speed by measuring the
water friction. This is another reason why you want to troll in a zip
zag or in the shape of an S, instead of in a straight line. When you
make turns while you are trolling, the baits on the inside of the turn
slow down, while the baits on the outside of the turn speed up. If you
are consistently getting bit on one or the other as you make your
turns, you know that you need to troll faster or slower.
Another consideration is what line to use. I use Fireline or Trilene
monofilament exclusively. Fireline is a bit more tough when dealing
with snags on the bottoms of lakes and rivers. When I am not
worried about getting hung on snags, I use monofilament. It will
outproduce all others when dealing with super clear waters. Waters
that are infected with zebra mussels will generally be clear as vodka, so
spooking the fish is a worry. More on that subject when we talk about
planer boards.
We have covered reels, line, speed, and now we need to touch on rods
just a little bit. The type of application of trolling that you are using
will somewhat dictate what kinds of rods you can use. You are going
to need to use a downrigger rod if you are running downriggers and if
you run dipsy divers, I would suggest dispy rods as well. Lead core
lines pretty much need to have their own rods as well. You can get
away with using different rods in these types of trolling, but you might
as well use a rod for it's intended use. When you get into long lining,
this is when you reach a point of personal preference for your rod
usage. I like to run fast action medium power rods off the sides of my
boat. The two off the back of the boat are the longer rods and they
have more line out than the front two rods off the side.
Normally when people think of trolling boards they turn their attention
to trolling Lake Michigan for salmon or for trout. But they are the
perfect application for trolling shallow water walleyes. They allow you
to get in close to shore where your boat might not be able to go, they
allow you to cover a lot more water quicker than you normally would,
and they allow you to put your baits in front of shallow walleyes that
would be spooked by your boat if you were not using the boards.
The use of boards can also allow you to troll at varying depths so you
can locate at what depth the fish are actively feeding at. You can also
run a lot more colors out at one time, more types of baits, and
different speeds to see which is triggering the bite. When you are in
the search and destroy mode, boards take away a lot of the time you
would waste if you just explored the lake by trolling a few lines behind
the narrow path of your boat.
Planer boards are small and light-weight enough to be used on your
lighter walleye gear. Using a longer rod to keep the line out of the
water will reduce the amount of drag you will encounter. You can vary
the lengths of line running behind the board to control your different
depths. Once a fish hits, you can reel in the board, and unhook it
from the line and continue the fight with the walleye without being
bothered with a big bulky board hindering the process.
Planer boards also allow you to troll your crankbaits at varying depths.
By changing your speed and the amount of line you have out behind
the board, you can control the depth of your crankbait. Even the size
of the line will change the depth your lure will run at. These facts are
true, to a degree. It is very hard to long line crankbaits and get them
to go much deeper than twenty or so feet without the aid of weights
or weighted line. So what is the solution? You can use leadcore line,
but if you run too much leadcore behind the board, you can sink it.
Another problem with the leadcore is that it can spook the fish. A
simple solution is to run only so many feet of leadcore behind the
board, then run a length of mono after that. The trouble with this is
figuring out how deep are you running?
Clip on sinkers came to the rescue. Just go 30 to 50 feet before the
lure. The board moved the lure out away from the boat and the sinker
got the lure to the specific depth you needed to be at. If you needed
the lure to be deeper, add a heavy sinker. Once a fish was hooked,
you could reel in to the sinker, and simply pinch it off the line and
continue to fight the walleye to the boat.
As I mentioned earlier, I like to replicate my presentations when I find
what the fish want. This holds true to using boards. They can be
troublesome to someone who is new at using boards. I like using a 8
foot rod with medium action. This way I can read the boards the
same. I can tell if there is a fish on by the way my rod tips are
behaving. If I can't tell by the boards, I can almost always tell by the
rod tip. Just like when you long line a crankbait, you get a feel for the
rhythm that the particular crank you are running imparts on the rod
tip. As soon as it changes, you know something is on your crankbait.
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