We were in a shield lake in the later part of last August. We go to this cottage every year. This last year we thought we would really troll a lot more. It's a narrow deep lake that generally ranges around 50-60 ft although it can go up to 20 ft i nsome parts and as deep as 200-300 ft. We had some success but not enough for the hours put in. We used walleye divers, AC shinners, some inline spinners and generally fished 10-20 ft range, average speed of 5 mph.We were marking loads of fish. There are pike, lake trout, bass, and also lake trout. We were catching mostly walleye except as we got closer to shore or near points in which case we caught pike.
Any thoughts...advice?
nagging thoughts about trolling this last summer for walleye
nagging thoughts about trolling this last summer for walleye
...anything to bend the rod
Re: nagging thoughts about trolling this last summer for wal
Is that a typo??? Most of my trolling in summer for walleye is around 1.2-1.5.scuro wrote: average speed of 5 mph.?
Joe
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Wall-I-Guy
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I'd push it as low as it would go with out it stalling. -
eye-tracker
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Hello Scuro....
WIG was probably trolling over top of weeds or running a worm harness through the tops of weeds, this can be a great tactic when the walleye are spread out across a flat with lots of weed cover. First off you only want to troll when the walleye are suspended and spread out, if you know a spot where they are stacked up then you want to move to jigs and live bait rigs to work the spot.
In the warm summer months you can troll at speeds up to and around the 3.5mph mark -- not all of your cranks will work well or run straight at this speed, but you will be covering water while searching for hungry walleye.
If you where getting them at 20ft along bottom, odds are you could move out to deeper water and catch fish suspended at that same 20ft depth over deep water. I often find my biggest walleye are caught trolling the suspended fish that are out to the side of structure.
One of my favorite sayings when walleye fishing is:
What is the difference between jigging and trolling? About 3lbs!
Trolling will produce bigger fish then live-bait rigging or jigging, but usually there is more action (numbers) when jigging up the smaller walleye.
Good luck...
-Sheldon
WIG was probably trolling over top of weeds or running a worm harness through the tops of weeds, this can be a great tactic when the walleye are spread out across a flat with lots of weed cover. First off you only want to troll when the walleye are suspended and spread out, if you know a spot where they are stacked up then you want to move to jigs and live bait rigs to work the spot.
In the warm summer months you can troll at speeds up to and around the 3.5mph mark -- not all of your cranks will work well or run straight at this speed, but you will be covering water while searching for hungry walleye.
If you where getting them at 20ft along bottom, odds are you could move out to deeper water and catch fish suspended at that same 20ft depth over deep water. I often find my biggest walleye are caught trolling the suspended fish that are out to the side of structure.
One of my favorite sayings when walleye fishing is:
What is the difference between jigging and trolling? About 3lbs!
Trolling will produce bigger fish then live-bait rigging or jigging, but usually there is more action (numbers) when jigging up the smaller walleye.
Good luck...
-Sheldon
Sheldon Hatch
Just a guy that likes to fish walleye
Just a guy that likes to fish walleye
I'm guessing at boat speeds too, from what people have told me. I have been told that the speed is 3 mph when the old two stroke rental when you bring it close to idle and the sound of the motor is never consistent.
I'd also guess that most of our fish were caught in the 15 ft range. You wouldn't troll deeper...say 30 or 40 ft?
I'd also guess that most of our fish were caught in the 15 ft range. You wouldn't troll deeper...say 30 or 40 ft?
...anything to bend the rod
Actively feeding walleye will be following schools of bait and you can count on the fact they will be in 20' or less of water. The exception to this standard is when a fly hatch is on and they will be in any section of the water column suspended in 20+' of water over a mud basin. Open water trolling is not a prime tactic under most shield lake conditions.
Look for obstructions that break up the natural travel paths of feeding migration. Long points and shoals are the obvious areas but subtle things like clustered weed beds, fallen trees, etc will hold fish too. Large weed flats are not in my estimation an ideal target area - too many variables.
Bigger fish tend to be solitary and will surprise you in the shallow water quite often even under bright conditions. By shallow water I mean 2 - 3'. Rocky shoals that top out at this depth are ideal. Flipping small crappie sized baits along the edges can produce some amazing results.
We all have a tendency to fish too deep and too fast most times. Learning to interpret sonar signals can be a huge heads up as to what structural element is likely to be high percentage.
Look for obstructions that break up the natural travel paths of feeding migration. Long points and shoals are the obvious areas but subtle things like clustered weed beds, fallen trees, etc will hold fish too. Large weed flats are not in my estimation an ideal target area - too many variables.
Bigger fish tend to be solitary and will surprise you in the shallow water quite often even under bright conditions. By shallow water I mean 2 - 3'. Rocky shoals that top out at this depth are ideal. Flipping small crappie sized baits along the edges can produce some amazing results.
We all have a tendency to fish too deep and too fast most times. Learning to interpret sonar signals can be a huge heads up as to what structural element is likely to be high percentage.
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Hey Scuro,
to clarify, I get my bait right down into the weeds as I am running jig/grub combo, not sticks or cranks. Yes I have to deal with weeds, but it's only occassionally. I drift through and sometimes troll through.
On the troll, the bait definetly rises to the upper reaches of the weedbed
McQ hit it right on the head in my opinion, people are tend too fish too deep many times. Open water fishing has it's moments, but even then, i like structure or something the fish can hold to.
Now, ET has introduced me to these mini in-lines at Quinte i think it was that I'm itching to try this Spring. But for the most part, I'll still stick with my jig/grub approach, no need to change that
to clarify, I get my bait right down into the weeds as I am running jig/grub combo, not sticks or cranks. Yes I have to deal with weeds, but it's only occassionally. I drift through and sometimes troll through.
On the troll, the bait definetly rises to the upper reaches of the weedbed
McQ hit it right on the head in my opinion, people are tend too fish too deep many times. Open water fishing has it's moments, but even then, i like structure or something the fish can hold to.
Now, ET has introduced me to these mini in-lines at Quinte i think it was that I'm itching to try this Spring. But for the most part, I'll still stick with my jig/grub approach, no need to change that
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eye-tracker
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Scuro,
As you can see walleye are versatile -- three people with completely different approaches on different waters, I feel most anglers fish to slowly and do not cover enough water, on the other hand I do believe walleye anglers could fish shallow more often. I spend most of my time fishing the great lakes or shallow inland lakes that only have a few holes deeper than 15ft... so I have patterns and techniques I like to use to target the active walleye.
As McQ mentioned...use your electronics, lake type, conditions and structure to determine what approach to take when targeting ol' marble eyes.
Fish On...
-Sheldon
As you can see walleye are versatile -- three people with completely different approaches on different waters, I feel most anglers fish to slowly and do not cover enough water, on the other hand I do believe walleye anglers could fish shallow more often. I spend most of my time fishing the great lakes or shallow inland lakes that only have a few holes deeper than 15ft... so I have patterns and techniques I like to use to target the active walleye.
As McQ mentioned...use your electronics, lake type, conditions and structure to determine what approach to take when targeting ol' marble eyes.
Fish On...
-Sheldon
Sheldon Hatch
Just a guy that likes to fish walleye
Just a guy that likes to fish walleye
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eye-tracker
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Depends on the lake...scuro wrote:Well then...should I stay away from deep open water...fish more to the sides of a lake unless there are shoals?
Just remember open basin fish are relating to something...and in most cases it will be schools of bait fish. If I do not mark high running schools of bait fish above the thermocline over deep water then I would work the structure, saddles, brake lines and transition zones looking for active fish. Once again my choice technique is trolling...but you have lots of other options.
Fish On...
-Sheldon
Sheldon Hatch
Just a guy that likes to fish walleye
Just a guy that likes to fish walleye
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Walleye
Scuro, if you have the time next summer, we should get out off Port Burwell.Burwell is one of those places where featureless flats rule and the Walleye are both suspended and hugging bottom. The fish are generally long and not too heavy (5-7lbs), but it's the only place I know where you can catch Walleye and come into an incidental Bow using the same tactics.
These guys have given you great advise. Walleye are quite a diverse fish. The inland lakes and rivers that hold them require significantly different techniques than the Great Lakes fish. It's one breed of fish that I doubt I'll ever master.
ps. ET, the spring Detroit River fish are all jigged up.
Legend