Trolling For Bass And/or Walleye

[Quillback]

If anyone is interested, I just got an email from Cabelas, their Walleye runner lures are on sale for $1.88. Anyone have any color recomendations?

[rps]

If anyone is interested, I just got an email from Cabelas, their Walleye runner lures are on sale for $1.88. Anyone have any color recomendations?

Thanks for the heads up. Both colors on sale, Little Jimmy and TuttiFrutti, have worked well for me. The Little Jimmy is often my start color. Too bad the Firetiger isn't on sale as well.

If you look you will also see the Rad Shads are on sale for 2.99. These make excellent substitutes for Shad Raps. Glass ghost, glass black, firetiger are good starts there.

Using these two Cabelas brands, the regular and magnum Storm wigglewarts, and the Norman D22s, you can cover all depths from 10 feet to 37 feet on 10 pound braid.

Powerdive and Martin:

This thread should be reworked by one of us as a archive tutorial on Table Rock walleye trolling. I volunteer one of you two.

rps

[Quillback]

Thanks rps, good info for the archives.

[Trolling For Walleye]

Wow.. just awesome info here.

Thanks to everyone, especially rps and powerdive.

I'm keeping the precision angling book, but also ordered the ken schultz one.

I'm still grasping at all the terminology thrown around here... but I'm working on it.

Can anyone comment on Snap Weights?

[powerdive]

TFW,

This should keep you busy for awhile. By the time you get thru all this you'll be a trolling dynamo, well-versed in all major trolling techniques.

These are the article archives at offshoretackle.com, the manufacturer of the world's most popular walleye trolling supplies (planer boards, snap weights, etc.). Yes, they're done in support of their product line, but these articles contain tons of great info, going back several years:

http://www.offshoretackle.com/articles.html

I have a set of snap weights, but seldom use them. I probably should get them out more often, but leadcore works for me. Besides the depth factor, and the fact that you don't need much in the way of specialized gear, the other big advantage of using snap weights is VERTICAL SWIM. Every time you speed up, slow down or make a turn, the effect on the weight and your bait is immediate. And walleyes react to lures that suddenly sink or rise. Leadcore is also speed dependent, but the effect is more pronounced with snap weights.

Do you have GPS? It helps to know your actual speed--while it's not totally essential, it can help to eliminate some of the guesswork.

[Trolling For Walleye]

TFW,

This should keep you busy for awhile. By the time you get thru all this you'll be a trolling dynamo, well-versed in all major trolling techniques.

These are the article archives at offshoretackle.com, the manufacturer of the world's most popular walleye trolling supplies (planer boards, snap weights, etc.). Yes, they're done in support of their product line, but these articles contain tons of great info, going back several years:

http://www.offshoretackle.com/articles.html

I have a set of snap weights, but seldom use them. I probably should get them out more often, but leadcore works for me. Besides the depth factor, and the fact that you don't need much in the way of specialized gear, the other big advantage of using snap weights is VERTICAL SWIM. Every time you speed up, slow down or make a turn, the effect on the weight and your bait is immediate. And walleyes react to lures that suddenly sink or rise. Leadcore is also speed dependent, but the effect is more pronounced with snap weights.

Do you have GPS? It helps to know your actual speed--while it's not totally essential, it can help to eliminate some of the guesswork.

I have an older boat... real old.. the speedometer doesn't go below 5 mph..

I just acquired a gps this year - it's not a marine unit - it's primarily for cars, but it should record my speed - i bought a lake card for it.

I do have sonar.. but it's an old device also. I'm considering a lowrance hds-10 or lcs-113 but i doubt i'll buy it this year.

Thanks for the info on snap weights, and for that website link.. looks great - i've been reading some articles on precisionangling and fishing 411 also.

One last question.. should i make the small investment in a line counter so that I stop using the "twenty mississippi" method?

Line Counter < click here

[powerdive]

Absolutely. It's not so much the depth thing--you can get there by trial-and-error--it's the repeatability. When you DO score, you'll be able to do it again. ie, that last fish hit crankbait X running at 2.2 mph in 17 feet of water, with 116 feet of line out. Now you can duplicate the winning presentation precisely.

Sonar, GPS, line counter--all contributing parts of your trolling "system"...to help you dial it in.

[rps]

TFW:

I tried one of those. They don't work well with the slick, very thin diameter braids.

If I were you, I would use the red Power Pro and use a permanent black magic marker to mark off every ten feet or ten yards on the line. That way you don't spend extra money and you simply count the number of marks as they go out.

Another alternative would be to try the Cabela's braid that has a different color (just like lead core) every ten yards. Try this link.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...&hasJS=true

[powerdive]

Heck, for another $10 or so you can forget the add-on gizomo and pick up a cheapie LC reel. The Cabela's Depthmasters aren't great reels, but they'll get you started. On sale for $24.88 right now--why not?

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...rset=ISO-8859-1

[Martin]

If memory serves me, a big Hellbender will hit 20 to 22 feet deep with 120 feet of line out. I haven't used the Hellbenders as much in recent years because I started catching more walleyes on Reef Runners and Cabelas Walleye Runners. The Hellbender depth I just mentioned was using 10 pound test mono. It was before my linecounter days. I used to hook the HB to our dock walkway and walk out to the deep end of the dock while letting out line. I knew this was 120 feet and I'd use a magic marker to put a big fat mark on my line right in front of the reel. Then when fishing, I'd just let out until that mark was just off the reel. I also remember that I could hit the bottom in 30 feet of water with about 145 to 150 feet of line out with the Hellbender. Again, 10 lb mono.

Quillback asked about the Bandits. I have the 6th edition and 7th edition of the Precision trolling book and neither one has the Bandits in it. However, a Deep Wee R is almost the same size and shape as a Bandit 300. The book shows the Deep Wee R will hit 16 feet deep w/ 124 feet line out.

17 feet w/ 180 feet of line out.

BUT ! A 6A Bomber will hit: 17 feet w/ 121 feet out

18 feet w/ 150 feet out

A 7A Bomber will hit: 18 feet w/ 132 feet out

20feet w/ 200 feet out

I'm not sure if Mann's still make the "PLUS 15 model, but that little rascal will hit: 22 feet w/ just 116 feet out.

24 feet w/ 161 feet out

25 feet w/ 220 feet out

Storm Hot N Tot (medium) will hit: 20 feet w/ 128 feet out

22 feet w/ 165 feet out

Storm Hot N Tot Magnum will hit: 26 feet w/ 121 feet out

28 feet w/ 142 feet out

32 feet w/ 198 feet out

34 feet w/ 232 feet out

Storm Wiggle Wart will hit: 16 feet w/ 114 feet out

18 feet w/ 156 feet out

20 feet w/ 223 feet out

Storm Wiggle Wart Magnum will hit: 24 feet w/ 135 feet out

26 feet w/ 159 feet out

30 feet w/ 220 feet out

Reef Runner large deep diver will hit: 24 feet w/ 120 feet out (29 to 30 feet deep using Fireline)

26 feet w/ 151 feet out

28 feet w/ 198 feet out (about 35 feet deep using Fireline)

That's just a few depths on a few lures, but they seem to be many people's favorites.

A footnote here. These depths were all based on using 10 pound test mono. You can add 20 to 25% to those depths if you go to a superline such as Fireline or Stealth. I use 10 lb test Fireline (4 lb test diameter) or Spiderwire STEALTH in 15 lb test.(4 lb test diameter).

Personally, I troll mostly between 2.0 mph and 2.9 mph. You just have to kind of experiment with speed. Some lures work better at 2.7 then they do at 2.0. Again, spend some time on the water and try different speeds.

Be sure and set your drag to slip when using superline. If you get hung-up, it needs to slip or stuff will start breaking and it probably won't be the line. lol.

Hope this helps and isn't too confusing.