Great Day Yesterday

[lonkm]

A friend of mine from Taneyville and I went yesterday. Didn't hit the water till about 11:00 am. Started out trying to catch some crappie vertical jigging. That didn't work out so I took him for a ride up the lake. Got to Tucker flats and decided to troll for eye's. Right away he caught a 23 in eye. His first eye. By the time we had to quit we caught 8 eyes, lost 4 or 5, and threw the rest back. Shorts ran between 15 and just short of 18 in. Fishing from 25 ft to 32 ft fow, running cranks from 20 to 24 ft deep. Any one having any luck with crappie? Tight line!!

[packersooner]

Lonkm,

We went out yesterday (Wednesday) and couldn't buy a walleye. Fished from 2 PM until dark mainly around Bee Creek island. Fished anywhere from 15 to 35 fow. Spent half the time trolling crankbaits and half trolling Lindy rigs with a half crawler. That was just our second time to Bull Shoals and we just haven't figured out the walleye. We did check a few of the marked brush piles and didn't catch any crappie. I have heard a few stories of them being on the bluff sides in timber or on brush piles.

Any advice on what we may be doing wrong for the walleye? We are trolling DD22s at about 2 mph. They seem to be getting down into 18-19 fow. I used a root beer color and my buddy used some shad type color. Are you using different cranks or a different system all together to get them down that deep? Also, where is Tucker flats? Is that just to the north of the launch?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Jason

[lonkm]

Lonkm,

We went out yesterday (Wednesday) and couldn't buy a walleye. Fished from 2 PM until dark mainly around Bee Creek island. Fished anywhere from 15 to 35 fow. Spent half the time trolling crankbaits and half trolling Lindy rigs with a half crawler. That was just our second time to Bull Shoals and we just haven't figured out the walleye. We did check a few of the marked brush piles and didn't catch any crappie. I have heard a few stories of them being on the bluff sides in timber or on brush piles.

Any advice on what we may be doing wrong for the walleye? We are trolling DD22s at about 2 mph. They seem to be getting down into 18-19 fow. I used a root beer color and my buddy used some shad type color. Are you using different cranks or a different system all together to get them down that deep? Also, where is Tucker flats? Is that just to the north of the launch?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! We were using the DT 20 in blue and silver. Speed was around 1.4 to 1.7. Cranks were running around 22 ft dp. Tucker flats is in Ark, below Youkum Creek. Good luck

Thanks,

Jason

[Mike Worley]

I fished Wednesday a little further down the lake. The walleye bite was slow for us on the main lake flats (no bites) but the larger coves and creeks were still fishing well. I think the lindy rig with half a crawler would be just a tad too suttle for the walleyes right now. And the same for the DD22 fished at less than 20' deep. We had a 50 fish day with 5 keepers up to about 26". We found the active walleyes 20-25 deep over 30-40 FOW in the morning and near the bottom in 30-35 FOW in the afternoon. We only fished bottom bouncer / slow death spinner rigs with half a crawler in the afternoon. Chartruse & orange seemed to be the best color with silver & blue best for the suspended morning fish. I have been having good luck with the bigger wilder running baits like Reef Runners & Hot n Tots fished 20-40 foot deep but no bites when I tried Deep Little N' or DD 22. The walleyes are very aggessive this year but you have get something down there with'em that will get their attention, bright colors like pearl white and firetiger or blue seem to be best for me with the crankbait.

[stone9-7=2]

Sounds like you had a great time lonkm. Nice report.

[packersooner]

I fished Wednesday a little further down the lake. The walleye bite was slow for us on the main lake flats (no bites) but the larger coves and creeks were still fishing well. I think the lindy rig with half a crawler would be just a tad too suttle for the walleyes right now. And the same for the DD22 fished at less than 20' deep. We had a 50 fish day with 5 keepers up to about 26". We found the active walleyes 20-25 deep over 30-40 FOW in the morning and near the bottom in 30-35 FOW in the afternoon. We only fished bottom bouncer / slow death spinner rigs with half a crawler in the afternoon. Chartruse & orange seemed to be the best color with silver & blue best for the suspended morning fish. I have been having good luck with the bigger wilder running baits like Reef Runners & Hot n Tots fished 20-40 foot deep but no bites when I tried Deep Little N' or DD 22. The walleyes are very aggessive this year but you have get something down there with'em that will get their attention, bright colors like pearl white and firetiger or blue seem to be best for me with the crankbait.

Ar.walleyes,

Your info/advice is much appreciated. I have never pulled Reef Runners or Hot n Tots. How deep do those usually run? You mentioned fishing them 20 to 40 foot deep. Are you doing something special to get them down that deep?

Jason

[rangerman]

Ar.walleyes,

Your info/advice is much appreciated. I have never pulled Reef Runners or Hot n Tots. How deep do those usually run? You mentioned fishing them 20 to 40 foot deep. Are you doing something special to get them down that deep?

Jason

We run leadcore alot to get baits down.....But if you don't have leadcore, you have to use baits designed to run DEEP. The number 11 taildancers work great but are costly..Reef runner 800 series, deep diving husky jerks. It takes a lengthy amount of line (more than normal fisherman use) to get them deep.....Bomber Fat free shads are also a very good bait.

[rps]

Many of us use a book called Precision Trolling. Its nickname is the Trollers Bible. It tells us how deep lures will run on 10 pound mono and braid. Wiggle warts, fat free fingerlings and shad, and reef runners are in our books so we can control how deep we troll out baits. Makes a difference.

[Mike Worley]

Ar.walleyes,

Your info/advice is much appreciated. I have never pulled Reef Runners or Hot n Tots. How deep do those usually run? You mentioned fishing them 20 to 40 foot deep. Are you doing something special to get them down that deep?

Jason

Jason, the precision trolling book really helps as a starting point, it holds many of the answers about the lures depth curves but it can also make things confusing. For example it says to get a 800 series Reef Runner down to 28' it takes appox 200+ foot of 10 pound mono at 2 MPH. Then you have to factor in different things like are you using braid instead of mono? what can you gain by adding a snap weight. For the past few years I have only used braid (Stealth 15/4) for pulling crank baits. After all the +/- we came up with 125' of 15/4= 31' a larger size (H07) Hot N Tot will run about 22' @ 100' add a snap weight and get down a few more feet per once. If you are serious about trolling then set-up a second set of rods with line counter reels for this with braided line and be sure to take the time to check and tune each lure. I also use lead core but pretty much only to get smaller lures deep at slower speeds. Lead core is much more speed Dependant than braid.

[packersooner]

Wow...great thread everyone! Have to admit, I have very little experience trolling. Obviously, I have a lot to learn.

Most of my rods have mono on them, but a few do have fluorocarbon. I have never tried braid. Depending on the conditions, I will either troll with the outboard, or the trolling motor.

I had talked to some locals awhile back that have done really well in the summer trolling the DD22s. Looks like I may have to invest in some different cranks and a certain book. As for another rod and reel, not sure the boss will go for that one

You all take care and thanks again for the great advice!

Jason