Went Trolling For Walleye Saturday.

[Haulin Bass]

Caught a few Crappie, and few Walleye, and more shorts than we have in the past.

Started out at 11:00am, and we were doing well right off the bat. Put a pair of nice 14" Crappie on the boat.

Then it got hot, and the fishing died.

So we jumped in, had a few beers, and started trolling later in the day.

And it really started to pick up again between 7 and 9pm. We had many a bite and put a few more crappie on the boat, and the last fish of the day was a nice fat 19" Wally.

Like I said, a few Crappie, a few Walleye, and just an AWESOME day to be on the water!

How's that for a fishin' report?

[MN Viking]

Sounds like a good day on the water. What were you using crank baits or live bait?

[Haulin Bass]

I was having trouble finding the right combination. I actually believe that it is the combination that brings the fish to the boat. Because when I would put the same crank baits on my poles, I would get a different result. So I have come to the conclusion that it is a combination of (1) Brightly colored shallower crank. (* Like a 12-15' Sexy Shad) and then I go with (1) Dark Shad Wrap for my deep divers. 18' plus.

But more importantly, it's the speed of the boat, sometimes, fast is better. I have a 115 Merc, and I'll throttle down and use a drift sock. But when it gets hot, I like to speed it up,,,, and that will get the bigger fish hanging out deep.

Lil secret, I will actually change my prop and I can get my boat to literally crawl, but on a hot day, you may not be doing yourself any favors. Drop that big prop, pull up your sock, and troll deep. (* Caught a HUGE largemouth like that last year, trolling a 20' suspended Clown Stick Bait.)

[J-Doc]

How fast is "faster"? I get about 2.5mph idle. Should I try 3.5mph or even 4mph when its hot and near mid day?

[rps]

2.5 is a great start point. I have had 2 mph days and 3 mph days. One year, many years ago, on Broken Bow in Oklahoma (another mountain reservoir) the fish were stacked at a 22 foot thermocline and wanted the bait to bang off points so fast I swear my daughter could have skied behind the boat.

[J-Doc]

So if you know there are fish there just keep trolling that spot at different speeds until they bite?

[rps]

J Doc: Don't know if you are mature enough to have read Buck Perry's stuff in the old Fishing Facts. It swore by controlled depth trolling and used his "spoon plugs" to comb the contours up points and humps from shallow to deep. The other variable to him, besides depth was speed. He always hunted for the active feeding bite first then went after the triggered reaction bite if the first option did not work.

[Feathers and Fins]

Randy, that's the Bible in chapter form.

[Haulin Bass]

I go as slow as I can in idle with my 115 Merc. I have a 19" stainless steel, cupped prop, and I think I can get down to 4mph. as long as my boat is running properly. But trolling into the wind will definitely help you!

Last year I had some timing issues on my motor, and I couldn't hold a slow idle, so I had to go faster. I guess I was between 5 & 6mph. Not many bites, and yes,,,, you are running deep at that speed,,,, but you will get the active fatties that are hunkered down deep.

I think I would have done better last year, accept for the drought definitely sent the fish really deep in the heat of the summer.

But,,,, remember,,,,,you may only land 3 or 4 fish in a day,,,,, but they will all be BIG!

It's now 2 weeks ago, I used my 15" prop and headed into a nice 10/15 mph head wind and was at perfect 2.75 mph. But when the wind died, I was going just way too fast, and I had to throw out my drift sock.

Now I hook my sock to the front clip of my boat, and let the sock inflate under my boat, it is harder than hell to steer, but we got all the way down to 1.5 mph into the wind, and 2 to 3mph with the wind.

I like my 18' deep diver cranks to get down into the 20'-22' range,,,, and you'll catch the FAT Crappie,,, and some Nice Walleye. And if you can get her slowed down enough, you'll catch Channel cats too.

I even caught my first Small Mouth this last trip, It was short, but it was my first trolling.

Just a foot note, the slower you go, the more fish you will catch, but the more fish you will lose too,,,,, You'll lose them right after they strike, and you'll not see as many Largemouth, as if you were going faster. But you'll get bites going slower, but you'll catch a lot more shorts too. And you'll have to fish in the shallows, making it difficult because you'll be going around all the swimmers, and bass hacks who are throwing rubber worms at the shore.

But I was trolling one day,. on Mutton Creek Side, and we saw MANY people trolling really fast (I was surprised how fast they were going) and they were catching the Whites like crazy. (* But if you know me, you know I am not a white bass fan!)

I only catch what I can eat,,,, and I only eat good tasting fish! (* LOL)

[Feathers and Fins]

If you have front clips on your boat both sides of take a rop and run it so it is tight when connected to both of them run the sock off it that will help stabilize the boat for control.