Trolling Crankbaits

[conorsixtakc]

Question for you walleye guys (or anybody else who knows)- At what water temps do the walleyes in Stockton start chasing trolled crankbaits? Sorry for all the questions lately, just an LOZ boy excited for a change of scenery in a few weeks.

[austin14]

I always caught them by accidently trolling for largemouth in the early summer. Water temp was around 70-80.

[rangerman]

Trolling cranks for walleye can work in the wide range between 40-85degrees. Just have to adjust speeds and crank baits models.

Right now with water temps around 73 degrees, shad style cranks such as the berkley flicker shad, storm smash shad and thunder crank, as well as bomber fat free shads can all be good. Speeds in the range of 1.7-2.5 can be about rule of thumb. Depth ranges of 15-30 foot deep. Lead core and snap weights allow you to get the bait down to the deeper depths. Don't be afraid to experiment with different crank baits! Bomber fat free was always a sleeper crank bait that I had used thoroughly on bull shoals and table rock for walleye. They like them. And a trolled depth of about 16-18 foot has been what I have experienced with 150 foot of line out at 2mph. I am using the fat free example as you can run to the local Wally World and they will have them. Good luck.

[Sac River Jim]

i bought that new booyah boo spin rig so i can get flicker shad down deeper. i think it will work well on main lake points this time of year.

http://www.booyahbaits.com/booyah-boo-spin-rig

[conorsixtakc]

Trolling cranks for walleye can work in the wide range between 40-85degrees. Just have to adjust speeds and crank baits models.

Right now with water temps around 73 degrees, shad style cranks such as the berkley flicker shad, storm smash shad and thunder crank, as well as bomber fat free shads can all be good. Speeds in the range of 1.7-2.5 can be about rule of thumb. Depth ranges of 15-30 foot deep. Lead core and snap weights allow you to get the bait down to the deeper depths. Don't be afraid to experiment with different crank baits! Bomber fat free was always a sleeper crank bait that I had used thoroughly on bull shoals and table rock for walleye. They like them. And a trolled depth of about 16-18 foot has been what I have experienced with 150 foot of line out at 2mph. I am using the fat free example as you can run to the local Wally World and they will have them. Good luck.

Good in depth stuff rangerman, thanks for sharing!

i bought that new booyah boo spin rig so i can get flicker shad down deeper. i think it will work well on main lake points this time of year.

http://www.booyahbaits.com/booyah-boo-spin-rig

Cool rig Sac Jim, looks like it could help draw them up. I wonder how much the added weight would affect the action of the flicker shad, what size spin rig are you gonna try? I'm assuming you'll be using one of the bigger flicker shads?

"...This BOOYAH rig lets you attach a shallow-running crankbait to a weightless, Texas-rigged swimbait behind the spinning blades and fish it at any depth."

I wonder if that "to" is supposed to be an "or"?

[mjk86]

I was wondering the same thing....i know once the thermocline sets up they will be all over em. We did well late last september when there was no real thermocline, so I bet you could do just fine now. Flicker shads/shad raps/reef runners/deep thundersticks work great...dont forget the wide wobble hot n tot. Play with speeds and depths...youll probably get some crappies in the mix too as well as other species. Your in for quite a change in scenery coming from LOZ!! No docks!

[conorsixtakc]

I was wondering the same thing....i know once the thermocline sets up they will be all over em. We did well late last september when there was no real thermocline, so I bet you could do just fine now. Flicker shads/shad raps/reef runners/deep thundersticks work great...dont forget the wide wobble hot n tot. Play with speeds and depths...youll probably get some crappies in the mix too as well as other species. Your in for quite a change in scenery coming from LOZ!! No docks!

I'm ready for it! I've been out on Stockton a few times on a family 'toon, just never had the chance to get after em on a real fishing boat until this upcoming trip. LOZ this past Memorial Day was as wild as it's ever been. Walls of +42' cruisers and cigarette boats everywhere.

[DADAKOTA]

Bandit 300 series will get you down to the 18 foot range. Trolled the bandits and some flickr shads the last couple days. Only 2 keeper walleye and 3 shorts. Crappie would not leave them alone. 22 fow at 1.7 mph.