walleyes

[nomolites]

This time of year the best speed is 1.7 to 2.4 mph in my experience but experiment to see what they want. I either use a small outboard or the 24v electric or both. I do use rod holders but I normally fish 4 rods at a time although with help I will do 6 at times but all you need is ONE to catch fish. To start with just hang it over the side of the boat as you putt along.

You can look up the dive curves on most lures on the internet which will tell you how deep the lure runs with a given length of line out. I use 10# braid(power pro) and medium action glass rods. You can "eyeball" the amount of line out and get close but if you want to give it a shot try some of the metered(colored) line which will change color at set intervals helping with that. I rarely run out over 150 ft of line.

Flicker shads are a good bet but deeper than 18 ft they require weighting; my next deeper and easy to find suggestion would be a wiggle wart or deep tail dancer(#9)either of which can be fished at 24 ft. On the lower end we were getting a thermocline at 18-21 ft last week when I was down so those two ranges should be good. Deeper than that you need weight for most effective plugs.

Start fishing pea gravel points and avoid rock until you get a feel for depth control and err on the shallow side to avoid hang ups. I have one of those lure retrievers on a rope(I made mine heavier trot line cord) they sell at BPS and that has saving me hundreds of $$ in lost plugs. once you explore an area and have the bass fishermans brush piles all marked hang ups go down significantly unless you do it on purpose. Evenings will likely be best.

A map card showing lake cartography is exceptionally helpful in dialing in on fish and channel breaks. I don't know what you have but there are paper maps out there if you don't have the electronics.

Trolling is quite relaxing and productive and my wife even enjoys it immensely. Your area is not too deep so you should be able to do it well without too much specialized gear. Good luck!!

Mike

[conorsixtakc]

NianguaMark - you can pretty much take anything related to trolling as gospel if its coming from Mike. He's about as systematic as they come!

[Manny]

Thanks

Very nice read

[TroutRinger]

I grew up fishing the mouth of the Little Niangua at my friend's place. We always caught a lot of large mouth, crappie, gills, and catfish, but never a walleye and only one smallmouth.

I will say it is still my favorite place to fish on the whole lake. Maybe I've just been there a lot but I have never caught fish as consistently anywhere else on the lake as I have there.

[NianguaMark]

Couple of catfish caught by my dock on the mouth of LN. Caught lots of fish up this way. Actually haven't made it off the little Niangua yet fishing

[fishinwrench]

I purposely don't talk about that area of the lake much.

[WHARFRAT]

Most of mine are caught late September thru October. Best bet --- Trolling cranks. I have used bottom bouncers with night crawlers, no success, unless you are into catching drum. I have never really targeted them any other time of the year. If I catch them late winter/early spring its by accident while crappie fishing.

Most of the big fish seem to come during the middle of the day. My best day for numbers was 2 years ago in the fall, my wife, son, and I caught 5 keepers between 18-21" and one short. All in about an hour and a half right before dark, trolling crankbaits. I will say this last march, I caught a fair number of really small walleye (under 10") while crappie fishing. So I feel that's a good sign.

[Riverwhy]

Does LOZ have a special regulation length limit of 18 inches or is it the standard 15 inch length limit for walleye?

[fishinwrench]

Used to be 18" but currently 15"

[mjk86]

This time of year the best speed is 1.7 to 2.4 mph in my experience but experiment to see what they want. I either use a small outboard or the 24v electric or both. I do use rod holders but I normally fish 4 rods at a time although with help I will do 6 at times but all you need is ONE to catch fish. To start with just hang it over the side of the boat as you putt along.

You can look up the dive curves on most lures on the internet which will tell you how deep the lure runs with a given length of line out. I use 10# braid(power pro) and medium action glass rods. You can "eyeball" the amount of line out and get close but if you want to give it a shot try some of the metered(colored) line which will change color at set intervals helping with that. I rarely run out over 150 ft of line.

Flicker shads are a good bet but deeper than 18 ft they require weighting; my next deeper and easy to find suggestion would be a wiggle wart or deep tail dancer(#9)either of which can be fished at 24 ft. On the lower end we were getting a thermocline at 18-21 ft last week when I was down so those two ranges should be good. Deeper than that you need weight for most effective plugs.

Start fishing pea gravel points and avoid rock until you get a feel for depth control and err on the shallow side to avoid hang ups. I have one of those lure retrievers on a rope(I made mine heavier trot line cord) they sell at BPS and that has saving me hundreds of $$ in lost plugs. once you explore an area and have the bass fishermans brush piles all marked hang ups go down significantly unless you do it on purpose. Evenings will likely be best.

A map card showing lake cartography is exceptionally helpful in dialing in on fish and channel breaks. I don't know what you have but there are paper maps out there if you don't have the electronics.

Trolling is quite relaxing and productive and my wife even enjoys it immensely. Your area is not too deep so you should be able to do it well without too much specialized gear. Good luck!!

Mike

Reef runners will hit 25 maybe more with 180 feet of line out. 10 or 15# depth hunter. The cabelas knockoffs too. That said if you can put a flicker shad that deep with lead its just as good if not better.