what is a good speed for trolling for wipers and walleye

[fishingtim]

I'd rather drift or jig for walleye if the conditions allow it, but trolling is a good way to cover a lot of water and put fish in the boat. I was out yesterday, picked up quite a few walleye right off the bat trolling, got an idea of where they were, then went back and drifted with night crawlers. Spent more time putting worms on my hook than fishing, couldn't keep a worm in the water for more than a minute without a white perch, drum, or catfish pecking away at it. Kept that up for about an hour then went back to trolling and catching walleye.

[laltec]

I'd rather drift or jig for walleye if the conditions allow it, but trolling is a good way to cover a lot of water and put fish in the boat. I was out yesterday, picked up quite a few walleye right off the bat trolling, got an idea of where they were, then went back and drifted with night crawlers. Spent more time putting worms on my hook than fishing, couldn't keep a worm in the water for more than a minute without a white perch, drum, or catfish pecking away at it. Kept that up for about an hour then went back to trolling and catching walleye.

Do you fish with down riggers or do you just find crank baits to go to the depth you want?

[shane]

Do you fish with down riggers or do you just find crank baits to go to the depth you want?

There are many ways to get small crank baits into the zone you want them in. Some for example are dipsy divers, use leadcore line, wire line, smaller diameter of line will work also. There are inline sinkers and drop weights. You can even place weight on the bill to force the bait to go deeper. I haven't tried this so I don't know the results. Anyways, this might help you get a bait that runs in 4 FOW down to 35 FOW. Let me know if you have any questions...

[walleyecrazy839]

Theres a book that tells all the different lures how much line to let out how deep they run ect its the trollers bible Cabelas bass pro should carry them.

[laltec]

thanks shane... will give some of those a try!!! Thanks walleyecrazy839 i will look for it next time I'm in there store

[Fish Taxi]

I'd rather drift or jig for walleye if the conditions allow it, but trolling is a good way to cover a lot of water and put fish in the boat. I was out yesterday, picked up quite a few walleye right off the bat trolling, got an idea of where they were, then went back and drifted with night crawlers. Spent more time putting worms on my hook than fishing, couldn't keep a worm in the water for more than a minute without a white perch, drum, or catfish pecking away at it. Kept that up for about an hour then went back to trolling and catching walleye.

I know it's a pain compared to conventional plastics, but you might try drifting a jig/gulp grub and skip the crawler. You will catch the cats and drum still, but you won't have to jack around with constantly rebaiting the worms. The gulp is a little more durable so it would solve the problem of the crawler tear-offs and my catch rate is about the same on jig/gulp versus jig/3"grub/crawler.

[fishingtim]

Fish Taxi - Thanks for the tip, I'll have to give that a try sometime.

[shane]

More walleye on crankbaits.... One very happy customer.. 4 fish went about 18-20lbs total.

[slabby joe]

Wow thats a nice stringer of walleys.....nice job.... guess maybe I should try some trolling even if the big motor only goes down to 2.6 mph....thanks for the good info. on trolling speeds.

[fishingtim]

WTG. Looks like El Dorado is still giving up some nice walleye.