Thread: The Walleye Channel

So a few things I learned over the weekend.

1, I need more HUK Gear to prevent Sun burn,
2, I would like a bigger boat,
3, 3 is to many people in the cockpit of my boat. Now this might be mitigated by a crew of other fisherman who know what they are doing, but my Wife, & Granpa, Well, lets just say it was crowded.
4, Rod holder are installed for a purpose, put the rods back in them.......


OK, Now on to what I learned fishing.

If needed offset the contour lines for the proper depth. My Graph was about 5 foot off. Once corrected, it was sweet, and accurate, across most of the Bay.

My Lake master chip does not have Saginaw River, nor Saginaw Bay in HD. I found that a surprise. I actually flipped over the the XT Contour for the Sag River.
For the Bay though, once I found a depth I preferred I liked that I could highlight that depth, and cover a vast area of that depth only. I highlighted 18 to 21 foot of water.

Bottom bouncers do not need to be out 103 foot. However, the second time I used them I tried the let it bounce (At least I think I did) and caught less fish, than 103 foot of line. (That's funny right there)
I still caught in both methods, but when I tried it the second time, I was alone, so I had 2 Planers, and the BB I was testing.

I was able to catch them on Slow Death #2 Red Hooks, (not sure if hook color matters if its all covered by worm, but it was what I was told to use, so I did) The Super Death hooks nickle color, #2 worked just as well.

I have read about crawler harness, and colored blades, etc. Steve actually offered me his extensive collection, but timing to acquire them just didn't work out.
There may be a place for them, but I was fine without them. I'm not a tournament, but I got fish on the Death hooks, minus the colored blades.

10 Foot Salmon rods designed for Dipsy Divers are Walleye Fish Lip Rippers. I used them for the length to clear other poles. Gramps used them to rip the lips off the fish.
He would grab a rod that had a fish, set the hook like he was Babe Ruth, and reel in lips. once he even broke a hook. that was funny.

Switched those reels over to my down rigger rods, and it was much better.

Calibrated Reels are only as precise as you make them once on the water. Counting out 81 foot while in the Rod holder may say 81 foot, but it wont be once you are in the water.
I solved that quickly when I realized I could start my Flicker from the rod tip, just on the surface of the water. Then count out 81 foot (Target Depth). This removed any error of slack.
I then add an addition foot, to 82, then lock the bail attach the Planer board to that additional foot of line at the rod tip, and be exactly at 81 foot.
If it doesn't make sense to you, it does to me in my Pollock mind, and was more precise for me.

Planer Boards them selves, Day one had no tangles. Planer boards all set and in a line from the cockpit are easy to see one drop back from smaller fish. The key was to get them in-line, for my vision.
I found a had quite a few stragglers, that were happy to swim along and not make the flags move (Flags were set LOW tension, so you would think that they would go off and tattle but nope. Most all of those were tossed back, I think once was just swimming along enjoying the cruise.

Day 2 was a nightmare.
Inside board was no issue. the outside board was the issue (maybe the user as well) The Out B, would clear the In B, but the Flicker would collect the In Board line between the In Board, and its Flicker.
I could reel it in, unwrap the line, and send the In Board, flicker back out and it would reset. Fish that stayed LOW, would do the same thing as well.

Day 3 more testing, I would release the Out Board, and let it fall back into line right behind the boat, reel it in, and sure enough the Out Board Flicker would collect the In Board, line between the In Board, & its Flicker. I think I was getting messed with from some currents maybe. There seemed to be a difference between the current, and the winds, I sent back a Flicker and aligned it so that it was going straight back, regardless of the wind, and that seems to HELP, but I still had 2 tangles, but both were with Fish on the line.

Down Rods with BB at the corners is WAY BETTER than long lines, in an attempt to reduce tangles.

I would not try to run 3 boards on a side just yet, until I get a better feel for what I am doing, and or doing wrong.




Lastly, an outside Board with a fish, that Grandpa reels in when the flag goes down, and tangles into the Inside board and he keeps cranking, and is not only, fighting the fish, but now the inside board as well, and the outside board, a mess of line, will be forever known as a Master Angler Walleye. Probably a STATE RECORD. "I'm Pretty sure it was a STATE RECORD" he was heard telling any one who would listen when we got back to the house, and at Lucky's Steakhouse, Meijer's, the gas station, and numerous phone call's to others, for the rest of the night

He never saw the fish, I never saw the fish, but he KNOWS it was a Master Angler Fish. So If you get a mess of line, 2 Boards messed together, just know your fighting what feels like a Master Angler Walleye. Gramp's says so.

It was his story, I did't have the heart to tell him, that great big yank he felt when it started FIGHTING even more, really hard, was the inside board. I just settled in and untangled the lines, and reset everything.

I think we caught a little over 34 Walleye in 3 days, out of all the trips and people, 32 of a possible 64. I didn't think that was bad, mostly because, it was my first time by myself, and with others, & we were there to eat. By Monday, the last day the only way to get Gramps to stop talking bout his STATE RECORD was to feed him Walleye, and force a Food Coma. Gram's was heard saying, Bout Dang (Not Dang, Beavers make these things to block the water) time he shut up about that fish!