Tough times on Stockton

Hi all.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted so I thought I’d jump back in. I’ve been fishing for walleye up at the dam and have no luck whatsoever. Seems like I caught way more walleye while crappie fishing than I do actually trying to catch walleye. I’ve been pulling crawler harness around and just cannot seem to get it dialed in. We are catching most everything but walleye and for sure feeding the fish well! I’ve seen guys set up with livescope tearing them up, also guys pulling harnesses doing well. Do you guys have any tips? What type of speeds do you pull these harnesses around? I’ve been trying around 1.2…? How do you guys set the hook? A lot of times it is like they are just chewing the worms off. I’ve tried the double hooks and the slow death hook. I know the dam is supposed to be a good spot and I’ve been trying to find other ledges. Just sucks to throw all this money at it for no return, I guess that’s life though…

I usually troll around .8 rarely exceed 1. I tell my friends that I take let them take it don't set hook when they are just nibbling. And I only use part of the crawler. I like the slow death hooks or a double hook rig. My :twocents.

Agree with Richard. Slower is definitely better, especially if the fish are finicky (which it sounds like they are) and if the water is murky or you're fishing low light.

Sometimes, if you're going that slow and you have a big ol' blade on your Lindy rig, it won't be enough to get it to spin, so downsize to a smaller blade.

And then yeah...half a crawler at the most. And typically...you'll feel the tick for a bit first....you can gently raise the rod tip or gently pull (not "set the hook"...just drag it away a little bit) and it will trigger a more conclusive strike. Or...if it's just swimming along with the bait in it's mouth, and if you're using a good circle hook, it should just turn into the corner of it's mouth and you'll be good.

That said....I know what you mean about catching more walleye when you're crappie fishing than when you're targeting them!! lol