The world of walleye
fishing has really opened up as anglers discover that
crankbaits work in so many different situations. Ten
years ago if you told a die-hard walleye angler that
you were going to troll a minnow- imitating lure for
early season walleye, he would laugh at you. If you
told this person that you were going to go out over
very deep water, tie on a plastic-lipped minnow imitator,
add two ounces of lead onto the line, put it on a board
that would pull it all away from the boat, and then
troll it pretty fast, this angler would be rolling on
the ground howling as he threatened to tell all the
boys at the bait shop about your mental condition.
No one's laughing
now!
We have discovered
just how effective trolling crankbaits can be for walleye.
It's not just open water situations either. Trolling
cranks works on weedlines, and over bars and sunken
islands for suspended fish in the Great Lakes as well
as the western reservoirs. I'd venture to say that there's
probably not a lake that holds walleye where you can't
fool them by trolling the stick baits.
When you troll crankbaits
for walleye, you have to be willing to put in a little
effort. Let's say that you see some walleye on the depth
finder, spread over a sunken island. Be sure to note
what depth these fish are at. It's important that you
get the bait right into or above the fish. Remember,
walleyes have eye's on the top of their head and prefer
to look up.
You need to experiment
with how much line to let out behind the boat. Add weight
to the line if you need to get the lure deeper than
it's capable of running on its own. Try to match the
shape and color of crankbaits to available forage.
Walleye on a particular
body of water might like a short bait with a tight wobble.
On another lake or reservoir the walleye might prefer
a long narrow bait that has a wide wobble. You have
to experiment until you come to a conclusion. My favorites
are: the Powerdive minnow and Hotlips Express for tight
action and the Kwikfish or PJ shiner for wobble action.
Who ever said boat
control wasn't important when trolling didn't catch
many fish. You have to plan your routes well to catch
walleye. On a weedline, you want to be right on the
edge. Get out a little too far and the bite may stop.
On an open-water,
suspended-fish situation, the walleye are relating to
something-- the depth, the thermocline, or maybe bait
fish. You need to key on that "something"
in your trolling pattern to be sure your bait is where
the fish will see it, and hit it.
I use a 9.9 four-stroke
motor to control my boat. This motor is controlled by
the which allows me to set the motor on a heading and
maintain the course. This is also true of my Bow-mount
autopilot. While the autopilot is steering my boat,
I can switch baits, add weights, clip the line to trolling
boards; even fight and land fish. "Autopilots"
allow hands-free boat control, allowing you to focus
your priorities on fishing and putting more fish in
the boat.
Trolling boards
is becoming a popular part of the crankbait trolling
presentation. Boards allow the angler to spread multiple
lines out instead of trying to run them all straight
out behind the boat. Some people claim that when the
boat spooks walleye out to the side of the boat, the
boards direct the baits right into the walleye. Since
boards are so easy to use, I even incorporate them on
smaller lakes. They work. I use the OR-12 side planer
along with Offshore Snap Weights. My favorite line is
XT 10 lb in conjunction with my MITCHELL Riptide line-counter
reel on a MBR941 7 ft. 10 in. Trolling rod (this makes
for a well-balanced combo).
It sure is amazing
how many walleye anglers are using crankbaits these
days. A lot of them are laughing about it too, because
they're having so much fun catching all those fish.
