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 Luhr Jensen 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 Mariner four-stroke motor to control my
boat. This motor is controlled by the TR-1 Autopilot
which allows me to set the motor on a heading and maintain
the course. This is also true of my Minn Kota 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 Offshore
OR-12 side planer along with Offshore Snap Weights.
My favorite line is Trilene XT 10 lb in conjunction
with my Mitchell Riptide line-counter reel on a Loomis
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.
