going to troll for walleye-first time tips

[wolfe99]

Hay,

I am from the New york area. I have been trolling for salmon in lake Ontario for years now. My Buddie at work has talked me in to pulling my boat out of the water and taking it to get some of those walleye I here so much about. Here is the thing I never trolled for them before, he has but only in a small row boat. So if you guys could give me any tips about:

trolling speed

Prime water temp looking for

And Im thinking lead core, riggers, divers maybe. He has all the other tackle I just supply the important stuff ha ha. thanks Guys

[redline04]

My favorites for trolling for eys in Erie are spoons behind jets or dipsey divers. I always ran spoons on my riggers too. deep diving cranks on boards with lead core or snap weights cant be ruled out either. My best speeds were 2.4 to 3 this time of year. Some times you have to adjust to see what they want, and also the spped can determine how much junk fish are caught. Ive had days where 2.4 caught alot of junk and 2.8 had no junk just eyes. Good luck.

[Priority1]

Crawler harnesses with inline weights or bottom bouncers will get the job done. If the cranks are doing the job go with it. You can cover more water pulling cranks. If the Walleye seem to have lock jaw give em the meat from .7 to 1.7 MPH.

[wolfe99]

Thanks for the help guys. Hopefully I can get into some next week, ill tell you what its a hard call because the Kings in Ontario are awsome right now! Hes lucky im a good friend ha ha

[redline04]

Kings versus eyes... yes, your a great friend. Good luck.

[wolfe99]

I think he knows this, but you run the Crawler harnesses off the riggers??

[Reel_Screamer]

I think he knows this, but you run the Crawler harnesses off the riggers??

You can but the most popular way is off and in-line or the big boards with bottom bouncers or in-line weights or snap weights...

[polaris]

A friend and I went walleye fishing on Erie the weekend of july 22,07 we caught 26 in 3 days. We used worm harness in black/purple. #3 setting 225ft out with dipsies, Down riggers down 50/60. Look for 65 deg water. We trolled in 80/100ft depths 1.5 to 2 mph. Went straight out of Barcelona, we had a recipe we used and it works. Its 1cup salad oil, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1tsp ground parsley and 1 tbls salt. Dip harness's and send them out, try not to get it in boat makes floor slippery. Worked great

[fishnfreak]

Give me a little bit of time and private message me and i will get a hold of Jeff Seyka who fishes all the flw walleye tourniess on lake erie he has a almost all the top pros in his back pocket as a dist for fishlander and churches , i will give you whats hot and whats not guarnteeeeeed.

[wolfe99]

Ok back from the trip and not so good. First thing that I noticed is that I didnt have boards with me and everyone was using them. I ran the dipsys off the rigger holders and ran 4 riggers. I think that I had to much out there. Are they running the dipsys off the boards? To spread the patterns out more?

[Priority1]

The boards will give you the spread. Some use the mini disc off the boards to get deeper. There are a number of ways to put the presentation in their face. In-line weights, Bottom bouncers, Pa's with harness rigged behind, Some rig a harness behind a crank bait. Jet divers will also work.

[wolfe99]

Can you use the #1 dipsy off the boards or do they pull to much? If you were going out how would you set up if you where in my boat lets say! This is what I have:

4 riggers

Dispsy rods (wire and Mono)

Boards.

Thanks

[Priority1]

A definite NO to the #1 Dipsey off the boards. Most use the BigJon mini discs.

If I was fishing with your boat I would take some rigger rods and splice about 300 ft of 10# mono to them. I run 2 oz bottom bouncers or in-line weights off the boards with crawler harnesses. You could also use snap weights. Bouncers can be effective right off the sides without being on boards. You could also run cranks off the boards. It would be best if you would go with someone, or have someone aboard that has fished for Walleye before. There are so many little things to fine tune a presentation. Speed should be about 1.7 or even less for crawlers, and about 2 to 2.5 for cranks. These speeds can be changed up. I try and run a zig-zag course. If on a turn you pick a fish up on the outside board, it could be an indication you are running too slow. If the fish come on the inside board on a turn, slow it down a bit. The speeds mentioned above are GPS SOG speed. Sonar paddle wheel speeds are not that dependable. You may want to try some smaller spoons off the riggers.

[wolfe99]

Thanks for the help Priority1. When you run the bottom bouncers off the boards you let the line out till it its bottom? We were fishing in about 85-100 foot of water, and I do use GPS speed. Man this is alot different then salmon fishing ha ha

[Priority1]

Wow! 100 FOW. I use these 2 oz bouncers in 20-40 FOW. Yes let em out till the hit bottom. You may want to go to 3oz or more fishing that deep. What you run will depend where the fish are in the water column. Bouncers can be run half way up as well as in-line weights. Fishing that deep your riggers should come in handy. If you are targeting fish over 40 ft down, you shouldn't have any trouble taking them on riggers. If you do run riggers check them often. Walleye will hit and swim with the boat. Even big fish will not always release. One of the reasons for running boards for walleye was the boat spooked them to the sides, in shallow water. The boards also spread out your presentation. When there are only 2 of us onboard I'll sometimes run 2 rods off the back and 2 off the sides with out boards. If you are only going to run a few rods in deep water, you may want to try it without boards.

[wolfe99]

I seen almost everyone out there running boards in the depth. I was woundering what they where running off the boards? And this was off of barcelona

[Storm Warning II]

Priority 1 is right, most walleye pros on the circuits will tell you 1 oz for every 10' of depth with bottom bouncers, however, there are always exceptions, ask Mark Martin about a certain Lake Erie tourney a few years ago, bangin' 6oz-ers! However, the fish they are going after in that depth are suspended. Usually from 40 to 65 down.

Boards in Barcelona (NY) they could be dragging 40 jets on wire, I doubt this time of year mini discs, lead core, plugs on monel wire, a myriad of choices. We usually fish a little further west in the east end of the central basin, but it is a very similar deep water fishery. Our fish are 50 to 60 down right now and mini discs are not very effective at these depths. You can achieve these with 40 jets on wire, plugs on wire or braid, and lead core.

[wolfe99]

Hay thanks for the help guys, Im looking to go back and give it another shot here real soon!!