Inland lake walleye fishing program?

[Jimbos]

It's time to start filling in gaps in my arsenal for the inland lake walleyes. While chasing eyes for years and years on the Great Lakes, i'm pretty much a novice on the inland lakes. This is what I had in mind running once the water warms up, after the slow presentation season, and they start chasing lures and harnesses. I'm assuming inland lake eyes are not big into suspending in the column as Erie eyes are or where known to do. Let's assume 12-20 foot depth.

1. 4 inline planers
2. 4 levelwind counter types reels, with appropiate 7 foot rods.

1.outside right rod- hot and tot or thunderstick, or deep running rap.
2.inside right rod-crawler harness, with a 3-4 oz bottom bouning weight.
3.inside left rod-crawler harness, with an inline weight clipped on, with the weight varied depending on depth desired.
4.outside left rod-crankbait, could be a normal rapala size 7-9-11's with a inline clip on weight of varies size to keep the lure running 2-3 feet above the bottom.

I'm assuming chartreuse, black/gold,blue/silver, and some orange colors.

You all have any other ideas on crankbaits, or on the set-up? Trolling ideas? I'm heading out early next week for the stock up. I'm also assuming the harnesses and the cranks will work in conjunction with each other being trolled 1-2 m.p.h.

[east bay ed]

i don't usually fish live bait and cranks at the same time due to the fact that i fish live bait at .5 to 1 mph and cranks at .75 to 2 mph. i am not saying this is the only way to do it , just what i have had the best luck at. also my rule of thumb for bottom bouncers is 1 oz. for every 10' of water.
i also preffer to hold my bottom bouncer rod in my hand whenever i can. i use a stiff graphite 6' 6" rod with a fast tip spolled with fireline for my bottom bouncers.
i tend to fish very methodically. i start slow then work a area if i see fish on the graph. start with live bait if they are on the bottom and go from there. if they are suspended or i am not marking much i will fish cranks high and slow and work from there.

[Jimbos]

Ed, in your experience will walleyes suspend in these northern lakes, or do to water clairity it's a hugging bottom type of deal. I guess it wouldn't be out of the question to find them suspended down 30-40 feet over 60 in the middle of summer, eh? Generally speaking of course.

[Walleye123]

I dont troll I like to throw...I like to find weedy drop offs. Jig and minnow or Rapalas close to the bottom... The reason I dont troll I seem to catch a lot of pike that way and I dont like pike, but they are a good fight, I do get mad when they steal from me.

[suckerbass]

Ed, you and I should go fishing some time:D Your program sounds just like mine only I start fast and try for the active fish first and then slow down if nothings going. I do like a little longer rod for bottom bouncers and rigging, maby a 7' - 7'6" but I do love graphite and fire line. Last spring I started using bottom bouncers and floating stick baits at .5-1.5 mixed in with live bait and did well with that. I used 8' leaders in 10# mono to the rapalas.

[Jimbos]

Well I just spent 650 bucks at Cabelas yesterday rigging up for nothing but inland walleye. I had quite a bit but you know how it is. :)

[STEINFISHSKI]

I'm going to try downriggers this spring for shallow sticks and crawler harnesses. Also the mini divers and Scorpion spoons will get some time in.

Deep divers are also going to get plenty of use. The glass Jerks are available for 2004 in a deep diver model. There's another $150 for all sizes and colors.:D Adjust the running depth by letting more or less line out.

I'll stick with the shallow runners and deep jerks until 40-45 degrees water temp, then switch over to tots and harnesses.

Stop and cast to those areas you cannot cover trolling.

Best tool I have is a good bow mount electric.

[ESOX]

Leech on a lindy rig backtrolled around the primary break is usually pretty good for me up there in the middle of the day. At night I'll run floating rapalas, perch or black/silver behind boards and on flatlines over feeding flats. I don't use any special gear, just my 7-7 1/2' bass rigs. Leeches are almost impossible to find at the bait shop, but a quick trip into a marsh will yield plenty of them.

[Jimbos]

At night I'll run floating rapalas, perch or black/silver behind boards and on flatlines over feeding flats.
Yep, I was thinking the samething. Something about the nighttime stuff that really gets the juices flowing.

[ESOX]

Gets the juices flowing is an understatement :cool:, and on lakes with a lot of pleasure boat traffic, it is usually much more productive.

[scottyhoover]

80% of my summer fishing is walleye trolling on mott lake or holloway (flint river impoundments) that are not much deeper than 20ft at the most. Your set up sounds good. On my small lakes I usually run 2 BBs down the chute to keep them where I want them centered in a river channel, and then run 2 cranks on inlines to run the edge of the channel. This is all pretty specific to my lakes. On a bigger lake I usually start with 4 cranks spread up and down to cover water vertically. All depends on the day, one thing about inland lakes in the summer is that they are usually beat to death by skiers and jet skis, so I found last year I had to really get my cranks close to the bottom to get fish, which will mean donating a few expensive reef runners and tots to the lake bottom.

Jimbo, get some Reef Runner Ripshad you will like them, great crank, can pull it slow and still get the action, dives to 16ft with no snap weights. They are notoriously out of tune out of box though.

Who here knows a lot about trolling harnesses on inline weights? I had some guys really harping on me the other day to go to inline weights, say they catch a lot more fish on the bay with them, something to do with acheiving depth and angle at the same time?

Nighttime in May is a great time to break out #7 floating raps with inline boards and cover shallow bays 4-10fow. #7 jointed floating raps are my first choice for my home lake which is generally less than 14ft deep, I actually end up pulling the #7 floating with a single split shot to get it down just a little more. Jointed 7s run good at .75 - 1mph too, good for when the water is still cold.

Hubbard lake is a whole different ball game.....they don't make lakes that deep down here!

Esox, I also love to backtroll a tight edge with a leech or crawler...helps when there is too many boats trolling ...or the fish just don't seem to chase much. Great tip there....and for some of us with small boats and transom mounts...backtrolling is a the only way to actually have some sense of control.

My wallet starts hurting just thinking about the load of glass shad I want to order. Ugh.

[Jimbos]

Thanks Scotty....Yep, you seen what my thinking was trying to cover the water column vertically as well as spread out. But being a dingy water Erie fisherman I think I may be used to suspending walleyes, were as that's not the case on these up north bigger water lakes, where water clarity has them hugging structure. I figured that's where the snap on inline weights would come in handy.

[east bay ed]

another thing when you start talking about heavy traffic areas don't forget to check those shallow weed beds. a lot of times the pleasure boaters will push the bait and walleye into shallow water cover. we did well fishing a tournament last year in a lake that had a good amount of pleasure boat traffic catching walleye in about 6' to 8' of water in the end of july.

esox, i can't belive you have trouble getting leeches in bait shops. must be a down state thing? every bait shop and some of the party stores around here all have leeches. a controlled drift with a phelps floater or lindy rig and some leeches is usually deadly for cold water walleyes. i will also run what we call a plain rig. a single bead and a hook with a crawler hooked so it runs straight hooked to a bottom bouncer and just crawling along the breaks. especially inside corners.
another cool weather program is a slip float and a small jig with a leech or minnow and let it slowly drift up a sharp break.

i use a lot of snap weights primarily because i already know based on the precision trolling book what depth i will be running.

you guys are killing me with this talk.

[scottyhoover]

I cant get leeches either right now. see my post in sound off "leeches...venting"

[Jimbos]

you guys are killing me with this talk
Yep, the drooling factor is starting to kick in....lol......I've taken to studying topo maps thinking where i'll be jigging or drifting on or near the opener.:)

[east bay ed]

scotty,
it's frickin winter out man. i thought you guys ment like spring and summer. as cold as the water is you could just cut a piece of liver and use that. a leech in this cold of water is just going to ball up anyway.
i dont start using them until the water get above 46 degrees. still pretty darn cold if you ask me.

i already know where i will be for the opener, work. but plan is to hit the detroit by the 6th or 7th of april. then if we get into the mwt tourney that should mean a additional 5 days on the river.

[scottyhoover]

Ed we are feeling spring right now though! Look at all this trolling talk that got started this week.

[Jimbos]

Yep, this weather has really gotten me going. Grass, I can see grass. I'm waiting for the posts to start on how to get out of the Lake Erie Metro Park launch without the bouys being in place yet.:)

[ESOX]

UH- maybe a compass and a chart? How about a mapping GPS with the appropriate software?
Nah too easy.;)

[Jimbos]

It's real shallow Paul, especially if the water blows out with a south wind. There's a marked channel but they usually don't put the bouys in until the middle of April. It's simple though.....Drop the boat in, trim the motor up, and point the bow at the southern tip of Celeron Island, and you in the channel.
You get guys from all over fishing down there, and it can get shallow.

[suckerbass]

Whats the chance of geting out on the detroit river this weakend? I know I am jumping the gun but if its 52* out I am going to have a hard time staying home. Last year I whent out March 28th and got a 12# 7oz er. This year has not been as cold and I am just hoping for an earlier start. I feel like a kid on December 20th looking at the christmas tree and all the presents knowing I still gota wait!

[Jimbos]

Get a hold of Andy Capp, he'll know how the launches are doing and the flows if any are coming down yet. Those dudes that flipped the 14 footer had of put in someplace.

[kroppe]

suckerbass,

The river is wide open, I checked it out at Southfield/Jefferson today. The question is where to launch? The Ecorse launch was closed, not sure where you would launch this time of year? Is Elizabeth Park open yet?

[Jimbos]

Elizabeth park normally opens April 1st. If anyplace would be open I would say it's the launch in Wyandotte on Biddle.

Here ya go, I just remembered they have a web-site.

http://www.wbramp.com/