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| Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page] Regional Walleye Fishing -> Winnebago Walleyes -> Trolling on 'bago |
| Message Subject: Trolling on 'bago | |||
bevo |
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New User Posts: 1 | I started trolling on bago last year with limited time, knowledge, and success. The questions that I have is what is the best speed and size of lures to use? | ||
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| jerry |
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Member Posts: 2567 Location: Manitowoc, WI | Hi bevo and welcome, Your question is one that can be answered in many ways, depending on which lures your are presenting and what time of year you are fishing. I will try to cover as much as possible. In the spring, trolling on Winnebago, in my experience, is not the best presentation. I am sure there are days when it works great and it may be the best thing going, but my records show that the best method of fishing till about early May is jigging reefs. I have had some success trolling reef edges with small cranks like Rapalas, Little Rippers, #5 Shad Raps, and Baby Thundersticks, but day in an day out, jigging for fish that are coming off the spawn and in the prespawn mode has been my best presentation. If you do decide to troll for these fish, I suggest keeping your speed at around 1 mph GPS. Once the water temperature reaches 55-60 degrees, things start to change. More and more fish are coming back from the upriver spawn, baitfish are starting to make spawning migrations, and daylight is longer, thus warming the water faster. I like to work rock/mud transition areas, particularily the area just outside the mouth of the river in Oshkosh as it empties into Winnebago. The lures I select haven't changed much from the earlier selection, but I will also mix in some Deep Jr. Thundersticks and Deep Little Rippers. I start to increase my speed now, depending on what type of day it is. If it's a warming trend with a good chop, I like to work my lures at about 1.5 mph. If I start to trigger strikes at this speed, I will try it a little faster to see how aggressive the fish are. Trial and error is your best bet, not limiting yourself to being fixed on one speed. Once we get into late May/early June with water temps approaching 70 or higher, I start to work the mud more. The mud, as I refer to it, is the area outside of the reef and shoreline areas. It is the basin of the lake and encompasses a major portion of the lake. It is featureless to most, but I have found areas which fish seem to congregate every year. I like to cruise through an area at 10-15 mph, checking to see if there are any hooks in my usual mud spots. Once I locate these fish, I will setup with inline planer boards and an assortment of crankbaits. My favorites are Deep Nitro Shiners, Shad Raps, and Deep Little Rippers. Color varies from day to day, but I've found that the metallics are best for cloudy days and the natural colors are best for clear days. Speed also varies from day to day, as I usually run these lures at 1.5-2.0 mph, with an occasional burst up to 3 mph. I do this because I feel that, from time to time, fish will follow your lures for a long time, and this burst of speed will trigger more bites. Once the algae blooms and the heat of summer sets in, I like to switch to Winning Streaks, Hot n Tots, and Deep Little Rippers, in that order. I like to use white at this time, as I think it best imitates YOY white bass. I increase my speed up to 3 mph consistently, with some days being best at 2 mph and some best at 3 mph. Once again, vary your presentation and let the fish tell you what speed they want a lure at. Hope this answers some of your questions. If you hit upon something that wasn't covered here, let us know. Good luck. | ||
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| Dale |
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Member Posts: 874 Location: Neenah, WI | Hi Bevo and welcome. Jerry outlined things pretty well. I can only add that you shouldn't overlook crawler harnesses and snap weights. For starters you should get edition 7 of the Precision Trolling Guide. This is available at Scheel's, Gander Mountain and lots of bait shops for about 25 bucks. There's good advice in there about trolling not only cranks but live bait as well. Read it and do some experimenting. You just might develop a few new wrinkles of your own!!!!! Good luck to you. Stay in touch on the board and read the posts as open water fishing progresses. You'll learn a lot here and before you know it you'll be offering tips too. | ||
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| tyee |
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Member Posts: 1406 | Nice response Jerry, Didn't leave much room for discussion! I would offer this.........troll, troll, troll, troll........... get yourself a driver and a second mate, get 8 in-line planner boards Offshore seems more popular but there are some nice new "mini" boards out there that work great on #5 baits and spend countless hours......... then some more hours......running 4 boards to a side and switchin up constantly then do it some more........you'll get the hang of it within a few days, learn how to drop 'em back and real in without moving too many rods in the boat this will prevent tangles. Experiment with line out distances and some of the advice you read hear will help ALOT I never sit down when trolling for more than 5 minutes if I do its for a quick beverage and a bite of a sandwich. Good Luck Tyee P.S. It is so much fun fishing with big orange bobbers! | ||
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| Gillfisher |
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Member Posts: 16 Location: Oshkosh, Wisconsin | Jerry , Thank you for the info, I too started doing some walleye fishing this past fall with ahhhh, hate to admit it NO success. I did manage to hook into what I believe was a very large walleye one moon lit night on a rocky shoreline casting a #11 rapala, unfortunately my hook set wasnt good enough and he got off after a breif battle. The thumping the fish was doing made me think it was a walleye but I never got a look at it. Anyway I appreciate your sharing of info on the site. Some of us just need some guide to technique's, I for one dont want anyone's honey hole's told on the board, I have seen first hand the crowd of people that gather on a spot that got posted on a message board by someone trying to help out. It pretty much ruins the fishing experience for me, if I want to be in crowds I'll go to New York City. It would be great if a couple of the experienced guys would have a training outing on the big pond, let us trainee's chug along side you in our boats. ( Not on your spots of course ) | ||
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| Rick Larson |
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| Gillfisher, do know a few people who cast for walleyes from shore on 'bago at night. They generally target deeper water and only go if the wind has been been pounding the shoreline for a few days in a row. They use those larger baits like you mention and bring them in with a slow steady retrieve. | |||
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| Bhil |
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| Ok now that the crankbaits have been covered can someone provide info on spinner rigs, and when they start to work, best colors etc etc. Thanks in advance | |||
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