Any walleye trollers

[BigVal]

I bought my first boat last year and I'm wondering if anyone on here is into trolling for eyes. I do a lot of jigging and driftin but am limited on trolling. Just looking for opinions on different styles like lead core and use of divers and that stuff as well as recommended lines, rods and reels. Thanks!

[Gencountyzeek]

I got into trolling this year. I'm on a budget when it comes to walleye...to much spent on whitetails. I use dipsy divers or jet divers. Alot of guys use leadcore and have good success. Worm harnesses and stick baits. I have 3 okuma line counter reels, and a cabelas brand that I won. Okuma are good reels for the price. I spent a decent amount on the depth finder. A Humminbird with built in gps for marking where ur getting fish. I can try and help more if u have more questions.

[turks]

I use lots of deep divers off boards, harnesses off triggers.  Guys swear by leadcore, haven't invested yet. Go to walleye.com then eastern lake Erie forum. Guys are very helpful, two of them will set you up with what ever u need

[BigVal]

Awesome thanks guys, I know it's early but I'm excited to strt buying some gear.

[shawnhu]

For walleye, I wouldn't go more than 17lb suffix leadcore.

X-Calibur Lighting Systems

http://facebook.com/XCaliburLightingSystems

[moose]

Hey big val.

You might want to go to lakeontariounited.com it's a fishing site just like this sight but it's about fishing. Just to give you some info....

[BigVal]

Hey big val.

You might want to go to lakeontariounited.com it's a fishing site just like this sight but it's about fishing. Just to give you some info....

Thanks a lot, will do

[Fishon]

I troll for walleyes with my kayak and i use snap weights from Off Shore tackle. This year im going to put a small downrigger on it this year.

[robw]

duplicate post deleted

Edited December 12, 2015 by robw

[robw]

I catch most of my eyes trolling.  With 2 guys in either a 16 or 20 ft boat we have basically 2 set ups depending on the depth.  We have a couple Okumas, and a bunch of Cabelas Depthmaster 3s  most with 30 of 40 lb braid main, 17 lb floro leaders

 

Less than 40 ft:

 

we use 1 pair of off shore in line planer boards, 1 each side, with a stick or a bottom bouncer harness, depending on what the fish want that day.  One rod off each side with a 3 oz sinker to bounce a harness or stick, and one rod straight back each with a 4 oz sinker to bounce another harness or stick

 

40 ft or deeper

 

  We add a downrigger instead of 3 oz weights, and run the planer boards line wayyy back to get them down to the fish, with a 4 oz weight

 

 

If we don't know what has been working where we fish, we'll have a big mix of sticks, harnesses, colors, depths until we catch a couple, then switch everything over to whats working until it doesn't, then repeat.

 

We have the most success (on Erie) with reef runners or Bay Rats in purple, if sticks are what they want.  Bay Rat purple wish was the best for me last season.

 

Harnesses worked best in Goby, brass, bronze or purple/black.  All are 2 hook and get a stinger hook to boot.

 

Learn to use your  electronics.  Most people just like to look at the pretty arches, but keeping track of things can set you up for a lot of success.  Look at the videos Lance Valentine sells ( no affiliation, he just does an excellent job) to teach set up, use and interpretation of your screens.  He has a seminar in Niagara Falls in Jan, I'll probably go, would suggest it to anyone

 

http://walleye101.com/electronics_dvd_s

 

We track, location, temp, speed, direction, catch, depth, among others, because the schools of fish move during the year.  Having a data set will help you find them.

 

As a starting point, we troll sw to ne at 1.4 - 1.5 mph depending on the wind.  and depth, and time of year

 

Good luck, find lots of fish, and many limit catches!

Edited December 12, 2015 by robw

[BigVal]

Wow thanks a lot everyone, great info. I will be fishing Erie our of Buffalo area and im sure the sp area. Also I'm sure I'll have more questions to pst here. Thanks again!

[Buckmaster7600]

Awesome thanks guys, I know it's early but I'm excited to strt buying some gear.

Early? Now is the best bite of the year, lead core and short coppers on the inline boards with spoons and rapalas are my favorites for the fall bite. Troll SLOW .8-1.3 this time of year

Edited December 17, 2015 by Buckmaster7600

[BigVal]

Unfortunately I put my boat in storage a few weeks ago due to my living situation right now I don't have a spot in the garage or yard right now. It'll be out in march.

[chas0218]

I troll for walleye from May until September and have been for 8 or 9 years on Lake Ontario. I haven't used leadcore or divers for walleye but do for Salmon and Trout. I used primarily deep divers. I used to run the Storm thunder sticks and thunder stick Jrs. but after being bought out by Rapala their quality has gone down the crapper and no longer carry my color patterns. 

 

Last year the Bay Rats proved themselves on Lake Ontario and caught just as many walleye and out produced many other baits. My other go to lure is Smithwick which are also becoming harder to find. Those are my spring baits, once the water starts to warm up I switch to Reef Runners.

 

Best prices I can find are on FishUSA.com great costumer service too.

 

Depending on the amount of lines I want to run depends on my setup. Usually in the Spring on guys weekend (4 people including myself) I will run My big planer boards and run 10 lines off them then 2 off down riggers sometimes I can get 12 lines on the big boards but only with a veteran crew.  If there are only 2 or 3 guys I will run inline 6 planer boards with 2 downriggers.

 

FYI if anyone is looking for a good set of inline planer boards with the strike indicator Cabelas has their Advanced Angler boards on sale. I have 8 of these boards and they work great. I have changed up the rear release on a few that have broke with the off shore releases but they are used a lot.

 

Rods I use are the Okuma GLT 8'-6" medium downrigger rods. I ran the depthmaster rods but they are cheap for a reason and break easily. They are a carbon/graphite composition so they are less durable to bumps, scratches, dings that will lead to failure.

 

Reels are the Okuma Magda pro 30 series. I have a few Cabelas depthmaster II reels and they do well the new ones look a lot like the Okuma Magda series.

Edited January 11, 2016 by chas0218

[chas0218]

These are a killer deal for the boards. I made my own strike indicators but paid the same price when they first came out.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/cabela-s-advanced-anglers-trade-planer-board-with-strike-flag-kit/1807049.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dadvanced%252Bangler%26x%3D10%26y%3D6%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%252BProducts&Ntt=advanced+angler