Mega Byte

I added new ball bearing swivels to all of my spinner/crawler rigs (which isn't a lot since I'm just starting out). It made a big difference. I only noticed a tangled crawler leader line come in once and we boxed 25 walleyes. Prior to that, our best was 12 fish. So I think it made a difference. Thanks for the help.

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We started out in 32 fow water just north of the green spark plug. We didn't mark much and only picked up 1 sheepshead and 1 walleye in an hour of trolling. We moved into shallower water to the west. We got into the walleye in 24.5 fow. We trolled back and forth over a 3 mile area. The bite was off and on at times, depending on the wind and sun. We ran crawlers on the bottom with copper color blades working best. We kept 25 walleye, 2 catfish and 2 perch. Threw back about 7 walleye, 8 sheepshead and a perch. We lost about a dozen fish due to poor rod handling techniques. Shout out to Cheap Limits for the Plan B location suggestion. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Thanks. We're going to give it a try on Saturday.

I've noticed that sometimes when I pull my crawler harnesses in at the end of the trip, they are all twisted up. So from the point where they attach to the bottom bouncer and back the line is all twisted up like the swivel isn't working. Is it like this underwater when I am trolling or just because I may be reeling it in fast and that blade is spinning and there is more pressure on the swivel and it isn't turning? I'm trying to decide if I need to cut off all my swivels and replace them with ball bearing swivels, or if it's just a fast retrieve at the end of the trip that is causing the issue. I guess I could do a slow retrieve at the end of the trip and see if that makes a difference, but if I need to replace swivels, I'd like to do it before my next trip. Thoughts from anybody?

We fished from Pt. Au Gres and north to roughly the opening of the pier in 34' of water. Most of the boats we saw were in much deeper water, so we were kind of by ourselves for a while. It was hot, flat calm and sunny. We picked away at them for a few hours and managed to boat a dozen nice walleyes. I ran a reef runner, 2 flicker minnows and the other 5 lines were crawlers on the bottom. We caught 3 fish on the lures and the rest came on crawlers. The lures that took fish were 150' behind the board and 135' back behind the board. The crawlers were back 70 feet. After a while, we had gone about an hour without hit so we decided to pull lines and try it in close. Someone on the radio said they had limited out in 17 fow on hot-n-tots and since we were planning to fish on Sunday, we thought we'd try it shallow and see if it was any different. It was. We trolled a combination of crawlers, hot-n-tots and our existing baits that caught fish earlier in the day and we didn't get a hit. We also didn't graph much in there. Sunday was a little too rough for my liking and after venturing out to check the waves, we decided not to fish.

You say "bags" - so plural. I would think with two 48" bags you should be able to get down below 2 mph, unless you are running a big diesel without trolling valves installed in it. I've got a 250 HP Mercury outboard on my Proline 251, and my two 48" bags get me down to 0.9. One bag got me down to 1.3ish. Most guys run their bags hooked to the mid and rear cleats on their boats. But I think the 48 inch bags are relatively newer. I found was able to reduce my speed more when the bags were hooked to the front side cleats and given a longer lead line to the front of the bag. The center of the 48" bag needs to be lower in the water than the center of the common 36" bag. I think the angle afforded by the longer lead line helped it open up better and allowed me to place it beside my boat where I was told they should run. I also found the depth of the output end of the bag would affect my speed. I did my experimenting with the bags on a dead calm day so nothing was affected by the wind or waves. This is my first year trying to pick up walleye fishing so I'm in a similar learning stage as you. Good luck!

Help a new guy out....what makes the walleye decide to get into that skinny water? This is my first year fishing walleye and we started in mid-April over structure. The fish seemed to have gradually worked their way deeper since then, but I haven't been out in a couple of weeks. The last time I was out we got them in 30 fow. I fish out of Au Gres. I am trying to understand what made you decide to go in so shallow and why the fish would be there. I have heard similar reports on the west side too, that the fish were in shallower water. Not single digit shallow but significantly shallower than 30. Thanks for the report.

Thanks for the post. We made the run over there on Saturday, but then the wind and waves picked up so we headed back to the west side of the bay where it was calm. I'm hoping to get out there this weekend, but I don't know if the weather will allow it. We'll see.

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We were 5 - 7 tonight. We will give it a go in the am. Nice job today. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Slow bite today. Took 6 walleyes off Whitestone Point in 8 hours of fishing. 18 to 25 fow. All on stick baits. No crawler hits. Surface temp was 40 degrees. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

I got this in my email. I don't need the rod holders but the prices were so darn good I thought I'd share. Rod Holders I'm not selling these so don't contact me to buy them. Just seemed like a great deal.

It's not cheap, but it's here in west MI and it holds world class whitetails. This is my brother's place. http://www.superiorwhitetails.com/private-lease.html https://youtu.be/Ww7Yiegge8E

How deep were your laker baits in 250 fow? I have only fished them right above the bottom.

Surface temp was 67 out there. It was around 58 at 80 feet down. Around 60 at 70 feet down if I remember correctly.

1 for 4 tonight. The the wire diver went off twice in 15 min and the wire kept getting stuck at the top pulley and wouldn't reel in. Lost fish both times. Misses: ● 100 Cu in 250 fow dbl orange crush Rest were in 220 fow: ● Wire diver on 1.5 back 140: greenish dark blue SD and fly (mono broke, bait & fish lost) ● Same wire diver back 140: spotted dick paddle and meat rig ● rigger down 80, greenish yellow mag spoon (landed a steelhead) Orange was working well for guys. Someone was 6 for 6 in 250 fow. Others where like us and catching them around 220. Troll direction didn't seem to matter. Speed was around 2.7 at the ball.