Three-Way Rigging for Walleye

[puckster_guy]

 I love this discussion. I'm an unabashed troller. I love cruising along the shore dodging rocks and stumps. The scenery always changes and I find the rock formations that make up the shoreline on Kipawa, just stunning. I learned to troll on Georgian Bay where it's all too often too windy and choppy to still fish. you can troll slower then drifting lol. As well I'd rather catch 5 larger walleye or pike on a long line, (I keep the lures a ways behind the boat. It isolates the lure from the boat.) Then 30 smaller ones jigging.I got some amazing fish trolling a deep diving shad rap, 20 feet down in 30-40 foot depths. The best part??? I don't have to put my beer down till after I catch a fish. the ultimate in multi-tasking drink beer while fishing. Trolling is the best of both worlds.
Btw this is a thread I was involved in on the Ontario Out of Doors forum. we discussed some deep trolling methods. Kipawa came up. check it out. http://www.oodmag.com/community/showthread.php?58962-really-deep-diving-crankbaits

[johnny walleye]

I have always trolled,because that's how I grew up. So I troll and troll some more.I think jigging puts as many fish in the boat just not in my comfort zone. I always try to mix it up when you not putting fish in the boat.

[Jay Thomas]

But I believe that the pod of 15 fish you see on your electronics is actually more like 150 or more when considering the 'metro area' of where you are marking them.

Todd, it's difficult for me to grasp that concept. Here's why. I'm going to describe my experience last fall at a particular location on one of the lakes I fish. I was back trolling a bottom bouncer and spinner harness with a crawler in 26 FOW looking for walleye. When my electronics displayed a nice pod of walleye (about 10 walleye grouped close together) I threw out a marker buoy. I continued to back troll in the area searching different depths for more pods of walleye. I found a second similar sized pod of walleye within a 100 feet of the marker buoy in 36 FOW. I threw out a second marker buoy. I then back trolled in and around those two marker buoys trying to pick up a few walleye. My electronics did not display any other walleye other than those two pods.

While I understand that my electronics only provided feedback on 9 to 12 feet of the water column (1/3 depth of water), I criss-crossed the area around the two marker buoys enough to satisfy myself that the walleye were only in those 2 locations. I then jigged both pods of walleye. Not surprisingly, I caught more walleye jigging those two locations than back trolling because my bait was in the strike zone much longer.

Rightfully or not, I put a lot of faith in what my display shows me.

Jay

[T-Bone]

Sounds like a good plan...and it clearly works as it did for you there. I'm really quite the opposite. I don't trust what I "see" on the screen as walleye, or perch, or other forage, or Ogopogo. I look more at the bottom and what THAT looks like...find the high-percentage "lanes" where the 'eyes should be moving up and down on the structure and pound them out. Once you ID those lanes, just go back there at the right time given the right conditions, and wait for rush hour to start, peak, and die-down. Happens every time...just like real rush hour in the city...

I love fishing...

115....

[fishtildark]

Puckster, your multi tasking comment reminds me of how Jeff Foxworthy may describe my trolling... if you can be happy trolling the outboard, watching the fish finder, handling your trolling road with a beer and a cigar in your free hand, you might be a redneck. While there may be an occasional spilled beer from setting the hook , it all becomes second nature a couple days in to the trip.. :oh, that reminds me ... 61 days. Sam

[Calicofishing]

This rig has been around since the 1950s and was very popular in Lake Erie. I have used the rig in Quebec starting in 1961 and works well in an uneven bottom. We used the 3 way swivel and used a lighter line on the weight so if you got hung up you would only loose the weight