Knapp: Fishing for walleye as summer turns to fall in a variety of conditions
The 8-foot trolling rod bent into a deep curve, telegraphing the presence of a good-sized fish.
My buddy Art yanked the outfit from its rod holder and began slowly gathering up line on the trolling reel. After a couple boatside dives, I was able to secure the 20-plus-inch walleye in the rubbery bag of the landing net.
This incident took place last week on the lower Allegheny River, where navigation dams impound the river into a series of impoundments. Walleye fishing can be good on this section of the Allegheny, but in my experience the best action takes place during the late fall through early spring time frame, when fish pile up in the deeper, current-protected holes. It’s a situation tailor mode for jigging, since the fish are confined to a relatively small area.
Come summer, however, odds are walleyes will be scattered throughout the river. Flows are typically low, water temperatures high. The fish have much more freedom, rather than being limited to low current areas due to wintertime’s low metabolism. As such, cover-the-water tactics like trolling excel.
Walleyes are adaptable fish, having the potential to prosper in the variety of watery environments. For instance, on Lake Erie it’s common to catch fish suspended over open water. In rivers, though, the fish tend to be bottom oriented. Trolling, while using leadcore line, is an effective way of putting a bait in front of fish.
During our recent river outing, Art and I landed one other nice walleye, plus a big channel cat, along with several smallmouth bass and yellow perch. We also located a river-submerged tree, where we jigged up several smaller walleyes. That’s a great thing about trolling. While doing it you often locate fish-holding cover that can be examined further later on.
Getting back to leadcore line, for those unfamiliar it’s a line consisting of a tiny strand of lead surrounded by a nylon jacket. In use, it’s essentially a continuous sinker, allowing you to accurately place a lure at a specific depth but controlling the amount of line let out as well as the speed of the boat.
For instance, when fishing a Storm Hot-n-Tot, putting out 65 feet of line would place the bait down 14 feet when moving around 2.25 mph. More line would have allowed the lure to run deeper. So would slowing down the boat. Naturally, the opposite is true with less line and a faster boat speed.
Leadcore trolling can be precise, but it does require constant monitoring of these factors and willingness to let out and take in line in response to depth changes.
I used 14-foot depths as an example since most of the walleyes I’ve taken during summer trolling have been in and around this depth.
Here are some other observations: I catch them trolling upriver, against the current, not when trolling downriver. Maybe this is because you have to troll faster going with the current to get the lure to work properly, faster than the fish prefer. Going 2 to 2.25 mph seems to be the optimal speed.
While leadcore line is color coded — color change every 10 yards — line counter reels provide a more precise way of controlling line let out. Since leadcore line is bulky, large-diameter reels are necessary. High action lures work best in the summer. I’m partial to Hot-n-Tots and Rapala Taildancers in bright colors.
I like to place the rod in a rod holder, keeping a close watch on the tip. With a high action lure you can “read” the vibration of the bait. If the rod tip is dead, you might have picked up a weed or a small fish.
In either case, wind in and check things out. If the lure is not working right it can twist the line, creating a major mess.
Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle
