Big Stone this Weekend

Going to Big Stone this weekend targeting walleyes and need some help. I have tried pulling spinners here before, and have not had much luck. At the same time I have friends who do well pulling spinners during the same time frame which tells me I must be doing something wrong. Any tips or help someone can give me would be HUGELY appreciated.

Thanks,
Folke

Got a buddy with a place on Traverse, he fishes primarily Gil’s. Finds the big rocks, the size of VW’s and drops his line down in the holes between them. Some of the gils he catches are so big they don’t even look like panfish.

He does catch walleyes when he is fishing for the gils.

Here’s my report when I went back home a couple weeks ago. Have no clue about what the weed growth looks like now but if I pull spinners out there, I’m tight to a weed line that’s close to any shoreline. Best ones you can find are wind blown and in bays, near points or by islands.

If you pull cranks, you don’t have to be as close to the weed line but I like to be near it, something to relate to. You’ll also see plenty of people pulling cranks right down the middle and that will catch fish to.

Hope this helps, good luck.

If you wanna catch the walleyes you’re going to have to go into the weeds. I hate walleye fishing the lake right now because of all the weeds but that is where the fish are at. The water is also very clear so I would be using planer boards to get the rigs away from the boat.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and advise. Any idea of trolling speed, size of bottom bouncer, or should I be going with an “in-line” bullet sinker? Would you recommend trolling the weed edge, or across the tops? Sorry for all the questions, but still learning this pulling spinners thing.

Folke

I would try both above and next to the weeds. I generally pull a heavy bouncer 1.5 oz and go from 1.0-1.3 MPH. Some guys go faster and some slower. When going over the tops of weeds a lighter bouncer might help to pull over the weeds without dropping into them.

I use 1oz or 1.5oz bouncers, stay outside and go from 1.0mph – 1.7mph. Spinners tend to blow out for me around the 1.7 mark and if I’m moving that fast, I want to use cranks anyway. You can try fishing over top with a 1/8oz bullet sinker if you find the right weed bed, never hurts to experiment.

Thanks again for everyone’s insights and tips. I really do appreciate it. I will report back (hopefully) my success or failures.

So, Fished Last Saturday from 9-3. The wind had blown huge weed clumps down the lake from the north end. Only found 1 spot off a point that wasn’t weeds form the lake floor to 1 foot below the boat. Had to stop 3 different times to clean weeds off the propeller of my main motor while trying to move from 1 spot to another. Only 1 fish caught on a gold spinner w/ green beads. Talked to a few others who agreed, with the weeds right now the lake is mostly unfishable.

I do want to thank everyone again for all their tips and advise.

Folke