A few questions for you walleye tourney guys

I’ve been watching the walleye tournament guys for a few weeks now and have been out there fishing everynight with my daughter for the last 3 weeks with no luck. We just got a small fishing boat and live right in lakeland so it’s real convenient for us to hop on the river. Just want to introduce myself to the forum. I’m on here for some learning and to post our fishing storys So I have a few questions for you guys I don’t need to know the secret spots ( I’ve tryed following you guys from the launch but your boats are way faster than mine:). )
questions #1 Lead core line for trolling will this line pull any rapala to the depth you want or do you still need to get a 15,20,30ft depth lures? I picked up some core and trolled with it tonight with a berkly flicker rap that dives to 13 ft and it seemed like it still ran about 13ft. I switched to a 15ft, 20ft , and 30ft rapala and they all seemed to goto the depth their made for I was maybe trolling 2-3 mph. I’ve been reading your guys posts and it seems pretty popular am I using it right? What is it’s purpose?
Questions#2 Is it a wast of time to jig for these guys on the river? I’ve tryed minnows ,crawlers, and leaches with jigging and crawler harnesses no luck. Fishing in 18-35ft of water and marking tons of fish in the deeper water. Are we on the right track?
Questions #3 I’ve seen a few of you guys use the term crank baits. Are you guys casting and retrieving? Or are you just trolling them? I seen Jesse Krook post he was using tigerfire colors so I went and bought 8 different styles and depths and no luck.
Like I said you guys I’m not here to hurt anyones feelings or want to know the secret spots. I totally understand your years of pain to discover what you guys know. Just looking for a few pointers in fishing education from the pros.

Thanks for listening guys
Chad

Welcome and expect more than a few posts.

Hey Chad, welcome! I am not a St. Croix guy but have ran leadcore for YEARS on the sipp.

#1 Use 18lb leadcore.
#2A Use a leader of mono or fireline about 6-8 ft long from your leadcore line.
#2B When connecting the leader- bend the leadcore about 6 inches from the end-break the lead out of the inside-pull it out- and then connect the mono or fireline to the material that is/was wrapped around the lead you just removed from the line.
#3 Use a double uni knot to connect the lines, and then put a berkely cross-lock snap on to connect the lure.
#4 Get line counters-even when the bite is good on the croix and sipp- you have to be dialed to do any real damage.
#5 Stick to 2 mph when starting out- otherwise your lures are all over the place. Once you get crafty, there are some cool things you can do-
#6 Yes you can troll any lure to any depth with leadcore- but your depth is speed dependant, and some lures are still going to dig a little deeper than others. Takes time, be patient.
#7 With 18lb leadcore, at 2mph, take the depth you want to fish times 5-If you want to fish 10 feet of water, let out 50 feet of line on the counter and you will be in their face.
#8 have fun- find a way to regulate speed.

This should be a good starting point for you!

You should buy the trolling precision book it will give all info you need down to each lure, because different lures will run at different depths depending on 4 things. Your speed, lure design, line diameter, and how much line you have out.

Me I prefer pitching jigs with plastics like the moxies or power grubs and and workin around wing dams but it’s a personal preference but definitely buy that book. Hope this helps ya at least a little bit and welcome to ido

Welcome to IDO and thanks for the post!

Here’s a start. Leadcore line. Assuming it is the kind with a new color every 10 yards, this line alone will get you 5 feet of depth for every color out at 2 mph. So if you want to troll a shallow shad rap or original floater for instance at 20 feet down, you need to put 4 colors (120 feet) into the water and keep speed around 2 mph. The slower the speed the deeper the leadline drops. Faster speeds the higher it rides in water due to line drag. Make sense? Some guys use up to 50 feet of mono leaders, some don’t. I’m in the latter group. For those running mono leaders of any length, the diving lures will take the line deeper. I’ll let the experts finish this thought.

As for jigging walleye, yes, it’s very effective but generally from the opener to early June. I’m sure some do it all year long, but generally early in year and later in the fall.

Here’s a tip to get you started on the croix. Nightcrawlers! All year! Not the typical theory of “once the water warms up”…..bs on the croix, all year!

I’m sure others will chime in to get you started and talk about Jesse’s love of firetiger. Just don’t fish by any bridges!!

ET

The St. Croix is a beautiful river but it tends to be hard to fish at times. If you are serious about learning to fish it then I might suggest you hire a guide for a day. You can learn more in a day fishing with a good guide than you will learn in a couple years on your own. Turk here on the site knows the Croix and a day of his time would be an investment in your fishing future. I don’t fish the St. Croix much anymore but when I did I caught alot of fish on jigs and crawlers. Rip Rap shorelines that drop off to deep water held fish but plan on losing alot of jigs. I am sure you will get alot better information from the guys that fish your area. There is a learning curve in anything you do so pay attention to details and enjoy the time on the water with your daughter and any fish is a bonus. Good luck to you and if you figure out the St. Croix let me know—it still kicks my butt whenever I go there.

Welcome to IDO

Here is a great article about pulling core

Lead core

I don’t have a bunch of time rite now but I will start by telling you welcome to IDO

Quick and easy at 24-26 FOW which is a very productive depth for me I run 170-200 feet of lead core out depending on lure dive and boat speeds, assuring that my lure is very near if not banging the bottom. You can also achieve these depths with a lot less line if you run a 3 way setup or snap weights. As for the firetiger if it’s on or near the bottom your bound to catch something on it Gotta go, will be back later with a more detailed answer PS last night the bite was tough 10 boats = 40 lines in the water and only 2 fish were brought in

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Like I said you guys I’m not here to hurt anyones feelings or want to know the secret spots. I totally understand your years of pain to discover what you guys know. Just looking for a few pointers in fishing education from the pros.

Thanks for listening guys
Chad

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Chad:

As you can already tell, there are plenty of guys here that are happy to pass on their knowledge!!! I have been a member almost 10 years now and I have watched kids grow and hone their fishing skills now to the point where they are helping answer questions. I am still watching that passing of the torch. I still come here on a daily basis hoping to help and wanting to learn, its a great place to comfortably do that!!!

Mark

Thanks you guys! I’m heading out right now. My neighbor told me to try the east side of the river across from afton I’ll post my results when I get back

Nice article thanks

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Here is a great article about pulling core

Lead core

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BTW-no “tourney guys” needed to answer this post. Your on IDO for crying outloud.

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BTW-no “tourney guys” needed to answer this post. Your on IDO for crying outloud.

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Snap weights work well on the croix as well! Little eaiser to tell where your at sometimes. You could try that if the leadcore don’t work for you.

Hey Chad look at the upper right side of your screen by your log in name, see the little envelope flashing ? Click on it

Take everything in Jesse’s PM and do the opposite, espcially the trolling downstream part, it never works.

A bunch of you guys sent me pm”s with great info thank you all. Last nights fishing turned up nothing Launched in hudson fished the east side of the river to the sand bar across from aftons launch. Tonight I’m going to head around the bend a keep heading south. Tryed out trolling the core line going to take some getting used too

Well I did it! My first walleye off the Croix Trolling the lead core skipping the lure off of a point a little south of Afton about 8 30 pm last night BAM 15 3/4 walleye. Otis eyes recommended trying a hot n tot storm lure and thats what I picked it up on. Thanks Otis eyes! I’ll try and put the pic on

way to go

Cool Nice job helpin him out Wes