Hey guys, I am an avid fisherman but have never trolled shads or rapalas on mille lacs or on any lake period. I usually pull lindys n spinners for eyes. I was wandering if you guys could give me some pointers on how to go about it for the first time. What types of shads to pull, depths they’ll go to n the ideal speed for the hungry eyes. Any info would be greatly appreiated!!
I’ll be up there this weekend n would like to try it out.
Your normal shad raps, rs shad sizes #4 & 5. Natural colors on overcast days and bright colors on sunny days is usually a good place to start. You can pull them in all depths right now. For deeper water you will need leadcore or other weighted systems. Speed is a day to day thing but a starter would be 1.5mph and work S curves and see if the inside or outsides are getting bites and adjust. As the water gets warmer 2mph is common and sometimes up to 3.
I like having braid you can feel alot better with it and can know when you have crap on your line. I run 14# fireline. I run sr 5’s in 7-10 feet of water. Like said about you can run weights or lead core but thats a whole other conversation.
You can troll deep divers on long lines, or shallow divers/stick baits on your harness rigs (bottom bouncer, lindy no snag, walker, or 3 way).
For long lines I suggest 15-20# braided line, a small barrel swivel (small enough to go in the eyes), then a 6′ fluorocarbon leader to the bait. If you are fishing muddy water you can tie the braid right to the bait.
For bottom bouncers I use 30# braid, same with lindy rigs with cranks.
1.3-1.8mph is where I like to stay. If they are really hitting hard then I go up to 2+ but its sort of rare for me to troll that fast.
Good luck! It is a lot of trial and error to find out what they want and where they are.
Lead core is good go about three colors to start. I use the 50/50 system alot in the summer for suspended fish. #5 shad rap, 50′ of line 2 ounce snap weight, then another 50′ of line, then a planer board, sit back and troll. as for speed the fish will tell you what they want, lots of trial and error. S curves are a great way to figure out the speeds the walleyes want.
#5’s and #7’s are my go to sizes. But also like #9’s and #8 jointed and #7 flicker shads to. I run 10# fireline crystal on my long line rods. Braid will help you feel the action of the bait and let you know if it will foul up. On braid typically a #7 at 2 mph with 60 feet of line will run about 13 feet. When your learning try doing it on a gravel/small rock bottom, this is easy to feel to let you get the hang of running depths, lengths, and speeds and help shorten your learning curve.
Lead core is also another great technique but personally you should get the hang of long line trolling first. Leadcore can become extremely hard/frustrating to learn on due to its had to tell what your baits are doing. Learing with another method first will help your learing curve big time.
Trollers bible is worth it’s weight in platinum! Any info on depth a bait runs is in there along with some general info. I run daiwa accudepth reels with 10# fireline
I usually find that when the rigging bite has died and the spinner bite is dwindling, the trolling bite is rolling good.
Try not to get hung up on setting your lure to that “perfect” depth meaning that having to hug the bottom or needing to let out more line because you feel your lure is too far off the bottom. These fish will chase a lure from a long distance. Throw in “S” curves or stall by shifting into neutral on occasion to entice a strike.
Once the trolling bite is going later in the year, the fish are fat and sassy and have seen the spinners and rigs for 6 plus weeks. They are not necessarily hungry, but more often angry at the faster moveing cranks and will just pound them.
My go to is a blue SR5 and I also like the #4 and #5 Hornets. I run lead core; use the Bible for the dive curve for the length of the leader you using and add five feet of depth for every color let out at 2 MPH trolling speed.
Start perfecting your technique this weekend so you are set to go in late June, July and on to late summer. 
Awesome info guys!! Thanks a lot! Can’t wait to try it out this weekend
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