Trolling Techniques for River Walleyes

So I need some help of catching walleyes in the river while pulling crankbaits. Yes I have caught fish jigging, but now I would like to get into trolling crankbaits for those eyes. This time of year FOW, should you troll upstream or downstream, etc. I only have a trolling motor for my boat and my 200 most of the time can’t get to trolling very good goes too fast I think. I am thinking about getting a kicker but need to save some money for it.
Give me some ideas or pointers if you want to share.

Buying some smaller drift socks for the rear corners to control the speed of the 200 for upstream may be a good start till you have kicker cash. Troller downstream should work alright but each flow is different.

Pulling up stream will be most effective because you will ho slower. For the most part trolling between 2 mph and 2.5 mph is best. If you can’t go that slow try trimming your motor up more to slow down. It makes boat control a little more difficult but it will work until you save your cash up. I prefer braided line when trolling cranks. Fire line to be exact
You can get your baits down with less line and you can feel and tell when you get weeds on your cranks.
Good luck!

Long line trolling is a favorite of mine. Braid line like power pro to a clip. Makes for easy changing of the crank baits. Flicker shads or the new storm smash shads are great trolling lures for this just make sure they are running straight.

I mostly troll in depths less than 12′. Just cast that crank bait out and let out enough line until its ticking bottom. To much line and you are just trolling for snags. Keep that rod in your hand so you can feel what is going on with the lure and when the fish bite. Keep surging that rod forward and back to trigger those fish to hit.

For areas in the higher flow right now look at side channels where the current has swept the soft mud away and left hard bottom. Main channel rip rap shorelines are good to. Even with a lot of flow on them there is still plenty of rocks for them to hid behind. I would bet just about any rocky shoreline with some deeper water near it would be holding fish right now. Most of the time you are running the boat pretty close to shore in these areas.

Surging the boat speed is also a good way to trigger bites. I like to run 1.5 to 2mph for trolling but am always surging my trolling speed. Even coming to a complete stop or drifting backwards on key spots. Sometimes those fish dont want those cranks moving at all.

Red or blue for colors.

For controlling your speed, drop your bow trolling motor in and face it backward. You can run your trolling motor at slow speeds to really dial in your speed.

Also trim your main motor up and down to control speed as well. i find that all the way down gives the slowest speed and the best control.

How close to bottom are you guys getting when trolling cranks? I know jiggin I gotta be close but am too afraid to crank BC every time I’ve tried I lose $20 in cranks on about an hour and I call it after that. Will the vibration bring them up and out a little more than other presentations?

Occasionally ticking bottom is what you want and if you are in sand you can plow into the bottom. So I would say you want to be a foot or less of the bottom most of the time. Seems to me that a lot of my fish hit right after my lure ticks bottom. The lure will do a pause then an erratic move which seems to trigger bites. Good luck!

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The motor control that all of have suggested are great ideas that I am going to try and never though about.

So can any explain the difference and what is better trolling upstream or downstream.

As mentioned earlier, trolling up stream can help you slow your boat, and the baits get much more action being as they are working agsinst the flow. Going down stream you’ll, at times, have to go much faster to get the proper bait action and they can do some strange things in higher flow/current. Not that it can’t or isn’t done, but I noramlly troll up, rig down, or I’ll 3 way troll back down.
There’a alot of trial and error, and you’ll know when you getting it right… fish-on

I will say that a lot of my biggest fish come trolling downstream, but I’m usually moving fast, and when you get snagged, you’re probably going to lose your crank. I also catch about 1/4 the fish going downstream compared to up, just for some reason the size seems better.

So as I am looking for quantity right now to get the hang of it it sounds like going up stream is the way to do it. Once accomplished then its about QUALITY HUGE EYES I know good luck

Both up river and down is good. It really depends on the area. Trolling down river in the rocks or logs you better be on your A game or you will donate a lot of cranks.

Also trolling down river you do not need to speed way up. Most of the time I slow way down. Kick the motor in and out of gear to just move a tad faster than the current. This will drive the lures down to the bottom in a hurry. You also shorten up the amount of line you have out running down river. Even with this i would get the hang of trolling up river before trying down.

Dont worry to much about loosing cranks while trolling in the river. Its going to happen. Find good cheap cranks like the flicker shad or smash shads and buy a lot when on sale. Im not to heartbroken if I loose a half dozen $3 cranks in a day. Thats about the same price I would’ve spent on live bait or maybe even less depending on what the bait is.

If you get snagged up drop your line back right away to create a little slack. Many times this will float th crank up out of it. Next get below the crank and try pulling it out the opposite way it went into the snag. Third point the rod tip at the snag, grad the spool and hold tight while pulling the line. Its either going to come out or snap off. Either way its time to get back to fishing.

Running a line like 15 or 20 power pro will help with getting lures back to. 10# is to light.

What speed can you troll at with your current setup? Test it in slack water(no current). If you can get around 2.5 mph you should be fine. Late spring and summer I will troll up to 4 mph.
You can troll up and down current and if you want to maintain the same relative speed to the current just leave your motor rpm the same. Depending on the current your speed over ground (GPS speed) will be higher when traveling with the current, maybe much higher. Typically I will see .5 to 1.5 up and 2.5 to 3.5 down in the areas I fish.

Another good tip is when you are working up river slowly, move the boat closer and farther from shore to cover more ground. Sometime you may not even be moving up river, just going at the same rate the current is moving down. This method can be very good if you can find a stretch with an eddy or slower flow becuase you can really work the edge of the slack water.

Also don’t be afraid to try trolling perpendicular to the current flow. Sometimes running a bait across in front of a fish will trigger a strike when trolling parallel to the current produces nothing.

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So I need some help of catching walleyes in the river while pulling crankbaits.

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Lake Pepin is basically a wide spot in the river, right?

This bite is NOW so if you’re looking to get in on some fast paced action be sure to check out the latest IDO video showing how to put the hammer down and some nice walleye in the net!

James Holst and Joel Nelson fish #5 shad raps late May, 2013 on Lake Pepin, MN for early summer walleye. The action is as fast paced as the trolling speed!

Additional Info:

Front Rods – St. Croix Eye Con 10’6″ Med. 115′ – 130′ foot back to #5 Shad Rap.
Rear Rods – St. Croix Tidemaster 7’6″ Med. 135′ – 160′ foot back to #5 Shad Rap.
Trolling Speed – 3.0 to 3.5 MPH
Depth – 7′ – 8′
Water Temp: 64′

would going in reverse slow you down ??? Just thinking

Excellent video!!! Thanks James and Joel for sharing your knowledge for all of us. I am still trying to learn this way and think its a lot of fun.

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Also trolling down river you do not need to speed way up. Most of the time I slow way down. Kick the motor in and out of gear to just move a tad faster than the current. This will drive the lures down to the bottom in a hurry. You also shorten up the amount of line you have out running down river. Even with this i would get the hang of trolling up river before trying down.

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I have almost better luck trolling Down….being the fish are sitting in the current waiting for stuff to roll down in front of them to eat…but like was said….better be on your toes and keep the line short.