What is generally the optimal trolling speed??

I was wondering what the general recommendation is for trolling speed when targeting walleyes? Is there a rule of thumb? Thanks in advance for the replies.

A lot of answers.

.8-3mph is what I am going to say.

Things to consider…

-time of year (water temp)

-motion of lure

– each body of water seems to differ

-mood of fish (reaction vs. feeding)

– river current speed (with or against current)

2mph would be a good starting speed for most baits but as mentioned there are many reasons to try different speeds.

7mph, can cover a lot of water and seems to only pick up the larger fish. Need a beefy rod though, especially on them deep cranks.

I second the comments above of “it depends”. Not sure if you’re referring to Linday rigs, spinners, and/or crankbaits.

The range Mark posted covers all of those. Live bait rigs in that .8-1.something depending on presentation and the fish’s mood.

For Cranks 2mph-3mph is a wide range that covers most scenarios. Speed trolling is a different animal that I don’t have experience with.

One odd thing we learned. The motor we were using wouldn’t get below 2.6 or so. We kept thinking that gee wouldn’t it be nice if we could get down to 2.2mph? I’ll bet we’ll catch more fish.

Turns out there were problems with the motor. Once they were solved it was down in the 2.1mph-2.2mph. So off we go trolling at the slower speed. A couple times we kicked the throttle up to 2.5mph and caught fish. Not being stubborn we listened to the fish and found 2.6-2.8 was the magic that day.

It’s too bad we can’t ask the fish each day what speed they want the baits

a majority of the time im @ 1.5-2.5
I also tend to speed up when the water is warmer and slow down when it is cool. That would be my rule of thumb starting any trip out however you have to constantly adjust. You can pay attention often times when you are making a turn if its a inside or outside plug getting hit you can tell if they want it slower or faster.

Target starting speed for me pulling cranks is below 65 degree water start with 1.3mph and above 65 degree water start at 2.0mph then adjust from there. S-turns if your scenario allows it will help you dial in if they want slower or faster baits a lot quicker then ramping speed up or down.

As important as speed, is making sure you don’t blindly troll at one speed one direction all day. Mix it up, as said above, S turns can help identify ideal speeds. I will also occasionally throw the kicker in nuetral, you’d be surprised how often a board races back when it comes to a complete stop, or when it starts moving again.

Those fish will sometimes follow baits for a while before they hit, change it up and they strike.