Local lake hit 67 degrees the other day. Found the fish and 3mph pulling cranks was the ticket.
Fished Fri-Mon and the eyes have been on the chew!
Still see lots of boats fishing really slow. DOn’t be afraid to speed it up. It is June.
Good tip and reminder!
Thanks
Good suggestion – I will give that a try!
Can’t do any worse than I have been.
Good suggestion – I will give that a try!
Can’t do any worse than I have been.
x2 for me. Brutal start to my season, worst in years. Thankfully I have the cure all coming in two weeks, Canada
What water temp seemed to make the difference for faster presentations? I’m still fishing really slow but water temp was 57 on Sunday for my neighborhood.
I think for the last two weeks i’ve been noticing they want a more aggressive presentation. Seeing more and more reaction bite situations.
Water temp has been swinging up and down with the weather mood swings.
Speaking of trolling, Got the Cabelas trolling flier yesterday in the mail. Nothing new in there but some words in there from James Holst entirely confirming the need for speed as warm water approaches.
Speaking of trolling, Got the Cabelas trolling flier yesterday in the mail. Nothing new in there but some words in there from James Holst entirely confirming the need for speed as warm water approaches.
I got that flier too and was surprised to see that article in there as I had no idea they were going to do that. I think what happened is someone from Cabelas took ideas presented in a speed trolling video Nelson and I did a few years back and paraphrased it into an article on the subject. They did the same thing with a TV show Will Roseberg and I did on leadcore trolling on Mille Lacs in that same flier. It was cool to see the info presented in the videos boiled down in print.
FishBlood&RiverMud shared some really valuable info in his original post. That speed trolling technique is down-right deadly this time of year… my magic temp on the river is 63 degrees. And when the walleye are keying off the fast-moving baits you’d swear their wasn’t a fish in the area if you slow down to more traditional speeds.
Here’s that speed trolling video, if anyone is interested.
I suppose you don’t get 90% off your next cabelas purhase either.
I suppose you don’t get 90% off your next cabelas purhase either.
No sir. I wish though!
Toothy fish are hard on baits!
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That speed trolling technique is down-right deadly this time of year… my magic temp on the river is 63 degrees. And when the walleye are keying off the fast-moving baits you’d swear their wasn’t a fish in the area if you slow down to more traditional speeds.
Generally, what speeds to you are “traditional speeds” and what speeds are “speed trolling speeds”?
That speed trolling technique is down-right deadly this time of year… my magic temp on the river is 63 degrees. And when the walleye are keying off the fast-moving baits you’d swear their wasn’t a fish in the area if you slow down to more traditional speeds.
Generally, what speeds to you are “traditional speeds” and what speeds are “speed trolling speeds”?
Traditional to me is anything in the 1.8 – 2.5 range.
My experience has been that the effective speed trolling range is 3 – 4.5 MPH for walleye with 3.3 – 3.8 mph often producing the best results.
Keep those drags LOOSE if you crank up the trolling speeds. 
What about trolling upstream vs. downstream? Do you just do one direction or the other? What adjustments are needed to compensate for current?
Toothy fish are hard on baits!
I love it when a bait gets looking like that!
Traditional to me is anything in the 1.8 – 2.5 range.
My experience has been that the effective speed trolling range is 3 – 4.5 MPH for walleye with 3.3 – 3.8 mph often producing the best results.
Thank you for the reply James. I can honestly say I’ve never trolled that high before. Usually I’m 2.2-3.2 range depending on the factors. So it is reassuring knowing that switching it up a bit more than I do could be affective.
What about trolling upstream vs. downstream? Do you just do one direction or the other? What adjustments are needed to compensate for current?
It’s the bait that attracts the fish. It’s wobble, thump, shake, or whatever.
If i’m going 3mph down stream, i’m going less up stream depending on current speed.
Similar to guys on the great lakes and paying attention to the currents down deep. They play a factor on how that lure acts.
WHen you find a lure color and lure speed that works, your maintain that LURE SPEED, not necessarily boat speed.
Any thoughts on what a max speed may be for safe pulling flicker shads, 5-6 and 7’s? Can you run 3 mph with them on lakes, and not worry too much about blowing them out and spinning? Is it a different answer for the larger baits, vs say five’s?
Never really ran faster than 2mph, but struggled a bit on Lake Winnebago yesterday, and will give this a try.
Tuning crankbaits for high speeds can be a challenge!
Some much harder than others to tune at those speeds.
Something i guess i didn’t mention but it is always important to test your crank next to the boat to make sure it’s diving like it is supposed to be at those speeds. Not productive running a lure out of the strikezone.
When it comes to specific brands/models – high speed tuning will vary! I’m not a fan of the prices for a lot of rapalas, but i’ve always been impressed with their ability to operate at many speeds and require very little tuning!
Salmo Hornets frusterate me often – but i love that bait.
salmo bullheads can also be a bugger to tune at times – again, hard to beat though.
I’ve got a pile of flickers but can’t say i’ve ran them much.
Haven’t trolled up in the Mid 3’s or higher yet but here’s a little tidbit to back up the others.
My buddy’s boat won’t really get down below 2.7-2.8 for trolling. Most of the time we do pretty well with that. That said we kept thinking that this limitation was costing us fish. Hey the guys on tv and the internet are talking about 1.8-2.2.
So finally getting a little brighter we threw a drift sock out one day and settled in around 2.1.
Caught a couple but not doing really well. Pulled the drift sock in, bam a fish. Went back on the same pass with the same lures back up at the 2.7-3.0 range. Did way better and no pain in the butt of hassling with the sock.
Speed trolling
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This fish cooperated for an upright photo
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