Fishing out of Trappers, you should consider the mid-lake reefs or second breaklines offshore. Given the time of year, I’d probably start looking in 13-17′ and adjust from there.

Leech is a different lake in the big basin vs Agency/Walker bay. Those bays are very clear and deep, while the rest of the lake is much shallower and more gin-stained. So in most of the lake, the walleye won’t necessarily be in that 25-30 foot range (though they will likely be so in Agency/Walker bay).

For tactics near where you’ll be:
Northerns and walleye can probably be found pulling cranks over some of the mid-depth bars near pelican island or over shallower flats at sunset.

-If there’s wind, work the windward side of any points/bars.
-Boy bay is shallow-plenty of pike,
-Consider the islands or potentially stony point/ottertail if nothing else is working.
-If all else fails, the bite directly above/in emergent weedlines should get some action.

Definitely bring the boat.

I was up a little over a week ago and the bite was strong in the morning pulling cranks over 10-12′ flats. There was also a decent jerkbait bite. With the cooling temps, I think the jerkbait bite and maybe the jig/minnow bite will likely be picking up, but cranks should still produce.

Tight lines,
-Sean

Where are you located? I may have an avid that would fit the job for you.

Last week was productive up at duck point and off of stony point. Fish I was catching were relating to rock structure in 8-12 feet of water depending on water temps and other conditions over the week.

Jig and minnow was productive as was pulling cranks at night.

As a contrarian response – do as you like with your money.

If I was looking at a general purpose fishing rod, it would be a 7′ medium light fast action rod and a good spinning reel.

At 100 price point, I would think about a used st croix triumph and a pflueger president or Shimano sedona in a 3000 size.

At the 200 price point I would go for a Daiwa Tatula rod and pair it with a Daiwa Procyon. The advantages of this combo will be a considerable step up in sensitivity in the rod and a better gearing/weight reduction in the reel.

At the 300 price point, I would suggest stepping up the rod, but not necessarily stepping up the reel. In spinning reels, you can still definitely get weight improvements by going up to a 200 price point, but a $200 rod is significantly more sensitive (thereby more fun) than a $100 rod. After that, you really start to hit points of diminishing returns. Rods i would consider – Fenwick elitetech, St Croix Legend Tournament, or used St Croix Legend elite/xtremes, Shimano Expride, and while I haven’t handled these – the Dobyns rods have an excellent reputation.

I’ve fished all these price point and up, and think that for general fishing the 200 or 300 combos will let you get most of the fun you will want from fishing. If you decide at that point that you want to get some role specific rods, you’ll have a better idea of what you want and need. Ideas at that point would be finesse jig specialty rods, drifting/rigging rods, casting rods for heavier baits – but getting started with any of the combos I mentioned would be a great time and relatively affordable.

150 is not recommended. For elk 165ish can work if you have the ++fps, otherwise 180ish is probably your best bet. The difference is always the energy carried down range.

Here ya go. Lol

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I’m trying to convince him he should sell some of his stuff.

My renter and I have been playing around with some handcut metal art and restoring some vintage tools.

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Righty

Down to 1 available. I’m standing firm on $180 as I think that’s a pretty darn fair price. Will ship at buyer’s expense.

Price drop to 180 per rod

I like to fish good gear. The “lower end” of my rods is the avid line and Fenwick EliteTech Walleye rods. That said, I think the highest priced rods only make sense for certain techniques.

My elitetechs are awesome for lindy, live bait rigging, whereas I wouldn’t like to use my St Croix legend extreme for that. Same length rod, similar specs… but the st croix scV blank is significantly stiffer and I really prefer it for more direct presentations: jigging, live bait rigging.

So is the legend extreme worth the money? For me, sure… but I’m ok with paying for a rod that is specialized for certain scenarios. You might be different.

where are you located?

Price drop to $200.

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updated pics

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Bald Eagle Sportsman’s association has a decent outdoor range up in Hugo. $10 fee, pretty reasonable range officers and the association does some community outreach and hunters ed.

The other location that I’ve enjoyed was the oakdale gun club. Spendier to shoot for a day, but their facility is quite nice.

Suzuki is right – waterproof is probably too strong a word for most boots. I have used Obenauf’s LP leather conditioner which is wax on my leather boots. It works ok. My old man uses silicone which definitely works a bit better.

One other thing to consider is gaiters. If your pants are wet and you are hiking/walking that moisture is likely to work into your socks and boots. A gaiter is relatively cheap and will reduce the likelihood of soggy socks come end of day.

Wyoming for the first two weeks in November – rifle elk hunt.

Joes has always done right by me. Good sales, knowledgeable staff, and they stock some of the best gear from multiple brands.

Can confirm. Last week, eaters were being found trolling 8-12′ mud/grass flats with small cranks or with downsized spinners with a bit of worm.

A quick google search turns up that they are designed for bigger rigs/jigs and to help lay the wood on deeper fishing.

“Walleye anglers absolutely love the medium-light power, fast-action 6-foot, 6-inch ECS66MLF and ECS66MLF2so much so theyve inundated us with calls and e-mails requesting a beefier version for deeper jigging and rigging. We are now pleased to answer their wishes with a medium-power Big Water in the same length and fast action, says Jesse Simpkins, Director of Marketing, St. Croix Rod.

These new models are recommended for line weights between 6 and 12 pound test and baits ranging from 1/4 – 5/8 oz., making them ideal for the bigger jigs and rig weights required in deeper water, current, and vegetation and crankbaits but more on that below.”
Source: https://stcroixrods.com/blogs/news-2016/new-must-have-walleye-weaponry

Talked to my FIL last night – he’s up on Pine Point. Crawlers on bottom bouncers producing off of Duck Point. Trolling along at 2 -2.25 mph. IIRC he said 10-13ft.

Jonesy,

How was the bite? Did you find a pattern that worked for you?

Yeah… I try not to talk about those other spots… but sounds like you know about those. There’s a lot of mid-lake reef structure and there’s no reason not to poke around.

One note that I forgot to mention, big fish fly hatch started last Sunday.

I’m with you – don’t really love trolling, but it can be a great approach during the dark.

If you get a decent couple of days weather wise Annex or the reefs should be hopping for the slip bobber approach. I think many other boats were expecting similar (probably 45-50 boats on Annex on Saturday night last weekend).

I fished Wed – Sunday this past week, based off of Pine Point.

Bit rough while I was up – changing weather patterns made for a mixed bite. If there’s some decent weather this week I would expect that pattern to still work for you. Think Annex will certainly be on, as would most of the mid-lake reefs.

Our best walleye production came from slow trolling large cranks over rocky windblown points at night. Spinners with shiners worked on Sunday (calm, sunny day) in the 12-14 foot range in mid-morning.

If you are ok with mixing it up, we had very good pike fishing in Boy Bay on Sunday afternoon – the shallower waters were significantly warmer and we picked up 10 pike in 2 hours with a fast troll.

Works great for casting normal baits. Your limitation will be spool capacity if you want to cast something like 1.25 oz lures for distance. That said, I’ve loaded spinners and heavier cranks and it handles those great too.

The SV spool is designed to cast without backlash when properly setup and is really excellent for throwing lighter lures as a result. It functions best when slightly under-filled, per Daiwa.

If you are looking for the T-wing without the SV spool, any of the tatula line reels are great choices.

Pick up used Shimano Calcutta 200-250 reels… built like a tank, they’ll last forever.

Your title is about jigging – so that’s what I’ll focus on.

For jigging, I think the most important thing is having a balanced setup where the handle is maybe just slightly heavier (tip up presentation). So you could certainly vertically jig or pitch jigs with a casting rod.

Since line capacity isn’t going to be a huge driver with this setup (and more line is more weight), I’d look at something with a smaller spool capacity like a Shimano Curado 70 size. If you’d prefer to save some $$$, the Tatula 100 is 6.9oz and the new Daiwa CG80 is only 6.5oz. I’ve fished other Tatulas and the Curado 70. Really like them both and they are both versatile for tossing other light/medium weight lures.

Rod is a bit trickier, might want to pick your reel and line then choose a rod based on how it balances. 7′ may be a bit long, depending on the reel weight and the materials (more guides = heavier tip, flex coat= heavier, etc).