Re: getting started trolling
Yeah, you really don't need much gear for that, it does depend on what body of water you are fishing, walleye are cold water fish, so in many places are pretty deep this time of year. Walleyes like to be near the bottom or just above whatever is on the bottom. Our standard rig was a 3' leader tied to a three way swivel 18" up from the sinker. A night crawler harness, a spinner or a wobbling lure usually with a small piece of worm on it.
Agreed. Probably high chance of success to do the bottom bouncer routine with a crawler harness- three foot lead with two floats.
Walleye are probably best described as "cool water" not cold water, but you can catch them anywhere the water is in the "ideal" range of 60 to 75 degrees. The depth you find that temp range is the depth you run a Rapala or whatever on your second rod. Some days in later season you will find that a crank or pug will out produce the crawler.
Lead-core line: this is fairly cheap to get going with. Ten colors of lead on a line-counter reel and a rod can be had for under $100. This will let you run plugs or spoons at a depth where the fish are at. Basically plan on 4' to 6' per color depending on speed. I.E. four colors (120 feet of line) will run about 20' down (@ 5' per color.)
Big Jon Diver Disks or Walker Deeper Divers are another dependable way to get in the right depth range. The Big Jon mini diver disks work very well for me- they will let you run a plug or spoon as deep as 20' to cover that depth, and will plane off to the side away from the boat as well as down. This with a Rapala or crawler harness has saved the day several times. AND the best part is that they cost only $6 to $8 each.
Good luck! Let us know how you did. Try 1.2MPH on up to 2.4MPH. Depending on water temps, at around 79-80 surface temps 1.8 is not too fast. But sometimes it is!
Another method is jigs- drifting in low to zero winds with a jig and curly-tail grub with a half crawler or a minnow can work. Some use Gulp succesfully too. Run a yellow or green jig with a yellow or green plastic tail- find the bottom, let it set for a second, then lift up about six inches and hold for 3-4 seconds, then drop back to bottom. Rinse and repeat.
Hope this helps.
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