Speed Question

[fishquest]

Just wondering what speed seems to be best for walleye trolling. I'm using both downriggers and dipsies. Last week out I was trolling around 1.9-2 mph and had limited success. After searching a bit on here seems I was probably too slow.

Would love some suggestions on whats working or what is recommended. I'm new to the big lakes fishing and have learned alot on here so far but still lots more to learn.

Thanks

Mike

 

[scrimmy]

Speed varies with the underwater currents. My best suggestion for you would be to invest in a speed / temp unit at the ball. Just because your boat gps says 2.7 mph does not mean that is the speed of the lure. I have a depth raider and it is one of the best investments I have made. As far as speed for walleye I go between 2.3- 2.9 mph at the ball depending on what your dragging. Slower for harnesses and faster for spoons and in between for body baits. Hope this helps somewhat

 

[gilfisher]

Well if you are running spoons and crank baits..id say 2.25 to 3.25 mph on your graph...if running harness id be at 1.5 to 2.0 mph
Now it changes east or west of elbow...in the east harness slower troll produces...but to the west spoons etc faster troll produces...hope this helps...but not sure why it changes from central to east basins in presentation...have to ask the fish gods for that info ...lol

 

[Maestrolaker]

from what we are seeing, make sure you are running deep enough. we've been running riggers at 48-55' down in 52-60' of water and dipseys #1's at 3 settings somewhere between 140 and 150 back.

 

[fishquest]

Speed varies with the underwater currents. My best suggestion for you would be to invest in a speed / temp unit at the ball. Just because your boat gps says 2.7 mph does not mean that is the speed of the lure. I have a depth raider and it is one of the best investments I have made. As far as speed for walleye I go between 2.3- 2.9 mph at the ball depending on what your dragging. Slower for harnesses and faster for spoons and in between for body baits. Hope this helps somewhat

Thanks and it's on the hit list of toys for the new boat. I saved what I could and bought the boat of my dreams this year, so once I get a bit of money saved up I'm going to pick one up. But till then I'll just have to live with the surface speeds.

 

[fishquest]

Well if you are running spoons and crank baits..id say 2.25 to 3.25 mph on your graph...if running harness id be at 1.5 to 2.0 mph
Now it changes east or west of elbow...in the east harness slower troll produces...but to the west spoons etc faster troll produces...hope this helps...but not sure why it changes from central to east basins in presentation...have to ask the fish gods for that info ...lol

from what we are seeing, make sure you are running deep enough. we've been running riggers at 48-55' down in 52-60' of water and dipseys #1's at 3 settings somewhere between 140 and 150 back.

Thanks to both of you for the input and sounds like I was in the right zones then as I was running harnesses and had the dipseys in the right zone.

One thing I did notice was the releases I was using where way over powered so I've bought some new smaller lighter ones and will give it another go. It's all part of learning and I find this forum one of the best for gaining that knowledge.

 

[fishquest]

Well if you are running spoons and crank baits..id say 2.25 to 3.25 mph on your graph...if running harness id be at 1.5 to 2.0 mph
Now it changes east or west of elbow...in the east harness slower troll produces...but to the west spoons etc faster troll produces...hope this helps...but not sure why it changes from central to east basins in presentation...have to ask the fish gods for that info ...lol

from what we are seeing, make sure you are running deep enough. we've been running riggers at 48-55' down in 52-60' of water and dipseys #1's at 3 settings somewhere between 140 and 150 back.

Thanks to both of you for the input and sounds like I was in the right zones then as I was running harnesses and had the dipseys in the right zone.

One thing I did notice was the releases I was using where way over powered so I've bought some new smaller lighter ones and will give it another go. It's all part of learning and I find this forum one of the best for gaining that knowledge.

 

[gilfisher]

Thanks to both of you for the input and sounds like I was in the right zones then as I was running harnesses and had the dipseys in the right zone.

One thing I did notice was the releases I was using where way over powered so I've bought some new smaller lighter ones and will give it another go. It's all part of learning and I find this forum one of the best for gaining that knowledge.

You can adjust tension on release with the #1dipsy divers

 

[mick]

if you got money to burn towards a temp probe and speed...look at the fish hawk. x4...

releases i use off my riggers are the white offshore brand...they stayed rigged out in the waves yesterday...and fired every pickeral regardlesss of size.. down 40 running redfins...

speed comes with experience...i been running cranks and body baits all season and don't even measure speed..don't forget direction can play a role too..any downtime i use is on my sonar locating fish...and i don't setup my spread until...some of our pics were coughing up smelt the size of a redfin as we located smelt on the sonar...keep fishin.. you will learn the sweet spots..

i don't even bother pulling dipseys or jets...riggers are the ticket now...we were landing 2+ to 1 over lead core yesterday...

 

[lebaron]

That explains why I'm catching zebra mussels only when I'm releasing more than 80' of line on 0 size dipsey, setting 3 at 1.9 - 2.4 km/h on 55' of water. Waaaay too slow. I had some success on warm harness at that speed.

Speed varies with the underwater currents. My best suggestion for you would be to invest in a speed / temp unit at the ball. Just because your boat gps says 2.7 mph does not mean that is the speed of the lure. I have a depth raider and it is one of the best investments I have made. As far as speed for walleye I go between 2.3- 2.9 mph at the ball depending on what your dragging. Slower for harnesses and faster for spoons and in between for body baits. Hope this helps somewhat

 

[Bill_2014]

1.5 to 2.0 mph on worm harnesses which I normally only use at the elbow earlier to mid season. 2.7 to 3.0 mph on spoons and body baits is my default speed. The last couple of weeks I have been running faster at 3.0 to 3.3 mph. If you pick up a sheephead then you are trolling too slow for walleye. I measure my speed on my fish hawk.

 

[Stick]

Set your presentation over the side of the boat and watch it work. Adjust speed for best action. That is your baseline. Adjust for wind and current once the line is out. S curves make the spread run at different speeds, outside faster inside slower. The fish will tell u what they want. If you pay attention.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I generally troll at 2.2-2.4 mph with spoons & bodybaits, but for what ever reason ? this year havnt caught much at that speed , seems 2.7-3.1 has been the working speed for me on Erie.

Normally on Lake O , we troll at 3-3.5 mph ..however on sunday we started catching fish while setting up at 2.5mph ...once we had all 4 rods in (caught 2 by then).we increased speed too 3.2 and didn't catch anything until we slowed back down to 2.5-2.7 mph.

you will need to play with speed from time to time.....if you see fish coming up on graph to your ball , but don't hit...try speeding up

 

[misty river]

My speed is from 2.5 to 3 mph with most luck around 2.8 mph
Nice boat , I also have a Lund and love it !
I like your boat top , wish I had one like it

 

[maytagman]

2.8-3.1 for me.........I listen for the whining of my cables on my cannon riggers, also look for a trail of bubbles going down the cables from the surface, this works for me. Would like a fish-hawk, but we do ok without. I have fished with my neighbor and his fish-hawk...sometimes its amazing the difference from surface to lure speed at the ball. Not always though.

 

[sterlingz]

Caught 5 perch on the riggers last weekend, that's how I knew speed was too slow. Unfortunately the crew couldn't handle extra speed due to nausea... but hey the perch were fatties.

 

[fishquest]

My speed is from 2.5 to 3 mph with most luck around 2.8 mph
Nice boat , I also have a Lund and love it !
I like your boat top , wish I had one like it

Thanks, yeah I have the full camper top and it does come in handy for both rainy and sunny conditions.

 

[fishquest]

Thanks for all the great info and i'm sure it will all come together for me with time and experience