Casting Cranks this Weekend

[WIFisher]

Im going to try for some eyes this weekend in NW WI. I know the fish are going to be in 5-7' so im thinking either casting cranks or slip bobberin would be the best way to get em.. What do you think would be the best crank for this situation? I have a ton of em but can never choose one lol

Ryan

[riverrat56]

In the northern regions it's probably a little to early to be throwing cranks still, I'd stick with the slip bobber or jigging and rigging.

If you've got to give it a whirl, stick with Deep Husky jerk-baits or Deep X-raps, fish them slow with longer pauses.

[WIFisher]

Ok. I just feel like rigging in 5 feet is too shallow and you might spook the fish being right over them.. Although it is a stained lake i fish.. 2-3' clarity. Maybe I'll just try casting igs, just something to get them away from the boat i think.

Ryan

[riverrat56]

If you can drift over it you'll be fine, just lighten up the weights to get it away from the boat

[Mike Stark]

let out more line when drifting or trolling. there is good article on fishingmn.com about longline trolling.

[PerchJerker]

I love catching walleyes by casting cranks but at this time of year you'll probably do better on jigs.

[Quackaddict9]

I'd use cranks (xraps and etc) this weekend, but other stuff will produce well too.

[tunrevir]

With the predicted weather conditions I'd work livebait, toss some jigs or cast or drift a lindy rig. I work shallow water like that along an emerging weedline and us a 1/8th oz sinker, 20" leader and a small phelps floater and leech and then just drag it along with the trolling motor.

Tunrevir~

[solbes]

Sometimes you can throw conventional wisdom out the window. If you want to throw cranks, I'd say go for it. Last opener I threw a shallow white X-Rap up on shore in a gravel area on our lake. Fifth or sixth cast into the season I hooked a 29" walleye. Paused for a couple of seconds every so often.

Pic over here <----. I'm going back to the same thing tomorrow morning. At least for 10-15 minutes and then I'll switch to something more conventional.

[johnson_d98]

My go to lure this time of year is the suspending smithwick rattlin rouge, it is absolutely DEADLY on the eyes and smallies once the water temps get into the 40's. They only dive 3-4', & have a very erratic action. Make sure to pause anywhere between 3-20 seconds between jerk-baits. It is a fun lure to use especially on clear water lakes when you can see your lure suspending, then all of a sudden a big eye comes up from underneath and inhales the bait! Good luck!

[WIFisher]

Thanks for all the ideas guys.. I will try a lil of both. Like someone said maybe ill throw cranks at first then try live bait rigs and jigs later on.. I'll let you know what works best..

Ryan

[WIFisher]

Well we ended up getting a few eyes but it was slow. A slip bobber with a small vertical jighead and a leech seemed to do the trick. Got one 16"er right away then later a few that were just under the 15" minimum size limit and one 15.5"er on a spinner/bottom bouncer going about 1.2mph. Fish were all caught in 5-9' Did do well on the crappies however to save the weekend.

[Musky Buck]

My cousin and I boated 10 keeper walleyes and 6 over 20" that we released. Chip in 5 or so pike and a 22" bass and I'd say opener was very good, 51 degree water and we boated them all after midnight to 5am on husky jerk rapalas. I know they say pike don't bite after dark but after the few hundred we've caught after dark now I believe it way less, same in the winter we've caught a lot of them after dark, I know it isn't with the fury daytime pike often do but boy you get tricked into thinking it must be a walleye.