Speed Trolling yet?

[erikwells]

It might be a little early however with the hot weather this weekend I may have to break out the big deep diving plugs and put the boat in 15-20 fow. Anyone tried pulling the big deep divers speed trolling yet this year?

[solbes]

Nope, but my arms are beginning to ache just thinking about it. Might be that time. I'll give it a go this weekend.

[ec30_06]

I was running 3.5-4 mph on monday. anything slower and I couldn't buy a bite

[terrible_fisherman]

I got a few so far this year running deep raps around 3 miles per hour.

[pikedreams]

Normally at this time of year I'm spoonplugging at 3 to 5 mph. But this year has been atypical. Mostly because of the high water to start and then all the rain. Usually the fourth of July is the kick off for speed trolling but this year it's gonna be later. I keep testing the waters every couple of days with marginal results. I think this next week will bring us the heat we need to trigger them.

[Leadhead]

Tried it last Sunday. We did very good. 3mph.

[erikwells]

Tried a couple of different times this weekend and did not get a sniff. Kandiyohi county had some pretty good storms so I think it shut down the pike bite for us. My 6 year old son did land a 20 inch largemouth on 4lb ultra light with a shiner minnow. I think he might have a future on some professional fishing circuit. We did fins a few crappies, lots of bluegills and even one small walleye off the dock. We will try speedtrollong again next weekend. What depth do you typically fish when speed trolling this time of year? I was in 15-20 but wonder if I should have venture deeper.

[solbes]

I didn't do all that well either 2 weekends ago. Tried the normal depths in 15-20 on outer weedline. I picked up a 30" pike on a windblown side of the reef, but at the time I was only going 2.5 or so. Only 2 other pike caught trolling were small, 20-23" size.

I've also trolled pretty extensively trying to get the large "arches" to bite suspended 24 feet in 32 FOW. Nothing so far this year. They are very concentrated though.

On my return trip I switched it up to casting over the weedbeds using a spinnerbait I had painted for my youngest. Great fishing with that, 2 nice bass, 1 decent nort, and a rocky in about 10 minutes. Some times the tried and true trolling fails you, just not very often in my case.

[erikwells]

Thanks for the response. I'm trying again this weekend. Me and my three boys in the boat and my life is never better than those moments. A hot bite makes it even better. Going to try a tail dancer. Any other plugs anyone can recommend? I'll post an update next week how me and my guys did.

Last weekend my 6 year old caught a 20 inch large mouth on 4lb. He was thrilled. A few small northerns, 1 small walleye, lot's of bluegills and a few decent crappies.

[Juan Grande]

When speed trolling for pike over say 15-20 feet of water, are you using lures that go down to 15 or are you trolling in the middle of the water column?

[solbes]

In the 15-20' depths my main lures are: Deep Husky 12's, Deep tail dancer 9's, Shad Rap 8's (lots of line), Minnow Rap 11's, Jointed Shad Rap 7's, Reef Runner 700 and 800's, Storm Hot N Tot 1/4 oz, and Salmo Hornet 5F's. You need the Precision Trolling book to find out how much line to give to hit your targeted depth with each. There are some other tricks covered in the book to increase depth if needed.

If I was trolling in 20 feet for pike and walleye, I generally try to run between 15 and 19 feet deep, depending on how active the fish are. More active fish = higher up for me. Sometimes if they are really active I'll target 8-12 feet in 20.

[MN BassFisher]

Thanks for the insight solbes!

[erikwells]

Solbes, good info. I'm going to leave work early and head up to the lake, hopefully get there by 3:00 - 4:00. I'll pick up a couple of your suggested plugs. It's funny when I used to speed troll 15-20 years ago the plugs have really changed a lot anyone remember the Bagley D deep divers black and orange stripes? Anyone find a particular time to be better for speed trolling a.m. p.m.?

[solbes]

Speed trolling for me, which I consider anything higher than 3 mph, works best in the afternoon. I generally go a little slower in morning or evening. One of the things I love about catching pike is you don't need to be out during low light periods.

Just about any lure will catch at least the occasional pike. I have a couple though that I keep near and dear to my heart for catching the bigger ones. You mention the Bagleys, don't have one but I know what your talking about. Give it a try again. Sometimes I think these fish get accustomed to a certain style and something different (and maybe legendary) comes along and BAM. Fish on.

[erikwells]

I usually fish plugs that drop to 15-20. However how much line you drop out the back of the boat really affects how deep you get. I have been speedtrolling anywhere from 15 - 40 feet this year. Most of my effort is put in around 20 feet. Now do the exact opposite of what I have been doing and you will likely catch a fish. I have not caught a single pike speedtrolling yet. My efforts are a bit limited as I have three boys 4,6,8. I troll for all of 20-30 minutes and if I have not discovered lightning in a bottle we go try something else or go back to the dock where they catch all the bluegills they want.

[solbes]

I'm in a similar boat as you (pun intended). Two girls 4 and 8. They will sometimes hold the rod for 60 seconds or so, then get bored and put it in the rod holder. After 15 minutes or so they're off doing other things. But I still get to run 3 rods and hand them the rod when it's fish on.

This past weekend we were catching pike in decent numbers trolling the 18 foot contour (first time all year). Nothing large mind you, but steady action. I went out for what I thought was half an hour before a storm arrived. Only got 5 minutes trolling in before I saw lightning in the not so far off distance. Sped over to the dock in about 2 minutes. But in that 5 minutes that I was fishing I caught 3 fish. That's just a dynamite time to fish, but of course you have to use common sense. Then Sunday I couldn't buy a single bite doing anything, live bait included.

[20lbSloughShark]

I had similar results. Using a 6" Jake in fire tiger in 15 feet of water I caught 7-8 pike, 1 at 5 pounds, before being forced off by lightning. This was a few days ago on cedar lake. I usually don't like cedar, but with the incoming storm (and the already light rain) I had to stay close to home.

[erikwells]

Tried speed trolling this weekend depths between 15-20 feet. Not a sniff. Tried putting on some Cleo's trolled 8-12 feet. Not a sniff. Marked some fish but no takers. We tried for about an hour. Three boys 4,6 and 8 an hour without a fish trolling is about all they can take. I guess I really wouldn't try a whole lot longer even by myself. We found some crappies, bluegills and a few bass. All in all fishing was tough but the weather was great.

[solbes]

I usually fish plugs that drop to 15-20. However how much line you drop out the back of the boat really affects how deep you get. I have been speedtrolling anywhere from 15 - 40 feet this year. Most of my effort is put in around 20 feet.

Erik, Just checking here, but do you mean you're fishing in 15-40 feet of water, or have 15-40 feet of line out. If you mean 15-40 feet of line out, I'd definitely make that longer, 75-150 feet out depending on lure and bottom depth. I do run a "prop wash" lure from time to time (15-30 feet back) and that sometimes does work great. But at that line out most lures are only 3-7 feet down.

If you meant fishing in 15-40 feet of water, nevermind this post. Might want to try a different lake then?

[erikwells]

Lot's of line out. Fishing depth anywhere between 15 - 40. Probably had the boat in 15-25 most of the time. Any shallower I was getting hung up on the bottom. It's tough to jump to different lakes being the boat is already on the lake sitting on the lift. I guess that makes me spoiled and lazy. I know there are some nice ones in there. I'll keep on trying. Thanks for the reply.

[solbes]

We had a decent weekend for pike trolling and casting. We couldn't keep them off the line on Thursday as all 5 lures we tried caught fish. It was HOT that day. All were small except a semi-decent one at 30" on a muskie sized bulldawg. I'm in the same situation as you, our boat is on a lift.

But sometimes a change in scenery helps. We took my father in laws boat over to the next lake over and caught 2 fish in the mid 30" range almost immediately (casting not trolling). The bite completely shut down late Friday through Labor Day after the temps dropped so swiftly.

[erikwells]

Thanks Solbes for the update. No fishing this weekend just chores. This next weekend however I will be out on the water with the boys. I'm thinking on shallowing up a bit with the cooler nights and the oncoming of the frogs. Should be interesting as I expect this fish will be a bit more scattered. Hopefully hungry because I found them stacked earlier this year just not hungry.