Against The Wind.

[gunflint]

You always hear that you should troll with the wind. I'm wondering why.

It seems to me that walleyes that are waiting in ambush for disoriented bait fish would facing into the under current which would be comming back towards the wind, a few feet under the surface.

Any thoughts on this?

[Fatty07]

I find it easier to troll with the wind just for boat control.

Trolling into the wind can be tough to stay on coarse, ecspecialy when you hook up and are landing a fish.

[DCICE]

I'm convinced that walleyes are triggered into biting when the right speed or the right change in speed takes place to their liking. I can't count the times when into the wind was the ticket for catch'n 'em over any given lakes structure. Perfect example... 5-6ft waves on LOTW rock humps are nasty to troll any direction, yet time and time again you've got to troll ANY fishy looking spot both directions before you find what's best. Into the wind has been steller in many occations for me personally! In shallow water I'm sure 'eyes' will face the current most of the time unless their cruisen those wind blown spots also.

dave

[Rost]

One reason I hate trolling against the wind is the action it seems to give my planer boards. This affects the action of your lure. Trolling into a stiff wind makes the boards jump eratically and somtimes break loose from the line. I prefer a my boards to roll along with the waves rather than fighting them.

[gunflint]

Planer boards! I didn't even think of that. I don't use them because of the one rod rule in Minnesota but it makes sense...45 days

[Jim Hudson]

I think it is stated like this because it is the easiest to do to maintain control of your boat and or presentation... but on many occasions I have caught more fish as I went against the waves, where I had to drive the boat.. this gives my lures a more erratic action and sometimes the fish love it... basically I mark fish and work them according to what they tell me... there are no rules in walleye fishing anymore.. but somedays, when the waves are really fierce, I do like that rule...

[Rost]

It's a sure bet that you'll find at least 1 set of boards in a boat with a SD license on the side. Is it possible for that eratic action to make walleyes bite? Absolutely. I just hate messing with it. Maybe I am just lazy.

[bigbucks]

Am I reading this wrong? I hardly ever troll with the wind, because of the difficult boat control. I normally backtroll into the wind, which is the biggest reason I suppose that it's easier to go into the wind, if the waves aren't too high. Maybe you guys are specifically referring only to forward trolling, but I didn't read that anywhere in here.

[thehook]

BB,

Right on! As far as I'm concerned back trollin into the wind is key to walleye fishin. Get yourself a tiller and some Wave Wackers and start ripin lips.

Oh yea and release more than you keep!!

[Rost]

You must be talkin live bait and not cranks right? I run a Tourney Pro tiller with Wave Wackers. I can back troll slow into 2 ft rollers okay. But anything over 1.5 mph I just get slapped in the face.

We pull cranks over here in SD. You very rarely see people back trolling.

[eyepatrol]

Catching 'eyes with the wind or against the wind varies for me. I like to work a controlled drift with the wind when it's not blowing too hard. When fishing on a blustery day, I find it more difficult to control the boat speed and location. For whatever reason, I really suck at boat control with my electric motor when fishing with the wind. The back end of the boat always wants to swing around on me. If I get too frustrated, I'll bring the electric up and put the 9.9 down (though I much prefer the quieter electric). I rather enjoy fishing against the wind, unless it's blustery out. I find I can control the speed and location of my boat much better fishing against the wind. I like it much better in the early part of the season, especially if there is a slow or negative bite on. I can dial in the electric so that I'm barely moving, keeping my bait in front of the walleye's face much longer.

I've had days when fishing with the wind is more productive and I've had days when fishing against the wind is more productive. For me it's almost split 50/50, but whichever direction I find the walleyes biting from, that's the one I concentrate on the most. I'll fish that direction, and at the end of my drift or troll, I'll put the big motor down, motor back to my starting point and start all over again. I won't even bother fishing the opposite direction if I notice they prefer one direction or the other.

[LocalGuide]

I prefer going against the wind. I feel I get better boat control that way and then I can hit my spots better.

The only thing is the boat I use isn't set-up for back-trolling. So I had to learn to use the bow mount electric. Now I use that for everything. Either trolling spinners, casting or even jigging too.

It just takes a lot of practice to get the feel for the boat and wind. One thing that really helped me now was getting a Co-pilot for my Minn Kota, Big Help! Now I can walk to the back of the boat net my fish and I don't have to worry about running up to the front to stay on track.

The only time I really drift fish is when I'm going over a flat of some sort. Then I normally get the drift sock out and put the trolling motor down in front and let it rock. If I get a little off course on tighter structure I just use the electric to get me back on target. Pretty easy and self explanatory.

Otherwise I just put the trolling motor down and let it do its stuff. Either against the wind or with it, it doesn't really matter to me, as long as I can put fish in the boat I'm satisfied.

[gunflint]

Localguide,

I've been doing some reading on bowmounts and I believe that's the way to go. I will probably go that route on my next boat. The negetive that I see is crawling over people to put it in and take it out of tha water. Is that an issue or not?

[LocalGuide]

No its not really to bad. It depends on where you sit in the boat, how many people you have along and how big of boat you have.

Mine I have doesn't get in the way when its out of the water. And when I take it out its fairly easy to do. Once you do that after a while you will become pretty quick at that.

So is crawling over people a issue? In my boat it isn't, I have enough room up front for 2 or 3 people to stand. So if its just me and someone else then they normally don't get in the way to much. But that also depends on the size of boat you have too. On a small boat that maybe different. I have a Alumacraft 185 TP, so room isn't to much of a issue anymore.

But one thing I would recommend is the Co-Pilot. Just put it on a lanyard around your neck and you can walk all over the boat, net fish, fight fish, and stay on the spot/route you were going. Of course the Autopilot feature helps you out on that some, but it just makes it so much easier, IMO.

[eyepatrol]

LocalGuide

How do you like that Alumacraft 185 TP? I've been keeping my eye on that type of boat. Looks pretty nice from what I've seen on Alumacraft's HSOforum. I've got an 18' Warrior which is okay, but it doesn't have storage and setup like the Alumacrafts. How does it ride and handle big water/big waves?

[LocalGuide]

I love the boat. One thing I recommend is to max out the boat/motor. We have a 140 and sometimes I wish I had a 200. The 140 does fine for pretty much everything but a 200 would feel much better on it.

The storage on it is awesome I think. The rod storage is sweet and give you some nice room to store them. Also livewell space is nice and also just regular storage is nice.

The boat handles the big waves nice though. I kind of wonder what its like with a bigger motor but I would think it cant be much differnt. The ride is really smooth too. Last year we test drove a one year used 1850 Fish Hawk and a one year old 185 TP. The Alumacraft was a much smoother ride. I would definitly get another one.

[eyepatrol]

LocalGuide

Sounds awesome! Like I said, my boat is okay, and I'm not sure if it's allowed to trash talk a boat brand on this forum, so I won't, but I know my next boat will not be a Warrior. The one part I DO like on the boat is the 150 Optimax. Great motor and provides some nice power. That's the max hp for that boat, although in my opinion it could have been 175.

I just got my boat paid off last year, and I committed to keeping the boat for about 3 or 4 more years. Every time I go looking at websites for boat manufacturers, I keep coming back to the Alumacraft. It just seems to be outfitted for what I'm wanting. I think my next boat though will be a 19-footer or better. I usually have 3 or 4 people in my boat when fishing and the 18 footer I got is just a little tight for my liking. I'd like to go with a 200hp motor, but might end up with a 175. I know a 150 would be plenty of power, but I'd just like to have a little bit more (it's a guy thing!!)