Help with Crankbaits

[beretta]

Hey guys, Im looking for a little advice here. I have experience trolling for northerns and walleyes in shallow water (less than 15ft) but I have been thinking about trying to troll some crankbaits on Mille Laces on the flats. Its the only think that I think is consistantly turning fish down there right now. The only thing is I have never trolled that deep. I have some shad raps but they only dive to 10-12' according to the package. I dont have downriggers and dont really want to mess with lead core line. Is there any other way to do it? I was looking at some reef runners today that are suppose to dive to 21' (with the proper line diameter) what would you reccomend? Thanks for any help you can give me. I really appreciate it.

[BDR]

Out on Mille Lacs I like to use a 3-way and 2 oz. bottom bouncer. I like to run shallow diver on this rig. Spend a little time getting a feel for how deep your bouncer is actuall going down. You don't want to drag the weight thru the silt or mud. Just causes a cloud behind the rig.

For lakes with a harder bottom I don't mind it hitting once in a while. And then I may use a deeper diver to make it hit more often.

[NE angler]

Get the Book Precision Trolling it will help with break downs of cranks, type of line,how far out and how deep it will go. Snap weights may also be an alternative to lead core, Walleye insider just had an article about it - I think last issue? Good Luck.

[18 inch Crappie]

A deep diving reef runner 4 3/4" or a # 11 deep Tail dancer by rapala with Fire line 10-14lb will get you down to around 30 feet +-4 ft From what I have tried. And a 2 oz in line weight and a 6-10 foot snell off that with a floating rapala or shallow shad rap in size 7 will get you there also. Alot of guys are using boards to cover more area at one time, and get more hits on boards then right behind the boat.

[beretta]

Thanks guys. I will have to give all the techniques a try. Maybe do a little investegating myself. Are there any colors that work better than others out there? In the spring I always use the blue and silver or the orange and gold. Maybe a black and silver if things arent working. But the summer might be different? thanks again!

[Borch]

Also don't get too hung up about being near bottom when trolling out there all the time. At times the best bite is 7-12 down over 30+ feet of water. It's a good idea to work different parts of the water column. You never know where they will be.

Good Luck!

[PerchJerker]

Borch is right - much better to be 3-4 feet above the level of the fish than to be 1 foot below them. Try some big Reef Runners, #9 Shad Raps, maybe even Deep Down Husky Jerks or Smithwicks Deep Rogues. Shad baits with more side-to-side wobble should be better in the summer than stickbaits with tighter wobbles though. Experiment a lot until you find something that works, and pay attention to what you're doing so you can repeat it - ie. bait, speed, amount of line out, if you're on the flat or the edge of the flat or off the flat aways or out in the middle of nowhere, etc. Good luck.

[Walleyeguy31]

I have used simple splitshots up 5 - 10 inches from the lure as to not erradicate the action to get down deep before. This may be the cheapest effective way to do this.

[Walleyeguy31]

Deleted

[Mn Walleye 1976]

When I was younger my dad would take me out on the Horseshoe chain in the fall using shadraps 5-6 feet behind a barrel (egg) sinker.

What colors do you like to use the most. Being I haven't done this in a long time I'm going to give it a try this fall.

[LocalGuide]

Well I do this on one of my local lakes all the time. I troll around 18' to 25' of water.

My main lures for this are ShadRap #7-9, Cotton Cordell Wally Diver CD6, CC Grappler Shad, Rapala Deep Tail dancer, Rapala Down Deep husky jerk, Salmo bullhead, Reef Runner Deep Diver, RR Rip Shad and Glass Shad Rap #7.

That pretty much covers that depth for them type of lures give or take a few feet.

I normally never add any lead to my line or use anything to get my lures run deeper since I have not really explored that option of things. The only thing I have done is use a 3oz and 4oz bottom bouncer and trolled raps in 40' of water once. That was my only exception that helped me find some fish.

I also like to use 8lb or 10lb PowerPro on my rods since they have 1lb and 2lb diameters so my lures will get down deep by letting the right amount of line out.

I also recommend the book, Precision trolling. It really helps on how far lures will dive according to your line thickness and line out.

I think trolling cranks is a great way to locate fish and get a feel for a lake. Heck I did it about 1 month ago on Mille Lacs and once I found the fish I hammered them. I did the same thing on Winni 2 weeks ago. And your probably thinking who would troll out on Winni? Well believe it or not I almost caught more walleyes doing that than using a spinner rig and leech, it was one of my better outings of the year.

Once you figure it out it can become a killer way to locate and catch fish!

[Jim Hudson]

A lot of great information here on getting cranks down deep.

Along with bottom bouncers or three way rigging, I also like to use snap weights to get some of my shallower running cranks down to the bottom part of the water column when I am trolling over 25FOW. Just like bouncers or three way rigs, it allows me to get my shallow running baits deep. But with the snap weights, I can take the snap assembly off as I am reeling in a fish to the net. Sometimes the three way rig or bouncer can interfere with the netting process.

But like what was touched on earlier, the main thing to do is cover the water column when trolling. Stagger your baits at different depths to find the mood of the fish. If I can run 6 lines and am fishing in 25 to 30 FOW, I can run a bait every 5 feet or so. Those pesky walleyes can sure rise up sometimes to clobber a bait.

[Mike Walerak]

Back when I used to fish Mille Lacs on a regular basis I would use snap weights and lead core line to reach the deeper water I very seldom ran my plugs tight to the bottom in the basin but ran them within a foot of bottom when fishing on top of the flats.

Some of my favorite cranks to pull were Risto Raps and Fat Raps.

mw

[BDR]

JKH431- I know what you mean about a bouncer getting in the way when reeling in. I have come up with a system that works pretty good.

About 2 feet up from the crank I attach a swivel. Beyond the swivel I use a bobber stop and bead that act as my bouncer stop, I adjust accordingly and when I reel in I can keep reeling, Sliding the bouncer and stop, all the way to the swivel.

[Jim Hudson]

Soundds like a good set-up Brian, do you use that with like Northland Rock Runners? Or just larger lindy type sinkers?

I use that technique at times while I am rigging with a walking type sinker or what have you, letting me vary my lead length without having to re-tie a different snell all the time.

[bigbritt]

the flats are only 24-25 foot, the edges are around thirty. you dont need your cranks to get all the way down, then your just stirring up the muck. walleye will swim up to a bait from quite a distance, but they will rarely swim down to one. think about running one line at 5-10 foot with a husky jerk or shad rap, and the others at around twenty feet with wally divers or reef runners, depending on how many lines you are allowed to have. try the open no mans land also. could be a surprise. good luck

[beretta]

Hey guys thanks for all of your help. Lots of different techniques out there! thats for sure. I think im going to give them a try tomorrow. THanks again.

[wmn luv me walleye fearme]

Heres a question for you. Right now I got one leadcore line which works well, but if i need a second line (for a friend without a set up or on lake pepin) I use a bottom bouncer with about a 6 foot leader. I saw someone posted above about it kicking up sand, etc, would a 6 foot run be enough to get out of that or do you just try and get the bottom bouncer off the bottom and fish it directly below the boat?

[markkstanley]

I try to keep them 3ft or so off the bottom. Big walleyes cruise a little higher and will hit cranks quite a bit off the bottom.

[fishing-addict]

A lot of good information for you, but I think the most important thing you might be missing. BUY THE BOOK PRECISION TROLLING, NOTHING BETTER OUT THERE.

[TMan]

Ok, how about speed for those of you that do it often on Mille Lacs? How fast do you usially go?

TMan

[Walleyeguy31]

If you read the precision trolling handbook speed does not alter depth of lures. But a speed of 1.5 to 3mph is average.

[markkstanley]

For mono/braid long lining speed doesn't matter in lure depth. But speed matters a lot when using leadcore. Thicker line creates more drag and when you are relying on the weighted line for depth a change in speed can alter things a lot. Speed can also affect three way rigs and snap weights. But I agree the Precision trolling book is a must. Gives you a great baseline to work from.