line visibility, how much of a concern

[gkl]

I spend a fair amount of time trolling cranks at night for walleye on as large lake near Grand Rapids. I like to use fireline or powerpro because I can feel what the lure is doing. Some nights I do very well, but nights without a bite are more common than I would like. Could line visibility be a contributor to the inconsistency? Is it worth putting on a mono or flouro leader or do they even notice a small diameter superline at 1.8-2.5 mph? Thanks for your input!

[Northlander]

I wouldnt think that the line is the problem. Trolling cranks Im not a big believer that line visibility is a huge deal. If Im in real clear waters like Lake Superior I will either run mono or a mono leader at times. But even then I question if I need to with cranks at 2.0-3.5 mph.

At night I wouldnt worry about it at all.

[PerchJerker]

I do a lot of night trolling for walleyes with superlines, even heavy ones like 50 to 65 lb to get thicker line diameter and to get the bait farther away from the boat. It is not very often that I use a flouro leader, I just don't feel that it's needed most of the time. But there are some nights that I'll use a flouro leader, or more likely switch to a thinner diameter line and fish closer to the boat.

If you think it might make a difference, give it a try. As long as you tie good knots it won't hurt you to run a flouro leader behind your superline.

I would guess that the inconsistency you're running into has less to do with line diameter and more to do with available moonlight, the color of your baits, and the location of the fish on outer weed edges, inner weed edges, or over the weeds themselves. They move around a lot, some nights it seems like they're stacked up and some nights it seems like they've vanished. Good luck.

[Team Otter]

PerchJerker is right on the money.

Grand Rapids, huh? I sure miss my home town.

[gkl]

good info, thanks. ya, Grand Rapids, Pokegama lake to be precise. I either catch 10-20, or 0-1. It would be nice to get to a point of catching at least 3-4 on a regular basis. Don't get me wrong, I'm not out to fill my freezer. I release the vast majority of what I catch. It's just the extreme inconsistency drives me crazy!

You mentioned lure color. I usually troll HJ 12s or 14s in 6-12fow, sometimes on the edges, sometimes over flats. Best colors have be gold, chartreuse with a red head and blue/silver. Any other recomendations?

[PerchJerker]

I change colors a lot until I find one that's working, and keeps working. On many nights the "hot" color changes several times during the night, as the moon rises and sets, clouds move in or out, waves kick up or lay down, etc.

Good rules of thumb are .....

- lots of light in the water, go with chrome baits like the blue and silver you mentioned for the reflection

- dark nights go with dark baits, I assume the gold you mentioned is black and gold (and dark)

- patterns like firetiger or the other tiger patterns, and natural patterns like perch and bluegill, can be good at all times and are usually good patterns to start with.

I troll HJ 12's a lot, and Rogues, but usually not until the water is cooler. I use HJ 14s some but not nearly as much as the 12's. At this time of year with warm water try some shad style baits like shad raps and shallow shad raps. Salmo makes some nice baits too.

This year is the first I've fished Pokegema, my folks are retired and got a place at Rutgers earlier this summer. I've only been on Pokegema twice so far, with my kid and my dad, focusing more on action than anything else. About all I've learned so far is the perch and rock bass are EVERYWHERE I'm hoping to get in some trolling on Pokie (and Sugar) this fall. Good luck and keep posting how you do, I've been reading your posts about Pokie in the Grand Rapids forum.

[insurance guy]

Quote:

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Good rules of thumb are .....

- lots of light in the water, go with chrome baits like the blue and silver you mentioned for the reflection

- dark nights go with dark baits, I assume the gold you mentioned is black and gold (and dark)

- patterns like firetiger or the other tiger patterns, and natural patterns like perch and bluegill, can be good at all times and are usually good patterns to start with.

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Interesting color observations. I've spent a great deal of time in the fall fishing walleye at night in very clear water and found just the opposite to be true in regards to color selection and ambient light. On very dark nights I do best with more flash and on very bright moonlit nights I do best with dark colors. What I've found on the lakes I regularly fish is too much flash from say silver or gold on a bright night will not get bit but toning it down to more natural colors will work and very dark nights the silver/gold black colors work better for me. I completely agree with you on the Firetiger as being a great all around starting color and I usually troll one rod with that and experiment on the second rod by running through silver first and then gold and on from there until I start hooking up with one color. For lines I strictly run 14lb Fireline to a snap. I just use Floating Super Rogues for my night trolling or the old Floating Husky Jerks of which I only have a couple left and I always remove the split rings and connect with a duolock snap and I don't think line has any bearing on the fish after dark but lure choice, color, location and speed sure does, much more than people think when it's dark out. Also, retrieve makes a huge difference at night. I always work one rod and leave one in the holder and some nights all the walleyes will "tick" it on the fallback on the worked rod and some nights they only hit the one deadsticked in the holder. For rods I love my medium light Talora's for flatlining braid.

[Team Otter]

You should send me an e-mail; [email protected]. Grew up on the lake and my parent's still live there.

[Mike Walerak]

I've gone the complete opposite direction before and trolled with solar green line. It out produced the braid bigtime one summer. I do not believe walleyes are line shy unless they are in pressured waters. Just after ice out I depend on Hi-Vis line to detect the lightest bites in tough situations. Usually its in gail force winds while I am trying to pitch jigs in gin clear water.

I have experimented with HiVis lines from one end of the state to the other and caught walleyes with it. Does this mean they are not line shy? Heck no, I do think they can be at times, but I also think you can use your line to attract fish, at times.

As many will say there are no rules while walleye fishing. A person has to just experiment and develop confidence in a method and then be willing to toss it out the window at a drop of the hat. Don't throw it too far though cause you just might need it in the future. Thats what makes a good walleye angler is the ability to adapt.

mw

[gkl]

thanks everyone for all the help. there certainly are lots of opportunities for action bites with wide variety of fish. I have to young boys, one of which is 5, and there is never a time that I cant't find hime enough rock bass, sunnies and perch to tire him out. But the lake also has quality fish. In the last five years, I've caught numerous 'eyes over 8 and one 10 and this summer I caught a 20 and a 21" smallie. Northerens between 5 and 10lbs are thick. One thing that I can do on a consistent basis is catch decent northerns on certain sections of shoreline and around the clouds of smelt over deepwater.

[PerchJerker]

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just the opposite to be true in regards to color selection and ambient light. On very dark nights I do best with more flash and on very bright moonlit nights I do best with dark colors

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You make a good point, sometimes the opposite like you say can work just as good, or better. A dark silhouette against a lighter sky is a good option anytime, especially if you're going over the tops of weeds instead of fishing close to the bottom. But I'll generally try chromes or metallics first as it gets bright out.

I vividly remember a night on Mille Lacs a couple years ago, we were having trouble getting the fish dialed in but finally started getting steady action on a blue/chrome HJ. It was a few days off from the full moon, no clouds, no waves, very bright night. We switched the other line to the only other blue/chrome HJ we had but didn't get a bite on it while the first blue/chrome bait continued to catch several fish. We compared the baits side by side in the water and immediately noticed WAY more flash off the first bait. Other than that they were identical as far as we could tell. I remember it clearly because every fish came on one bait and not one fish came on the other bait - that memory enters my mind every time the night gets bright