Many topnotch anglers have long suspected that the walleyes we catch while trolling represent but a fraction of the fish that follow our lures. The truth is, of course, that following fish are nearly always catchable fish. Still, when lures fail to change direction or speed and otherwise deviate beyond the basic straight swim, walleyes often do not react—are not compelled to make the kill move.
In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail angler Mark Martin knows about following fish. With an Aqua-Vu camera attached to his planer boards, Martin has been seeing things on his trolling passes that most of us only guess at. The built-in depth function on his Motorized MAV camera lets him lower the lens to the precise level of the fish, watching for activity. Often, he has been astonished by how many walleyes he was trolling through that would not bite. In recent years a few anglers also have been reversing their underwater cameras to face backward, attaching their line to the lens housing, then monitoring fish response to trolled lures.
Many anglers have adapted their presentations to try to convert these fish. We need to tweak the triggering aspects of our trolling runs in a big way, rather than just continuing to troll at a constant speed. The concept of “turbo-trolling” has been with us for years, but most anglers still neglect the signs and don’t take the necessary steps to trigger reluctant fish.
Consider these common situations:
* At the end of a trolling session, you shift the motor into neutral. Lures slow to a crawl. But as you begin to retrieve a line, a big walleye strikes.
* Upon cutting a turn too tight, you rapidly accelerate in order to straighten lines and keep lures from tangling. A heavy walleye whacks it just as the boat rapidly accelerates.
* Trolling through large waves, a planer board skips and skids, jumps clear of the water, and drags hard before finally tracking straight again. Behind the board, the lure reacts erratically. Immediately, fish on.
* Attempting to dodge an oncoming boat that might otherwise mow over your lines, you crank up the throttle, speeding from 2 to 5 mph. As soon as the rod loads under the increased friction of speed, the tip bounces from a strike, then arcs and shakes deeply under the strain of a hooked walleye.
If you’ve observed preyfish in the water, it’s apparent that they don’t swim like straight-running crankbaits. You rarely see baitfish move in a straight line for more than a few seconds without pausing and changing direction. Bottom-oriented fish dart here and there, poking along bottom, drifting up, hovering, and flitting away. Pelagic fish like ciscoes, smelt, and shad gather in tighter schools, and although they travel in open water, their movements are somewhat random. An entire school may move in tandem, jetting along then suddenly wheeling around and shooting off in the opposite direction.
In summer, even a fast straight troll at 3 to 5 mph might not trigger walleyes until you add occasional radical speed or directional changes into the mix. A bit of speed isn’t a problem for walleyes, which can move in bursts of up to 12 mph.
