DC 6-14

[Wasatch801]

Well... the forecast of 11 mph was total BS!  But the W was not too bad when I arrived, however.   I started pulling cranks for walleyes about 8am.  I worked Charleston 9-18 ft for several hours only catching a few smb.  Decided to go after some troutskies from the island to past the ramp using dodger n hoochies and caught a nice rainbow.  I missed a few bites as I was by myself.  The chop came up so I decided to go back and pull plugs for eyes on the flats working my way down the tracks.  Nothing but smb.  So I worked my way back toward the flats bottom bouncing.  The wind had started ripping now and even big boats split.  I was using gulp crawlers (forgot the worms)!  Finally i hooked an eater walleye in about 12 ft.  I worked back through the area... no other bites. Where have all the walleyes gone?  Or was it that Strawberry moon that messed up the bite?  The W has gotten pretty bad now... I'm the only person fishing as far as I can see.  I went back to trout fishing pulling Flicker minnows.  I caught 3 more to finish my trout limit.  Finally left to retrieve my boat solo in the wind.  OH JOY!  I tried the 50-50 method usng clips on the line for controlled fepth trout trolling for the first time.  I think it's the cat's ass if ya don't have d-riggers!

[wiperhunter2]

Well... the forecast of 11 mph was total BS!  But the W was not too bad when I arrived, however.   I started pulling cranks for walleyes about 8am.  I worked Charleston 9-18 ft for several hours only catching a few smb.  Decided to go after some troutskies from the island to past the ramp using dodger n hoochies and caught a nice rainbow.  I missed a few bites as I was by myself.  The chop came up so I decided to go back and pull plugs for eyes on the flats working my way down the tracks.  Nothing but smb.  So I worked my way back toward the flats bottom bouncing.  The wind had started ripping now and even big boats split.  I was using gulp crawlers (forgot the worms)!  Finally i hooked an eater walleye in about 12 ft.  I worked back through the area... no other bites. Where have all the walleyes gone?  Or was it that Strawberry moon that messed up the bite?  The W has gotten pretty bad now... I'm the only person fishing as far as I can see.  I went back to trout fishing pulling Flicker minnows.  I caught 3 more to finish my trout limit.  Finally left to retrieve my boat solo in the wind.  OH JOY!  I tried the 50-50 method usng clips on the line for controlled fepth trout trolling for the first time.  I think it's the cat's ass if ya don't have d-riggers!

DC is always a hard one for me to figure out, at least on a regular bases. The trout are always there for the taking but the eyes can be tough. We have done our best with jigs and a crawlers, casting toward shore at first light, then they move into deeper water and we have been able to vertical jig below the railroad track. In more recent years we have caught them bottom bouncing on the flats between the Island and the inlet but lots of weeds there, if you get too shallow. At least you got one eye. Love that 50/50 method, when fishing deeper water we use it all the time. How big was your eater eye?

[MrShane]

I have usually been able to count on the Eyes with the exact methods you described.
Last week I drove my boat right up to the shoreline looking for weeds.
My non-pro opinion of the last two years of massive draw downs has really stunted the weed beds.
No weeds= no Walleyes.
I hope I am wrong.

[Wasatch801]

Well... the forecast of 11 mph was total BS!  But the W was not too bad when I arrived, however.   I started pulling cranks for walleyes about 8am.  I worked Charleston 9-18 ft for several hours only catching a few smb.  Decided to go after some troutskies from the island to past the ramp using dodger n hoochies and caught a nice rainbow.  I missed a few bites as I was by myself.  The chop came up so I decided to go back and pull plugs for eyes on the flats working my way down the tracks.  Nothing but smb.  So I worked my way back toward the flats bottom bouncing.  The wind had started ripping now and even big boats split.  I was using gulp crawlers (forgot the worms)!  Finally i hooked an eater walleye in about 12 ft.  I worked back through the area... no other bites. Where have all the walleyes gone?  Or was it that Strawberry moon that messed up the bite?  The W has gotten pretty bad now... I'm the only person fishing as far as I can see.  I went back to trout fishing pulling Flicker minnows.  I caught 3 more to finish my trout limit.  Finally left to retrieve my boat solo in the wind.  OH JOY!  I tried the 50-50 method usng clips on the line for controlled fepth trout trolling for the first time.  I think it's the cat's ass if ya don't have d-riggers!

DC is always a hard one for me to figure out, at least on a regular bases. The trout are always there for the taking but the eyes can be tough. We have done our best with jigs and a crawlers, casting toward shore at first light, then they move into deeper water and we have been able to vertical jig below the railroad track. In more recent years we have caught them bottom bouncing on the flats between the Island and the inlet but lots of weeds there, if you get too shallow. At least you got one eye. Love that 50/50 method, when fishing deeper water we use it all the time. How big was your eater eye?

Nothing remarkable... 16 inches I'd say.  A couple of the trout were much larger.  One was full of mature eggs even.

I was running weights on a slider... but much closer to the lure.   I didn't like that the fish could gain leverage and throw hooks easier with the weight so close.

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I have usually been able to count on the Eyes with the exact methods you described.
Last week I drove my boat right up to the shoreline looking for weeds.
My non-pro opinion of the last two years of massive draw downs has really stunted the weed beds.
No weeds= no Walleyes.
I hope I am wrong.

I agree with your findings.   Just not much weed coverage at their preferred depth/temp range i.e. which is the normal weedy flats areas from 10-15 fow for me.  But the eyes are somewhere.  So where did they go?  Deep structure areas like drop offs and points could be the places to probe with plastics or jig n crawlers.  I did notice some quite shallow weeds.  Maybe it's time to hit em with Rat L Traps or a weedless fluke.  Maybe night fishing is the ticket?  But I'm not real keen on that.  However maybe  that's the only time they are ever found shallow now?

[wiperhunter2]

I was running weights on a slider... but much closer to the lure.   I didn't like that the fish could gain leverage and throw hooks easier with the weight so close.

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Weights on a slider, how does that work? I always thought the 50/50 method was to put out 50 percent of the line you were going to put out with the lure, then put on the weight, then put out the other 50 % of your line. The only time I've ever used a slider was when I was sturgeon fishing. I have used inline bullet weights, to get my lure deeper or even banana weights about 5 ft above the lure.

[Wasatch801]

I was running weights on a slider... but much closer to the lure.   I didn't like that the fish could gain leverage and throw hooks easier with the weight so close.

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Weights on a slider, how does that work? I always thought the 50/50 method was to put out 50 percent of the line you were going to put out with the lure, then put on the weight, then put out the other 50 % of your line. The only time I've ever used a slider was when I was sturgeon fishing. I have used inline bullet weights, to get my lure deeper or even banana weights about 5 ft above the lure.

I should've been  more clear... PRIOR TO going with the 50-50 method I [font="Open Sans", sans-serif]was running weights clipped on a slider much closer to the lure (about 6ft. leader length).  So slider on braided mainline (weight on slider snap), then swivel, leader, dodger, lure.  It gave some fish like kokes a mechanical advantage to spit the hook with all that weight swinging around. The dodger is already giving them too much of a chance.  Although my previous method works pretty good too and allows you to easily switch weights... I think 50-50 will help improve the hookup to landing ratio![/font]

[wiperhunter2]

I should've been  more clear... PRIOR TO going with the 50-50 method I was running weights clipped on a slider much closer to the lure (about 6ft. leader length).  So slider on braided mainline (weight on slider snap), then swivel, leader, dodger, lure.  It gave some fish like kokes a mechanical advantage to spit the hook with all that weight swinging around. The dodger is already giving them too much of a chance.  Although my previous method works pretty good too and allows you to easily switch weights... I think 50-50 will help improve the hookup to landing ratio!

OK, that makes sense, i agree the 50/50 method is much better, the only problem being the few seconds you have to pause, to take the weight off. Have you ever tried using lead core line? Before I ever got down riggers or learned about the 50/50 method I used lead core line.

[Wasatch801]

Yes I've used leadcore. It's okay but i don't particularly enjoy using it. However some of the new micro leadcore setups are pretty comparatively lightweight. Was just at Scheels. They've got some cool Scheels branded leadcore rods that would work well for a lot of general trolling purposes.