trolling speeds

[fishboy2]

me and road were out on saturday trolling for walleye out of deer creek. we were going as slow as we could in our boat, and that was 3.5 -4.5 mph. now we new we were probably going too fast but we were going to try anyways. now my question is what is the best speed for trolling bottom bouncers? thanks for your help.
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[wiperhunter2]

You are going to have a hard time catching walleye at that speed but there are a few things that you can do to slow that boat down. One of the easiest things to do is to pull a bucket or a wind sock behind the boat. The bucket is the cheapest idea and I have even seen people pull two five gallon buckets if they want to slow it way down. You could also buy a trolling plate for the motor and of coarse an electric or a small gas motor is the best idea. When using bottom bouncers you should go 0.5 up to 1.5mph, some people go slower but going any faster would be tough although I have seen people try. Good luck. WH2
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[AFDan52]

[font "Arial Black"][red][size 2] I have to agree with Wiperhunter2 on that . You are going to have a lot of trouble trying to catch Walleye at that speed. The trolling plate on the motor is a good idea and cheaper than a trolling motor , on the other hand a trolling motor is better. Both will slow you down enough.[/size][/red][/font]

[font "Arial Black"][#ff0000][size 2] AFDan52[/size][/#ff0000][/font]
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[nomoose]

you my want to also try going backwards until you get a kicker motor.
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[fishboy2]

thats funny because that is what i was thinking about, going in reverse. i like the bucket ideas, mabye i will try that idea next week. one thing we did try was to cut the motor and try to drift through the fish schools, didnt get any, but we were going the right speed, mabye a little slower. thanks for the help, i will try thse ideas, see if i cant catch a walleye
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[Lundman]

You want to go fast enough to make the blades on the bottom bouncer spin and that varies on the size of the blade. Bigger blades - faster speeds.

I troll mainly around the 2 m.p.h. range and catch most all my fish during the turn on the inside rod. This makes turning in a S pattern good but making the BIG turns seem to work better. Make turns of about 100 yards and the inside rod the one that gets most of the action.

Some might say try using a side-planner but I say make big turns instead. We only picked up 2 eye's on Sunday 7 fish total - keys were snap-on weights and long lining, and BIG turns.

Vary the weight of the bottom bouncer - 3/4 oz. - good for depths less then 12' - 2 oz. for under 24' and 3 oz. for under 35'. Vary the length of the leader of the worm harness - pre- tied 36" - if you drift in the wind then use a 3-way swivel and get your harness up to 7' frrom your weight.

And the most important thing - walleye don't bite like trout - they simply come up and hold on - don't try and set the hook - give them line and a sweeping hookset will result in more fish catch.

Good Luck and I'm having eye's tonight for dinner - soon you will too.....
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[Curtisfish]

One thing I haven't noticed in the posts. I have been told a number of times that when learning bottom bouncing, you want about a 45 degree angle on your line. They say that guarantees that you are going fast enough to turn the blades, and slow enough to stay in contact with the bottom.

I've tried it on Starvation, and it seems to work more often than not. Once you get a feel for it, customize for you own technique. Some never go over .5 and some never go under 1.5. I've found that they don't hang up as much in larger structure if I'm going a little slower than normal. I also add a floating crawler rig in the big boulders just to help out.

Good luck, and have a nice dinner.
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[kd...]

I used to use plastic buckets to slow my rig down. I tied one on each rear cleat with about 7-8 ft of nylon rope. Then I got fancy and bought trolling bags. The bags are bigger and slow the boat down more but for convenience, the buckets were a lot less trouble. They (the buckets) would sink down in the water when I stopped and I didn't have to worry about getting them in the prop. With the bags I always have to watch to keep them out of trouble. They are also a lot longer than the buckets. If I hadn't already bought them, I'd just use the buckets.

Just my two cents worth.
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[Gumbo]

When pulling bottom bouncers, it's best to use an electric trolling motor. When the wind kicks up you can even drift (motor upwind, drift down, repeat). Another effective method along these same lines is dragging a jig sweetened with a worm.

Fire up your gas motor when trolling cranks. BTW, I catch walleyes all the time at greater than 3.0 - 3.5 mph. But you need to figure out how fast the fish want it, as Lundman described.