The last walleye I caught trolling felt like a wet sock on the end, I wasn't sure I even had a fish on until it almost got to the boat. The hardware used to get down deeper takes away from feeling the fish on the end somewhat. I have "worked" the pole when trolling, ie bring it slowly forward and then slack off, this gives me a good feel of how everything feels with no fish on, kind of a baseline. I've seen my pole act differently, set the hook, and then bring it slowly forward if I'm still unsure to check how it feels. I'm still new at this fishing erie thing, but years ago used to troll for walleyes up in canada, chautauqua, with smaller everything.

Fish that have fight left in them, when they get near the boat will actually see the boat, think it's a predator and panic. That's why they get lost at the boat, and is exactly what happened to me last year with a big musky that I hooked and lost at the boat, forgot about that crucial time when they see the boat and will try and sound deeper, roll, etc. This can happen especially if the fish does not fight much at first, or you use the boat to get closer to the fish like I did my musky.