Personally, after fishing for yellows for 50 years, the only thing that consistently works are worm harnesses with big fat juicy crawlers. It doesn't matter what color except that under some lighting conditions (dark, sun, overcast, etc.) some colors are better than others so that the fish are attracted by sight. At 40-50 fow, the light is usually attenuated quite a bit, so that clean, polished, reflective spinners work best. Assuming that we won't get lucky enough to troll right through a school, it is important for the fish to see the bait from a long ways away as possible. Once they see it, if they are curious or hungry, they will check it out, then strike.

Having said all this, there aren't near anywhere as many walleye as there were 5o years ago when commercial fishermen plied the lakes in the deep water. Let's hope it gets better.

With my little boat I am not going out 10+ miles to troll at 80 ft. So I guess I will just enjoy the suspense of whether I will catch the big one.