Monday afternoon trip with an Indiana couple

We launched from mazurik at 11:30 and only went north to about the middle of the south passage. We set lines and started trolling east between kelley's and marblehead. I marked a lot of fish there on the way in from last trip so thought we'd give that a try. We ran 3 bandits on each side at 55, 65 and 75 back and we ran two double willow harnesses with 2 oz off shore snap weights 4' in front of harness back 50 and 55 and our two 4 oz bouncers on the corners. We started out with several big sheep head but filtered thru those as we went east and started picking up walleye steady. We boated their limits by 1:30 pm with a few reeled in by my mate too. The lake was in perfect condition today nice walleye chop and light breeze just perfect for a fishing trip. We filleted these fish up and they will get some nice meals out of these great eater sized walleye from our great lake. The fishing today was definitely slower than yesterday but how can anyone complain about catching two limits of walleye in 1 1/2 hours. The fishing is so good right now, bandits, spoons, harnesses, mag 44's, flickers it just doesn't seem to matter what you throw at them they will eat it. I will be back out starting this friday and will try to post each day i fish. tight lines to all. Attachment 6257

Wow, nice catch

Capt Sam,interested on how you run those bottom bouncers.Years ago when we were learning to troll,didn't have these websites to help us.Had a patient who was an accomplished troller who helped us tremendously at the beginning.One of the first setups he taught us was to use a bottom bouncer on a braided line.We started with 3oz BB and ran a 4ft leader to a harness.Pretty sure we just ran Colorado spinners.Mostly in purple.Some days they did quite well and were very easy to set up and detect fish.Much easier than the inline boards we were just starting to use.On the bottom bouncer would just let out line till hit bottom and immediately lock and put in rod holder.Would reel in a few turns if not catching.Was wondering Sam,how you run your bottom bouncers.

Here you go Bob, I hope this helps. At speed of 2.0 to 2.3 which we are running now i use 4 oz bouncers. I have them on braid and a 4' leader after the bouncer. At these speeds we are close to blowing out a colorado blade which means instead of spinning the whole harness starts to loop. Wont be able to go any faster without switching to willow blades. I have been running both and they are both catching fish. How i let them out is determined on where I am marking the fish. If they are up off the bottom 4 or 5 feet I drop them free spool until they touch and lock them in. This puts them in that range. If they are 2 feet off bottom I let it touch once and hold it from spooling until it settles then let it free spool and touch again then lock, this puts it in that two foot off bottom range. If they are laying on the bottom i hold after two let it settle and free spool a third time until it hits bottom and lock it in, this puts it right on the bottom. Then adjust accordingly with a few reels until you dial it into where they will bite. I run two straight out the sides parallel with the water just behind my trees, this allows me to net over top of the line at the rear corner of the boat. I will run two more right off the rear corners straight behind the boat sometimes if working well, they are deep enough the boat doesn't seem to bother the fish. If fish are suspended and i'm fishing harnesses i run them behind boards with snap weights, or jets depends on how deep.

Thanks Sam.That is a great way to catch if you are deep enough.We were not that far from you Friday morning.But I never did see your boat.We started heading for that pack by the line late morning.But the captain turned around because too many boats to navigate thru and headed back toward kellies.I am confused when you said south side of north bay.I know where north bay is located on the north side kellies.Would the South side be inside north bay?

the southwest end of north bay is where i am talking about it ends and you go around a point and then west bay starts. so basically along the west side of kelley's island.

Ok Sam got it.That would also help keep out of those NE waves and wind.

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Originally Posted by Capt Porkchop

We launched from mazurik at 11:30 and only went north to about the middle of the south passage. We set lines and started trolling east between kelley's and marblehead. I marked a lot of fish there on the way in from last trip so thought we'd give that a try. We ran 3 bandits on each side at 55, 65 and 75 back and we ran two double willow harnesses with 2 oz off shore snap weights 4' in front of harness back 50 and 55 and our two 4 oz bouncers on the corners. We started out with several big sheep head but filtered thru those as we went east and started picking up walleye steady. We boated their limits by 1:30 pm with a few reeled in by my mate too. The lake was in perfect condition today nice walleye chop and light breeze just perfect for a fishing trip. We filleted these fish up and they will get some nice meals out of these great eater sized walleye from our great lake. The fishing today was definitely slower than yesterday but how can anyone complain about catching two limits of walleye in 1 1/2 hours. The fishing is so good right now, bandits, spoons, harnesses, mag 44's, flickers it just doesn't seem to matter what you throw at them they will eat it. I will be back out starting this friday and will try to post each day i fish. tight lines to all. Attachment 6257

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Nice report. Going out the next two days and our first attempt at trolling 3 boards on each side. If running 55,65,75 like you did for example, which rods should have the deeper running lure. Im guessing the back and the shallower lure up front (board furthest out)?

Then trolling inline boards always put the longest lead on outside board.When running 3 boards a side let the board drift straight out the back of boat till it is far enough out to lock reel and pulls into position.I usually have my boards about 30ft difference in separation on the counter.The one tangle I got running the three boards this year was when I wanted to change a bandit color on the middle board.Somehow it grabbed the line from the inside board and created a mess.Had no tangles when brought in fish though.