Mentor Area 8/20

Ran out of mentor lagoons at 6am headed out due north to 68 fow and trolled ne with the waves. Marked plenty of fish, all 40-45 ft down, until we got to 72 ft. Managed a few bites but it was slow. Even was able to lose a 30” steelhead in the net….. ended up with 10 fish and stopped fishing at 12PM

DDs on 3 setting between 150 and 210 with stinger spoons caught the most. Did get a solid 26” on a shallow crank behind the dipsey…

I’ve only been out a few times on Erie for walleye now, but trying to learn. Is it possible I am below the fish targeting them at 45-50 ft ?At 210 ft what would a spoon be running at?

With 2 people I normally run 4 rods. Inside rods are magnum tadpoles and got bit at 115-139…. The outside rods are 3 setting dipseys with spoons/cranks…. Reading the charts I shouldnt have to let out 210 ft to get bit, but for some reason that’s what has been working for me… does that seem way off?

Look up an app called Precision Trolling Data. You do have to pay to get data on the lures and dipsy divers but I like it.
The app only goes to 198 feet of line on a #1 dipsy set on 3. But the depth it shows is 54 feet down. I find the app is considerably different than the chart that comes with the dipsy.

I agree with mike. Remember that ultimately you want to be even with or above the fish your marking. They will go up to hit your baits but will rarely go down if your well below them. Trolling speed will effect the depth also. For example, running your mag tadpole 148 back at 2.0 MPH will put you down to about 48 feet. Running the same set up at 2.5 MPH will only put you down to about 37 feet. That’s a big difference! So there’s a few variables to get yourself in the zone you want. Get the lifetime membership to the app if you can and you don’t have to pay for any updates after you pay the membership fee.

Thanks for sharing your fishing day.
ThatÂ’s a good catch!
IÂ’m not an expert and probably donÂ’t go often enough to be one.
I use 4 rods, dipseys on outside. 3 setting at 120. Downriggers on inside. In July was marking same similar depths for water and fish was able to catch 2 tickets and 1 for 2 on the steelhead. Somethings have noticed this time of year are this. Thermocline sets up, fish active above and not below, I believe.
Many times I see walleye shut down by 10:30 am, then if I get lucky the steelhead might turn on briefly. This is not the rule by any means but IÂ’ve seen it last year as well. 210 seems far. Line diameter might be a factor to consider.

So far I have liked the tadpoles, but I’m thinking about using the tru trips on my inside rods…. That should fix the speed problem and make it more uniform with less change in the depth, no?

I would think that a trutrip 40 would pull much harder than a tadpole…

Yes tru trips will pull a lot harder. I have been running 40s at 170 back and 50s at 150 with success. You could also run dipsey at 0 or 1 at 90 to 100 to get you in the 42 to 45 foot range