Combo Trip: Jigging and Trolling

Had an epic combo trip yesterday in the cold. We started out jigging in the D-River and had our limit in 65 mins. We caught 17 that way and then it slowed down. We decided to venture just into the lake and pull some of my custom baits. We caught 33 in about 3 hours, plus another 6 or 7 monster smallies. We must have lost another 5 or 6 fish during the chaos.

35-40 back at 1.6 - 1.9 mph, into the current (12-15 FOW) was the ticket. Best patterns were Smokeshow Shad, Pimp Daddy Perch, Glow Wonderbread and Blueberry Cheesecake.

Several times we had 3 or more on at once. One time, we had 5 on at once and then the 6th one had a drive-by. We only landed 3 of the 5. One got off as I was horsing it in. The other got off as I was trying to swing it into the boat. Towards the end I was only putting out 2 lines on my side, because 3 was too many to deal with as fast as they were going back. They were all nice eaters, but nothing bigger than 25".

It's been a while since I had a trip with that kind of action. Early in the day I set a goal that we would get to 50 fish landed. My partner said, "I have heard about people getting 50 fish in a day, but I would have to see it to believe it".....he saw it, and now he believes it...:D. BTW, we kept 12 eaters and the rest were immediately released.

Awesome day, Way to hit your goal. I would have to set my goal at 10 and be happy with the 12 lol

BTW, I have had a few people ask me recently about trolling speeds this time of the year. So, I decided to write an article about that.

Check it out here:

Late Fall Crankbait Trolling - Speed selection
– Slimshady Customs

Get out and get’em before everything freezes!

Great article Mike.And congrats on a fantastic day of jigging and trolling for all those walleye.

one well known walleye guy said troll as fast as the fish will tolerate the speed..while going close to 2 mph will work sometimes the slower speeds will prevail most of the time...in the cold water period speed is just another factor besides color, depth, feet back, area that has to be figured out...it can probably be the most important factor most days.

Fun times...sounds like you had a great day!

Regarding speed during cold water months...

I remember several years ago, I had a customer and his buddies in my boat, and his son, and his son's buddies, were fishing out of his boat.

The son said, the bow mount quit and was going to head in.... so, while we were all doing 1.3 to 1.5mph that December day, his son finished out the morning, by trolling back to Mazurik's with the big motor only, and couldn't keep it under 2.5mph against the current (so those baits were ripping down below!).

That kid ended up putting a bunch of monster walleye in the boat at that speed, while the rest of us were only getting nice eaters (3-5 pounds). I don't remember the exact number of how many he caught on that pass, but it was something like 6 or 7, and anywhere from 8-11 pounds.

I definitely keep that in mind every year, when I'm fishing cold water. :)

Exactly. You just never know from one day to the next. That's why I like constantly changing speeds to see what they want. I will hit the "rabbit" button on the remote, let it take us up to 2.3 - 2.5 for a few seconds, then back to the regular speed. Or, put the kicker in neutral for a few seconds and then back in gear. I also cut the speed when I get a big fish, so if more lines fire while we are slowing down, I might try keeping it slower for a while. On the other hand, if I am getting bites as the boards are going out to the sides (faster), I will know they want it fast. The bottom line is, there is no set rule for speeds, even in really cold water.

Thanks! Glad you liked it. I wrote another one about how far out to run boards, if anyone is interested:

Article: How far out should I run my boards?
– Slimshady Customs