Lakeside Report 5/22-23/2020

[CaptKen]

Friday 5/22 was light rain and calm winds all day. Picked up a limit of walleyes in 3 hours of trolling the flats south of Kelleys Island. 53 degree water temperature, 30 FOW, 1.7mph. Bandits 55 back behind planer boards & 150 back as a long line (no weight). Go figure, the long line got hooked up just as much as the planer boards. Guess old school is still good sometimes. With glassy calm water it did seem the fish wanted the planers a little further out from the boat than usual. Maybe 75 feet.

Saturday 5/23 started with a dense fog and a hatch of midges covering my boat. Turned on the nav lights and the radar for safety and made a long slow troll across the area from yesterday. Nothing from the fish but the midges kept coming, yuck! Sun came out about 11:30am so I was able to go looking further out. Found the fish west of Kelleys Island. With bright sunshine they had moved deeper than the 15 feet zone from Friday. Water temp still 53 degrees, speed still 1.7 mph, still bandits. However the hot bite came with 125 back from horizontal rod holders and 75+50 back with a 1.5oz snap weight fished near the bottom. I had abandoned the planer boards due to navigating heavy boat traffic. Only 90 minutes effort to collect 6 fat walleyes. 14 lbs at the cleaners.

Happy Memorial Day Everyone!

[ttinman23]

Friday 5/22 was light rain and calm winds all day. Picked up a limit of walleyes in 3 hours of trolling the flats south of Kelleys Island. 53 degree water temperature, 30 FOW, 1.7mph. Bandits 55 back behind planer boards & 150 back as a long line (no weight). Go figure, the long line got hooked up just as much as the planer boards. Guess old school is still good sometimes. With glassy calm water it did seem the fish wanted the planers a little further out from the boat than usual. Maybe 75 feet.

Saturday 5/23 started with a dense fog and a hatch of midges covering my boat. Turned on the nav lights and the radar for safety and made a long slow troll across the area from yesterday. Nothing from the fish but the midges kept coming, yuck! Sun came out about 11:30am so I was able to go looking further out. Found the fish west of Kelleys Island. With bright sunshine they had moved deeper than the 15 feet zone from Friday. Water temp still 53 degrees, speed still 1.7 mph, still bandits. However the hot bite came with 125 back from horizontal rod holders and 75+50 back with a 1.5oz snap weight fished near the bottom. I had abandoned the planer boards due to navigating heavy boat traffic. Only 90 minutes effort to collect 6 fat walleyes. 14 lbs at the cleaners.

Happy Memorial Day Everyone!

Nice Job Ken. We tried boards for the first time ever yesterday as a training day, no expectations whatsoever but did catch a few rather quickly. Been fishing with just 4 rods (3 people) long lining and snap weights ourselves. We catch them but don't limit as fast as the boards seem to be. Any suggestions on the spread if running three boards each side? And Happy Memorial Day to you too.

[CaptKen]

Nice Job Ken. We tried boards for the first time ever yesterday as a training day, no expectations whatsoever but did catch a few rather quickly. Been fishing with just 4 rods (3 people) long lining and snap weights ourselves. We catch them but don't limit as fast as the boards seem to be. Any suggestions on the spread if running three boards each side? And Happy Memorial Day to you too.

I know a lot of guys run three boards on each side. I place a high value on avoiding tangles and on being able to turn the boat reasonably without crossing lines. Lose 20-30 minutes fishing time when those things happen.

So when I run boards, I run like this:
Redi-Rig salt water planer boards (light weight and they ride up high)
Outer boards: setback for the bait plus 80 for the board.
Inner boards: setback for the bait plus 40 for the board.
Flat lines straight back at the width of the boat.

Total of 6 lines. Just be sure to drop back that inner board when there is a fish on the outer board.

Good Luck out there. Lots of nice fish this year.

[ttinman23]

[QUOTE=CaptKen;68298]I know a lot of guys run three boards on each side. I place a high value on avoiding tangles and on being able to turn the boat reasonably without crossing lines. Lose 20-30 minutes fishing time when those things happen.

So when I run boards, I run like this:
Redi-Rig salt water planer boards (light weight and they ride up high)
Outer boards: setback for the bait plus 80 for the board.
Inner boards: setback for the bait plus 40 for the board.
Flat lines straight back at the width of the boat.

Total of 6 lines. Just be sure to drop back that inner board when there is a fish on the outer board.

Ok thx for the feedback. GL and be careful out there.