 Early Season Trophies
By Ted Takasaki and Scott Richardson Walleye fishermen after a trophy can’t snooze in springtime. The key is to be on one of the Great Lakes early in the year in time to catch huge females that every angler dreams about. Listen to walleye pro Jeff Taege while he describes a day he enjoyed with his father while pre-fishing for a Professional Walleye Trail event on Lake Erie; “It was two years ago. We were trolling crankbaits over 30 feet of water. The biting fish were 12 to 14 feet down. We got into them so thick, we couldn’t keep four boards in the water. Five or six were over 10.5 pounds, including one that weighed 13.9 pounds. That was a giant. It was my biggest fish ever.” “We had 40 fish all over 6.5 pounds that day. It was awesome and totally unbelievable.” The formula of spring - plus the Great Lakes - equals an experience to impress even the most seasoned of anglers. Trolling works best on the open-water walleyes that spawn on rock reefs in places like Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. The Great Lakes are expansive, and trolling allows you to cover more water faster to find the big females scattered off of spawning reefs. “When you’re looking for trophy fish, you want to cover water fast,” Taege said. “You’re eliminating water and looking for those areas that hold big fish.” The key to success on these lakes is to narrow your search. Learn the spawning habits of the walleyes, and locate those areas, principally reefs, on maps. Males will be stacked on the reefs waiting for females to arrive. The places you’ll want to focus on are the deeper-water areas nearby where females stage before moving to the reefs and where they return afterward. Identify several likely spots. Walleyes are nomads. What you heard about their location yesterday may not mean a thing today. Plan to stay mobile. Once on the water, travel to each place you’ve pinpointed and look for bait fish on your sonar. Taege won’t wet a line until he sees some action on the screen. Then, and only then, he’ll put out lines. He starts with 8-foot telescoping St. Croix rods, which he says are perfect for rough seas and giant fish. Line counter reels are a must so you can duplicate success once you determine the action, profile, color and depth that works. Make sure you have exactly the same amount & type of line on each reel so the line counter/depth measurements are the same from rod to rod. You might get an estimate on how deep to run lures if you see large hooks that represent walleyes on the screen. Still, make sure you run other lures at different depths, including high in the water column where fish may be suspended too shallow to appear on your sonar. Try a deep-diving Husky Jerk, especially if walleyes are keying on smelt or alewives - the emerald shiner pattern, blue or black chrome in clear water; switch to firetiger or clown in stained water. Try several and change up often to single out the colors that are best on any given day. Switch to Shad Raps if walleyes in the livewell cough up shad. Taege will also add a nightcrawler to the back treble hook. Start at a fast pace, 2.2 to 2.5 mph. If that speed doesn’t trigger bites but your electronics say you’re on fish, slow down gradually to about 1.8 mph. Make S-turns to vary speeds. Outer boards are going faster, inner boards are going slower. Watch to see if walleyes signal a preference. Take time to enter a waypoint on the GPS every time a board goes back to signal a bite. You’ll soon have a “picture” of the size of the school. If the bites stop, Taege travels beyond the limit of the farthest icons in every direction until he relocates the school. Try the Great Lakes for early season trophies. |
