justtracytrolling

Shoulda been here last week....everybody was catching! Fall was great in our rivers, but the winter walleye fishing was slow. Im glad its over...that gives me time to get caught up on the honey-do list before we start up in may on Otisco. justin

Ok, I checked out the blood run walleye copper. Its impressive for sure, but they only have dive curves to 2.5 mph. Based on what I see I dont think copper is the answer for fast trolling. As pap stated weighted trolling is very speed dependant, blood run copper is no different. I will have to get a few reels set up with it for harnesses though. The thing I found interesting was that it doesnt matter whether you troll a reef runner deep diver or a spoon both run nearly the same depth on copper. I was also surprised to read that there is other guys trolling eyes fast like I do, as ive really not read anything about it. Justin Sent from my SPH-L710 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

When I started trolling i did a lot of "s" turns, and I still do on new water some times, but it's not that repeatable and Im always looking to eliminate a variable. I fish more of a steady speed and I adjust up on hot sunny days and down on cloudy choppy days with a starting point around 3.2. The thing with reaction bite trolling is getting the bait right in front of a fish. Which means precision depth control, and knowing how deep the eyes are. justin

Ive been saying for a while that fast can be effective on eyes! 3.0 is my minimum all summer and i get plenty of fish on the outside of turns. Tough to get any depth with leadcore at those speeds even combined with a diving lure. Justin Sent from my N9500 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I couldn't agree more Chris! I just enjoy trying what's out there. Plus Randy Howell killed it with them. I will say that with all the walleye I catch in the course of a season I haven't had a walleye engulf a bait more than the one Cody caught last night on the Livingston. I do believe fishing is much more about time spent on the water and proper technique than technology, but it doesn't hurt to combine them! justin

My son and I went to the river last night with a couple friends armed with a couple new Livingston lures. If you haven't seen them yet they have a circuit board in them and they croak like a dying baitfish. Randy Howell won the Bassmaster Classic with them this year. The bite was very slow, but we managed a handful of eyes, including a 24" that absolutely inhaled the Livingston stickbait. So far I like them, but if you are looking for a true suspending bait that you want to pause a while these aren't it....both of ours float up slowly. I have lead tape strips and dots to fix this, but the water we were in last night was a bit shallow and the slow float up wasn't a bad thing. All fish were caught with a very slow steady retrieve....nothing on pauses. I didn't get pics cause my phone was dead, but maybe we can get into a few tonight. justin

Congrats....real nice eye! Justin Sent from my N9500 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Way to go...at least you had a little action Kevin! I had heard its been a bit off up in Quinte this year...any truth to that? We had high hopes for the rivers here ourselves last week during the thaw, but we only managed handful and 1 good fish in 4 sessions. Im ready for open water and some sun! justin

Spot on Sk8man! Managing anything requires record keeping and data. The problem here is the managers dont have the budget to collect data on a large enough scale to be effective. We on the other hand, are already doing the research we just have to report our catches. Personally I feel the captains/guides should be the biggest source of data as they fish the most and catch the most. I have found the region 7 people to be very helpful, and encourage everyone to participate in the angler diary program, or stop complaining! Justin Sent from my N9500 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I agree but thats what Mark Romanack has printed. I hope I like Seaguar braid as much as I like their flourocarbon! Justin Sent from my N9500 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I use 10lb nanofil and powerpro on my spinning reels currently, and its suitable for big fish when im casting, but fast trolling I doubt it would handle the tigers. The braid has no stretch and at fast speeds hard strikes from 15-25 lb tiger muskies really tests tackle, plus Im a firm believer in heavier line than leader so you don't break mainline and 15lb leader works well. When I target tigers I like 80lb braid and 50lb leader so I can get the fish to the boat fresh enough to release safely. According to the "precision trolling" pro edition line diameters less than .008" have no gain in dive curve. In their studies .008" and .006" were essentially equivalent concerning lure depth. The Seaguar 20lb is .0073" so really the Seaguar 20lb is thinner than the fireline 10lb found in the dive curves. justin

Before I had all of my line counter setups I ran spinning reels of my riggers, and I still use them once in while for browns and walleye just for kicks. Not really ideal, but it works. justin