Wasn't expecting this.

[zackblain]

Went out to one of the fingers this morning to do a little trolling, half hour into my troll popped this big eye on a rigger going after rainbows. Shocked me as I was doing about 3.5 mph

Measured in at 32'' and 13lbs even, going on the wall!

[justtracytrolling]

Awesome fish!!!!!!  Doesn't surprise me a bit I troll those speeds specifically for eyes all summer!  Reaction bite!  Great job...how deep was it?  The eyes on Otisco seem to have gone deeper lately at least during the day.  Congratulations again....the finger lakes are awesome!

justin

[zackblain]

down 40' over 60' only about 15' back from the ball. Bait clouds everywhere today and fish all over, this one hit right in the middle of a bait cloud so thick it blanked out the screen. Looks like I have some experimenting to do when it comes to the eyes. I have a hard time getting my raps to run right over 2.5 mph, looks like I might have to go through and tune em all one of these days if it's slow.

[Patriot]

Wow!, great fish. A wall hanger for sure.

I've been fishing eyes for 10 yrs now and never dreamed of trolling 3.5mph for eyes. And I thought 2 was a bit fast.

Probably a bad idea but I'm done for the season. Guess I'll try that next year.

 

Thanks for the great tip

 

Greg

[zackblain]

Wow!, great fish. A wall hanger for sure.

I've been fishing eyes for 10 yrs now and never dreamed of trolling 3.5mph for eyes. And I thought 2 was a bit fast.

Probably a bad idea but I'm done for the season. Guess I'll try that next year.

 

Thanks for the great tip

 

Greg

same here, when I target them, I always considered 2-2.2 to be my max with cranks and a tad faster when trolling spoons, nothing over 3 for eyes. Lower water temps might have them fired up a bit though. Time for some experimenting when I get out next

[justtracytrolling]

I caught fish every trip all summer over 3mph! Rapala deep taildancers, taildancers, shad raps ALL will troll no prob to 3.5. Ive taken many eyes on the outside of a turn with big boards out over 100' going over 3 with the boat making the outside rod going 4 easy. I will say this is best done in very warm water temps when NOBODY can catch an eye. I learned this technique at Oneida Lake the first time I was there. Nobody was catching so I went faster and faster till bingo game on! Been doing it ever since. This is my mainstay all summer. BTW this technique produces the bigger fish, as Ive had only 1 eye under 18" caught going fast. Greg (walleyemagic) said it best the other day....things change for whatever reason and you have to adapt, move, think outside the box. Fish evolve and your uncles and grandfathers techniques may no longer work. We are predators and the fish and game LEARN to survive. If you don't evolve with the changes your effectiveness will drop. Now Ill start trying it in cooler temps thanks to Zack...sharing and posting works guys!

justin

[Xxx]

Went out to one of the fingers this morning to do a little trolling, half hour into my troll popped this big eye on a rigger going after rainbows. Shocked me as I was doing about 3.5 mph

Measured in at 32'' and 13lbs even, going on the wall!

WOW that is a pig and speed, that seems outrageous, but Justin couldn't said it better the 1.5-2.0 days are over, buy the way you got me by quarter lb. I have one mounted also 32" 12.75 lbs but that one came out of Canada, fly in trip June 13 1993. I still have dreams of that day, if we ever meet I'll tell ya the story.

[zackblain]

I caught fish every trip all summer over 3mph! Rapala deep taildancers, taildancers, shad raps ALL will troll no prob to 3.5. Ive taken many eyes on the outside of a turn with big boards out over 100' going over 3 with the boat making the outside rod going 4 easy. I will say this is best done in very warm water temps when NOBODY can catch an eye. I learned this technique at Oneida Lake the first time I was there. Nobody was catching so I went faster and faster till bingo game on! Been doing it ever since. This is my mainstay all summer. BTW this technique produces the bigger fish, as Ive had only 1 eye under 18" caught going fast. Greg (walleyemagic) said it best the other day....things change for whatever reason and you have to adapt, move, think outside the box. Fish evolve and your uncles and grandfathers techniques may no longer work. We are predators and the fish and game LEARN to survive. If you don't evolve with the changes your effectiveness will drop. Now Ill start trying it in cooler temps thanks to Zack...sharing and posting works guys!

justin

 

I've been keeping up with your reports and have been somewhat hesitant to try speeds as fast as you have posted, look's like I've got some changes to make, Also going to start throwing more spoons in the mix, Love the action of those stinger scorpions!

[Xxx]

Same here, I'm going to start at 2.2mph and go faster until 3mph, then back down PAP.

[justtracytrolling]

The people that I tell about my technique in person never believe me and think Im full of S...  I can tell by the looks on their faces...  Ive even been told that cant be how I do it...or that its luck.  Im not exaggerating or misleading anyone...this IS how I do it and luck isn't a factor, as my results are as consistant as it gets.  I only know it works on Otisco and Oneida....I tell people what do you have to lose?  Give it a try...unless you catch enough big walleyes already.  Ive never caught em over 10lbs but I catch a few decent fish.  

justin

[Sk8man]

That is one sweet eye Zack. Nice going! The increased trolling speed is an interesting case of why it is necessary to think "out of the box" while fishing regardless of species.  Walleyes may require it even more than other fish as they often do things out of the ordinary....just watch them while ice fishing sometime   My hunch is that most of the time they operate  well within their comfort zone in terms of expending energy ...finding and attacking the easiest or most "vulnerable" target but when hungry they are capable of good speed and can be pretty aggressive when provoked to respond as when "triggered" by the unusual or something that either appeals to them as potential food or maybe even irritates them in some way.  Sometimes it is wise to throw out our "assumptions" about what we think (e.g. troll slow as possible and with worm harnesses etc.) they may  (or should) be doing and experiment with lure type, size, speed, and the various types of presentations when the fish are being marked and not hitting especially...often we just troll along through and come back around without modifying anything because it maybe too much "work" rather than really "messing" with them   I used to catch nice bows on Seneca in December trolling near 3 mph despite the cold water...fish will do things not necessarily "in the textbook".

[rnsurfnturf]

I believe after fishing with Justin (on plane)   at 3 mph and then fileting up the numerous walleyes and checking stomach contents to find NOTHING in them the entire summer, that it was merely a reaction bite only and they were not eating.  When your burning a taildancer across their nose at 3 mph they go into autopilot and the vibration triggers the strike. Not because they were hungry. If any of those fish had anything at all in their stomachs , I would think otherwise.

 

Its like the 6" rock bass that I caught on my F18 the other night. I dont think he hit it because he was hungry, it was a reaction to the vibration going by. I asked him what he was thinking, but he just looked at me!

 

And, Justin can tell you how many different species were caught at that same speed.

 

Tim

[FISHMAN 930]

i catch lots of eyes at 3mph seems the bigger ones like to hit when you go a little faster my boat does 3.2 mph low as it goes and i get tons of eyes 8 to 13 lb range . good fish hope you get on em again try conesus sometime work mcphersons and long point and in front of the beachcomber lots of slobs to be had .

[zackblain]

Conesus always seems to get the best of me, but I usually only ever venture over there in the summer when its weed/party boat city and fishing is next to impossible. I will be over there this fall for sure and would like to try it in the spring as well, thanks for the info.

[justtracytrolling]

I use the speed to trigger inactive fish.  As Tim stated after the lake flips at the end of spring I checked stomach contents of around 100 walleyes and 100% of them were shriveled, empty, and lacked any signs of digestive fluid.  Because Otisco has low oxygen levels below the thermocline the bigger eyes are concentrated in a narrow band of the water column.  I also use the walleye's natural instinct to feed in low changing light times.  By concentrating my lures in this band at fast speeds during low changing light times I am able to put walleye in the boat no matter what the weather is...they just cant resist their instincts.  Ive always associated this pattern with warmer temps, but Zack seems to have disproven this some.  Sk8man also makes a good point that irritability may be a factor as the big eyes are females! lol  The hard part is running the lure close to walleye as they aren't schooled.  The more negative the fishes' mood the closer you have to get the bait.   Of course the more lures in the water the better your chances of strikes, and because the lures are at similar depths the odds of tangling up on turns goes up dramatically.   Takes a bit of practice to maximize your effort and still turn.  Otisco is less than 6 miles long and the portion of the lake that is deep enough to fish the thermocline is more like 2.5 - 3 miles long.  Then subtract the area that has floating weeds and you don't have long at 3+ mph before you need to turn.  I don't have a temp probe yet so I space my lures to start and dial in when I make contact.  The drawback to going fast is its more work and you will lose more fish because its very easy to put too much pressure on the fish, but its been about 100% success rate every time you leave the dock.  Spring and fall can produce big numbers if you make the right moves, but zeroes if you don't as the fish aren't any 1 depth and are difficult to pattern.  Summer seldom yields more than 3-4 fish but more dependable and you don't have to night fish.  Im sure there are 100 other ways to be effective on Otisco, but this works best for me.  If you look at the different species in the lake I believe if caught every single one trolling fast.  walleye, tigers, browns, lmb, smb, white perch, crappie, yellow perch, catfish, bullhead, rock bass, carp, bluegill, sunfish, and snagged alewives, suckers, golden shiners.  You can bet Ill be trying the faster speeds in the spring and fall next year as well, but getting a reaction bite will be tougher when the fish are all over the water column and I doubt Ill get the consistency Im used to in the summer, but I have good luck casting then so its not a big deal.  I will make it out to Conesus next summer for sure to try my program there, as I believe the lakes are similar and Conesus doesn't have the hole in the stocking years so I think the odds of an exceptional fish are better there.  Though Im not naïve enough to think Fishman930's results are indicative of the average guy no more than my results are indicative of the average guy at Otisco.  Ill bet he works very hard also as consistency and walleye fishing aren't usually associated words. Next year Otisco should have a decent run of 10 pounders where this year those fish were 7-9 pounds.  Last year my bigger fish were 6-8 pounds.

justin

[Sk8man]

Now that is a very useful post "you can take to the bank" (no pun intended) You sure had a season to remember Justin.....talk about "dialin em in"   

[justtracytrolling]

Thanks Les it means a lot! Of course opinions and results may vary!  
justin

[BSmaster]

Justin, I look forward to the Conesus experiment.  I hope it works out well.  Lots of Pike in Conesus and the bullheads are some of the most aggressive that I have ever seen.

Joe

[Sk8man]

Joe,

 

I have a special place in my heart for the bullheads.....look who they are up against....(muskies pike ,walleyes, bass) kinda like the Bill's this year