Happy Labor Day Everyone! Conditions this past week have been spectacular for trolling. Im getting a mixed bag of fish from pike to walleye to even Brown trout right in Ashland. The break wall has been very slow this week though there are bass congregating on the south end. Id like to pass on some tips for trolling the Bay. If your not marking fish with your electronics dont bother fishing/trolling the area. Its not worth your time. There is a prevalent myth that muddy water makes for bad trolling. Maybe thats part of why there have been less boats out this past week. :) Some of the best fishing in general and trolling Ive had on the Bay has been with muddy water. Especially a flood type rain like we had a week ago. That much water and mud rushing into the Bay pushes fish out to the deep edges all along Ashland/Washburn and makes fish that are typically tight to near impossible to fish type of structures easy picking. Maybe the look of the water when its muddy isnt as aesthetically pleasing but I promise you will learn to love it when you start putting 2 ft walleye and big pike in the boat because of it. Marking fish on the sonar is great but if they are not active fish or you cannot reach them with the lures youre using its going to end in frustration. You want to make sure the fish your targeting are in the strike zone for the presentation youre using. Best case scenario is marking suspended fish in 12-16 ft with clear water. These fish will come up and take baits trolled on boards just under the surface (stick baits). When the water muddies up you can still catch fish off the surface but where you mark them in the water column is integral to success. When its muddy youre looking for fish within 6-10 feet of the diving depth of your bait. Any more than that and they wont react to it going over head. Scout out the weed edges with your sonar before trolling. Ideally you want to see fish on the weed edges in 12-15 but if they are not there and you see fish less than 10 ft down over 20-25 those are active fish that will be able to see and react to your bait. If you think that seems deep think of it this way. A fish 9 ft down in 12 feet of water is the same distance below your bait as a fish 9 feet down in 22 feet. It actually can be better trolling when you see this because there are less weeds to contend with in the deeper water. Once you have active fish on the sonar (fish your marking in the upper part of the water column) the next thing to figure out is color. Color is very important and will make or break your day. I ran 4 boards the past 3 trips out and had one of the Storm Thundersticks in brown in the spread. I rotated reef runners, bombers, deep and shallow divers. Its important not to be too stubborn. Just because you had success on a gold reef runner most of the season doesnt mean thats the best bait now with muddy water. Certainly run one of those in the initial spread but add three other very different colors and until you have a solid pattern figured out. 85% of the fish I caught on the last few trips were on this one Thunderstick in the four bait spread. I hadnt used this bait at all prior this year. UV baits seem to be easier to see when the water is muddy. When its clear I like to use baits that are gold/orange and have good flash in the sun. I will say though the walleye really seem to prefer this particular Thunderstick. Speed. I like to troll at 1.7 -2 mph. Faster can work but Ive found that stickbaits at less than 1.7 dont seem to produce as well for me. Chartplotters are an incredible tool. If youre serious about trolling and you dont have one on your boat I strongly recommend getting one. I use mine to follow contour lines. If you dont want to be super serious but want to troll some then Navionics on a smart phone will get you started. The channel, weed, and board edges are hot right now for walleye and pike in Ashland. Like I said the wall has been slow. The migration seems to have sputtered out with the rain and decresing water temps which mean the walleye and pike are hanging out and feeding in the Ashland part of the bay right now which is o.k. with me. Weeds are heavy on the surface so keep your baits pulling as you let them out on the boards to keep them clean and check them often. Shore fishing is good now also in Ashland. There are some nice pike in the weeds close to shore in the Marina, off the Oredock, and in the hot pond. Pan fish are abundant and there are some keepers in the hot pond and marina. Lots of small mouth in the hot pond and a few walleye mixed in. The Marina has been the hot spot this week for shore fisherman. Has anyone tried trolling the rivers yet? Sounds early but that waters high and cold and there are browns in the rivers already... Good luck! Brian W.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 14:00:00 +0000
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