Keith and Gary have perfected trolling for scattered walleyes.

In the summertime, walleyes tend to spread out along rock structure, shorelines or reefs. They aren't hanging out in predictable places like cups and tips but are dispersed along the whole structure. Trolling a Storm Original Deep Jr. Thunderstick over structure in water 20 feet deep or less is a great way to catch these scattered fish.

This method of fishing is called "contour trolling" because you want to keep the lure at one depth -- typically right off a rocky bottom, or reef edge.  Let out enough line so that the lure starts to tick the bottom, then reel up a few feet until the lure is 1 to 2 feet off the bottom. Once the lure is running right, keep it there and follow that particular depth or contour.  You can troll this lure a little faster (up to 2 miles per hour) and cover more water to find the active fish.

A good walleye crankbait has a characteristic called "roll." A rolling lure puts off a lot of side flash and imitates a real baitfish. When a baitfish swims by, you really don't see the bait. What you see are little flickers of light. A good walleye crankbait creates the same effect when the lure's dark top rolls down, then its light belly rolls up. From the side, the bait appears to flash, alternating between lights and darks. The Deep Jr. Thunderstick has this fish-drawing quality. 

Lures require tuning, especially if they've been in your tacklebox for a while or even right out of the package. Amateurs are surprised at how much we tune our baits during a tournament. Almost every lure we use, we'll sweep it through the water fairly quickly to make sure it's running straight. If it runs off to one side, we simply adjust the eyelet on the bait with a pair of pliers. Always bend the eyelet the way you want the bait to go. If it's running away from the boat, you turn the eyelet toward the boat. 

Our favorite Thunderstick color is fire-tiger because it has green, chartreuse, orange and black in it -- all effective colors.  The rule of thumb in choosing a crankbait color is, in clear water, go with the more natural colors -- Tennessee Shad, black and silver, and blues.  Go with much-brighter colors, the oranges, greens and chartreuses, in dingy water.

Berkley Trilene XT in 10-pound test is our first choice for trolling line. It's strong and abrasion resistant to reel in even the biggest trophies. A great second choice is Berkley 10-4  FireLine (10-pound test/4-pound diameter). This no-stretch line gives lures great action and the thin diameter allows them to run up to 30 percent deeper than monofilament. A good trolling rod like the Walleye Angler Signature Series Trolling Rods (available in 7'6", 8' and 8'6" models), are designed specifically for this presentation. They all have good backbone to handle big deep-diving crankbaits, snap weights, and planer boards, yet a soft, flexible tip section that helps fight in big walleyes. Coupled with a quality line-counter trolling reel, it's the perfect outfit to use for this type of fishing.

Products available

Storm ThunderStick Series

Berkley FireLine

Berkley  Trilene XT