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| Trolling Guys, new to trolling and just looking for a little general advice for this late fall period. I'm fishing a Illinois reservoir with depths close to 50ft and a very strong shad population. What kind of speed should I be trolling at from now until ice up? What about locations and depths? My thought was to troll deep primary structure right off the main basin with big Jakes and Grandmas.... am I way off base here? Thanks in advance for the help. |
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Posts: 295
Location: Southern Ontario, Detroit River and Lake StClair | I can't help you with your lake but on ours which has a large shad population most of the fish we are catching are off creek and river mouths that the shad are heading up looking for warmer water. That would be the first place I'd start. A drive around. the baits your picked are the same as what we run. We have our best luck with 2.2-2.8mph with them at this time of year. Don't be afraid to fish "high" either. A lot of our fish come over 20-30ft of water but on baits that are less then 10ft behind the boat. If you see shad on the surface you almost can't fish too high.
Good Fishin'
Tim
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Posts: 1686
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | if you're talking shelbyville, use bomber fat free shads in the largest size and 50 lb. braid to try to hit depths about 20 ft. troll deep structure, not cover, and hang on tight. if you want to really learn go to bucksbaits.com and get the book on how to spoonplug. this method applies to muskies as well and I was the only person to catch 3 kinkaid muskies friday.......most drew a blank, a few had 1, didn't hear of anyone doubling up.
Edited by RyanJoz 10/27/2009 12:38 PM
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| Guys, thanks for helping out a no-good FIB. Just needed an idea for range of speeds when the water gets cool like this. Lake is not Shelby. Lots of shad high in the water column during certain times of the day.
Bomber Fat Free Shad - its the 3" 3/4 oz model. Heard of guys trolling smaller bass crankbaits over on Webster, so it makes sense it would apply to IL reserviors. Heard of spoon-plugging, no idea what it is though. Will have to do a little research.
Thanks again for the replies. |
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Location: Des Moines IA | You might as well give up, there aren't any fish in Shabbona. |
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| "You might as well give up, there aren't any fish in Shabbona."
Jeez. Not trying to be secretive on the lake. Just didn't think it was necessary to mention it by name because its not important to the conversation of how to troll this time of year. In order to prevent people from trying to look smarter than they really are, its Lake Evergreen. For those who know it well, its a real b!tch sometimes. |
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Location: Des Moines IA | You caught me, I was trying to be a jacka$$, Evergreen is a tough nut to crack, I've had luck with 10 inch Jakes, 9 inch grannies, and depthraiders there. 2 - 3.5 mph seems to be my key speed range in the fall as well. I hardly ever troll deeper than 10 ft down (40 - 60 feet of line out), because the shad are usually pretty high up in the water column.I will say this Evergreen fish seem to be pretty stout! i've seen some atties come out of there. Hope that helps. |
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| Thanks Mike |
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I hope you can fingure it out. I have been fishing Evergreen my whole life ... I grew up across a corn field from it. The past 15 or so years for muskies alone.
I have yet to crack the Fall trolling pattern on that lake. It seems like once the calendar flips to October / November the trolling bite dies. I have/do catch them out there casting this time of year but not trolling.
It's frustrating because it isn't not like it is hard to find the shad. I will continue to try and one day I will stumble onto something out there. Major flooded right now, so it won't be this weekend but probably next.
Good Luck ...
Thad Hinshaw
www.evergreenmuskie.com
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Posts: 32833
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Thad,
Are you seeing the fish on the sonar and they just won't go, or do they simply get hard to find? |
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | I have zero experience on shad lakes, but a lot of time trolling other types of water. It sounds like the lake has a fishable population. My bet is that you're fishing below the muskie. There are a lot of baits you can put back 40-60 feet behind the boat that will stay in the upper five feet of the water column. You can troll them any other lures much closer to the boat, also. 10-20 feet back or less. Lots of those high fish will never register on a graph. They might be there and you're not seeing them, and fishing way under them never seems to work for anything. Can't tell you how many times I've struck out trolling thru big wads of bait and fish marks, only to have a rod go off when the screen's 100% blank. Those small, shad-based lakes stateside are something I have no experience with, I'm sure there are certain speeds, bait sizes that guys have dialed in. Drifting around with a sucker seems like a popular option down there lol. |
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| JBush, what kinds of baits would you prefer that you can troll that shallow? |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | MuskieMike - 10/28/2009 1:47 PM
You caught me, I was trying to be a jacka$$,
Here's be practicing it for a long time. But I think he got it now. 
Hi Mike! |
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | Legend Outkast is the best one IMO. Shallow Invaders, Stalkers and jointed Believer on the shallow eye are the ones we use the most. There's also spinnerbaits, inline spinners and jerkbaits like Sledges, Big Daddies, Suicks, Bobbies. Some of the 'St.Clair style' jointed/solid baits you can keep high also. I like the Outkasts because they're the most durable lures I've ever used and they will stay in that upper 4 or 5 feet wether you set them back 15 feet behind the boat or 50 feet. Sometimes setting a shallow diver back those extra feet seems to work. They don't pull much water either, and you can try setting them out behind a walleye board. That just might work for you too. Outkasts have a violent action and will usually shake off any bits of weed. The round lip is also great over shoals (not sure if you'll be doing much of this). We run them right thru the high spots all the time, they stay nice and high, and if they do find a rock, they'll come thru it. You know a spot's shallow if an Outkast bumps it. |
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