WILLARD BAY

[FISHKING64]

Headed out tonight to find some wipers, on the F&G report is says to troll between 3 & 4 mph, is this for real? I have had fair sucess trolling at about 2 mph, do I need to pick up the pace for more sucess?
[signature]

[Troll]

Speeds have been all over the map on any given day. I'll report I was going 3.5 and slaming them and someone else the same day will report 1.5 was the magic speed.

Keep trying different speeds, do tight S turns and take note if it is the outside or inside rod that is getting hit. Outside is troll faster, inside is troll slower.
I use sinking (countdown) lures when I do this. If the hit comes as the lure goes from fast to slow I know the lure is running to shallow at troll speed, If the lure is hit just as it speeds up, I keep stopping the boat and let the lures settle down then I put in gear and let them come up off the bottom, or switch to a deep enough diver to get to them.
[signature]

[AFDan52]

[font "Arial Black"][red][size 3] I have to agree with Troll, you need to keep changing your speed. I usually troll at 3-3.5 mph but when nothing happens after a while I slow down and start trying all over the speed chart.[/size][/red][/font]
[font "Arial Black"][#ff0000][size 3][/size][/#ff0000][/font]
[font "Arial Black"][#ff0000][size 3] AFDan52[/size][/#ff0000][/font]
[signature]

[FISHKING64]

Thanks guys for the info i will put to work tonight and let you know how we do.
[signature]

[fishwriter]

Speed is an iffy situation. I was trolling side by side with another boat after I asked him how fast he was going and his speedometer on his fishfinder said 2.5 mph. My gps said I was going 3.2 mph and my fishfinder said I was at 2.9 mph so what everybody says is true and false depending on whose meter reading you are going by. I troll between 2 and 3.5 on my gps and find out what is working. The last week slower speeds have worked but I also saw boats going much faster and they were picking up fish. Bottom line I believe when you go through a school of fish you catch some no matter how fast your going. So the main key may be finding a feeding school of fish on your electronics and then grab your rod.
[signature]

[FISHKING64]

We had a great night on the water, picked up 4 wipers off of the west dike, not red hot but we didn't get Skunked. Speeds seemed to be all ovet the board, must not be a factor right now. Thanks for the info.
[signature]