Boards and Bays
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There is a common misconception about shallow walleye. This misconception is that for walleye to be shallow there must be deep water somewhere nearby. Early in the year however, we often find walleye in shallow bays and flowages where the deepest water in these areas is often less than seven feet. Some bays are several hundred acres and the deepest water might be five or six feet. From Lake Winnebago to Devils Lake, we often find fish literally miles from water that gets deeper than ten feet.
One factor that makes these shallow backwater areas so attractive to walleye is the fact that these shallow flats warm up fast. Generally, these kinds of environments are wind swept and turbid. The water usually has some color. This dark water absorbs heat much more so than clear water. In some environments however, the water has good enough light penetration to encourage significant weed growth and weeds will keep these fish in such areas for a surprisingly long time.
When we are trying to identify such areas on the map, we are just looking for large shallow flats that are somehow isolated or protected from the bigger and deeper water of the main lake or river body. The bigger and flatter these shallow bays are, the better. A flat bottom on a shallow bay typically warms up much faster, much like a solar panel. Usually, these types of bottoms are soft bottoms but some changes in substrate like gravel or fist size rock in places may concentrate or funnel fish location.
There are several ways to approach these shallow flats early in the season. Generally, we want to get our presentation away from the boat in this shallow of water. This usually means we are either pitching jigs and perhaps crankbaits or trolling and long lining. From a catching fish perspective, trolling planer boards using short leads is about as effective of a presentation I know of for finding and catching these fish. We might run the outside board out to 150 feet to the side of the boat but often, (depending on the lure) might only have the lure twenty feet behind the planer board. Usually, we will run two boards off each side of the boat. Assuming we have enough licensed anglers in the boat where legal to do so.
If you have never ran multiple boards, keep the process simple. Remember that the outside board goes in the forward rod holder and the inside board always goes to rear rod holder. There are a few ways to switch rods or bring in fish. Generally, when the outside board drops back with a fish, I will let the fish pull the board straight back behind the boat while I reel the inside board about half way in. As I reel in the outside board with the fish on and unclip the board, I than move the inside board to the outside and often let out line with the clicker on. Just remember to switch rods, rotate rod holders and use your clicker. After you bring a fish in on the outside board, move your inside board to the outside and switch. This is the process that works for me but you might have to find a similar routine that works in your boat. Remember that for this to work, you have to be moving enough to keep the fish skiing up on top.
When trolling these shallow flats, small diving baits or shallow running baits rule the roost. Popular diving baits include the Berkley Flicker Shad, Rapala Shad Rap and Salmo Hornet. Shallow running baits that have proven themselves for this type of walleye duty include: Reef Runner’s Shallow Rip Stick, Shallow Running Salmo Frisky, Shallow Running Shad Raps and the classic Rapala Husky Jerk or Original Floater.
Usually, when I am long line trolling, I prefer Berkley Fire Line for several reasons but when I am using planer boards, monofilament has several advantages. The pads on the clips stick to mono much better. When you are trolling several boards, the last thing you want is a board to slide down to the lure or worst yet come off. I use 10 lb. Berkley XT when I can. What I mean by this is there are still situations where I have to use Fire Line. Zebra mussels or an excess of toothy fish like northern pike might force me to use a super line instead of mono.
Most anglers I know use Off Shore Planer Boards because of their clips and durability. Line counter reels are pretty handy pieces of equipment and a wise investment if you are doing much trolling. My favorite trolling rod for either long line trolling, planer boards or lead core is an 8 foot 6 inch Jason Mitchell Elite Series Telescoping Trolling Rod.
When you set up your rods, make an attempt to calibrate your reels. Tie the line to something in the back yard. Start walking away while holding the rods to see how close the reels are to each other. You will catch many more fish if you can match your reels so that you can duplicate whatever is working. Keep the spools full for greater accuracy.
Early in the season when we are targeting these shallow fish by trolling, another tactic that works very well is to use the bow mount trolling motor to power your boat instead of the kicker. This is a deadly tactic whenever the water is flat calm. When anglers are doing this, they are often using 36-volt systems for the durability. MinnKota’s Power Drive Series of Trolling Motors with the remote steering is perfect for this application. Using the electric trolling motor can allow you to just crawl, moving just enough to cause the lures to wobble which can be just right early in the year.
Often when the sun is out, fish will be positioned right under the surface. Keep this in mind as you experiment with leads of line behind the planer board. If in doubt, fish high. Keep your lures off the bottom when sweeping through these bays with planer boards because you are not going to catch anything if you are dragging debris on the hooks or bill. Keep the lures high and let the fish come up for them. No need to dredge bottom in this scenario.
Trolling with boards lets you break down these often-large protected flats in a hurry and crankbaits work great for catching these fish. Sometimes, fish location might be narrowed down more so with stands of bull rushes, rock piles and other shallow forms of structure that might make pitching or slip bobbering a more efficient option. Use the trolling tactics to learn what you are fishing and adapt to other tactics to keep putting walleye in the boat. All of us here at Yar-Craft Boats wish you good luck and we hope to see you on the water this season.
Sheldon Meidinger is one of the PWT’s elite anglers with several top ten finishes throughout his career.