Show: Flicker Shad Trolling for Sturgeon Bay Walleyes

Destination: Sturgeon Bay area of Green Bay, Lake Michigan in Wisconsin

Anglers: Keith Kavajecz, Dale Stroschein

Season: May

Contact: Dale Stroschein

Next Airing: Week of 3/29/2010 - Click Here for Show Times
Dale guides on the Bay out of his resort in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin. Walleyes and Smallmouth Bass are his specialties. Contact him at the Sand Bay Beach Resort and Suites (920 743-5731) or at www.sandbaybeachresort.com.

Pattern:
Post spawn is a “tricky” time of year for many anglers because the fish are changing locations quickly. During pre-spawn and the spawning timeframes the fish are fairly concentrated. Once an angler finds the right area there is a good chance for fast and furious action in fairly small spots. But after the spawn the walleye quickly spread out looking for food. Thus the need to switch gears, switch tactics and cover some water.

During this show, Dale and Keith found the fish roving on the tapering shoreline breaks. The walleyes were fairly shallow and not concentrated in one depth. To probe a lot of water, the anglers used Off Shore Tackle OR-12 Side Planer boards. In Wisconsin it is legal to run 3 lines each, so they employed 3 boards off each side of the boat. The boards not only spread out the lures to cover more water, but also got the lures away from the boat to avoid spooking.

Although they started out with a variety of lure types, it became quickly obvious that the bait the walleyes wanted was a #7 Berkley Flicker Shad. Best colors were Chartreuse Pearl, Fire Tiger and Purple Tiger. This was determined by running a variety of lures and letting the walleyes dictate what they wanted. Interestingly enough, the water was very clear (4 to 6 foot visibility) so one would think more natural colors would be preferred (e.g. Purple Tiger). But for some reason Chartreuse Pearl (which is almost Green on top) and Fire Tiger caught the attention of most of the fish.

Since the water temp was only in the high 40’s, Dale mainly stuck to slow trolling speeds. Using the Mercury 9.9 Pro Kicker on Keith’s 21 foot Tracker Tundra it was very easy to maintain a 1.2 to 1.5 mph troll. More importantly by using a kicker with a tiller handle on it, Dale was able to maintain the proper depth to keep the Flicker Shads in the right depth.

The area being fished was a shoreline taper, so the Flicker Shads running closest to shore were running in shallower water than the lures running furthest from shore. When Keith and Dale let out the Flicker Shads, the ones running closest to shore had less line out (from the lure to the board). This caused these lures to run shallower. The Flicker Shads on the outside boards (furthest from shore) were in deeper water, so more line is let out to get them to run a little deeper. Sometimes when trolling structure like this it is necessary to run the lures right close to bottom (and sometimes ticking bottom) to be in the feeding zone. But because of the clear water in Green Bay you have a little more leeway and the lures just need to be within 2 or 3 feet of the bottom – the fish will swim up to eat them.

One of the big keys to this technique is keeping the boat in a consistent depth so that the lures are always working. Let the boat slip in a little to shallow and the lures will begin to hit bottom. Green Bay has a lot of zebra muscles that love to cling onto treble hooks – and walleyes rarely bite a lure when “zebs” are aboard. Get out too deep with the boat and the cranks will be running way off the bottom – out of the feeding zone. So the angler running the boat must be continuously watching the fish finders to keep the right depth. In Keith’s boat, it is rigged up to make that easier by having one Lowrance HDS-10 unit on the bow (for when Dale was looking forward) and one Lowrance HDS-8 unit on the back deck (for when Dale was checking the boards). To eliminate interference, the bow unit was set to run the standard 200KHz signal whereas the back unit was set to run the wider coned 83Khz signal. The neat thing about the HDS units is that with one “normal sized” skimmer transducer you can choose the frequency using the screens on the HDS unit, so there is no interference between the two transducers and two different views (cones) of the bottom.

One thing about walleye fishing to remember is that often what seems like a “fluke” is actually a pattern. This was the case on this outing. One of the first really big fish bit after the lure stalled and surged. This stall and surge often happens when contour trolling a shoreline. When the boat is turned to hold the contour, the boards to the inside of the turn will slow down – and on a sharp enough turn actually stop in the water. This of course will cause the lure to pause also. Once the turn is complete, the board will quickly pick up speed – this causes the lure to surge ahead.

For Dale and Keith, it became pretty evident that this stall and surge action on the boards (and Flicker Shads) was trigging bites. So instead of randomly having the boards stall and surge, Dale intentionally started make short sharp turns to work the boards and trigger bites. Remember these turns should not be long sweeping turns that take the boat out of the desired depth range, but rather sharp enough turns to make the board stall and still keep the right depth.

The rods used were Bass Pro Shops Walleye Angler Signature Series 8 foot 6 inch trolling rods. These longer rods have a good backbone to carry the weight and drag of the in-line planer boards, but at the same time have a flexible tip to prevent the fish from shaking off. The Okuma 20 Series StrataMaster Line Counter Reels were spooled with 10 pound test Berkley Trilene XT line. The lures were attached to the line with a Size 1 Berkley Cross-Lok Snap.

Many people have commented about the long handled net – it is a Frabill net with a “custom built” 12 foot extension handle. This long handle is great for trolling situations because walleyes will often come up and “wallow” just outside conventional netting range. When a fish wallows that is a common time for them to throw the lure out of their mouth. If you fish a shorter handled net, try to keep the fish down until it is netting range before bringing it to the surface.

Dale lives right on Green Bay in the Sturgeon Bay area. He guides for a living so even though the fish are moving this time of year – with Dale, they can run but they can not hide. Flicker Shads are becoming a power house in the walleye trolling scene. They have proven themselves in rivers, reservoirs and natural lakes – and now are showing their effectiveness in the Great Lakes. In talking to Dale, the Flicker Shad bites started right after spawn in Green Bay and went all the way until September this past year. Just remember as the season goes on, the fish in Green Bay typically move out deeper, so don’t hesitate to move out with them and let out additional line to get the Flicker Shads down close to the bottom.

Grab some Flicker Shads, spread them behind some Off Shore Tackle Side Planer Boards, troll slow on the shoreline breaks of Green Bay and we bet you’ll get - The Next Bite.