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| Off Shore Tackle Side-Planer is designed for use with deep-diving crankbaits or leadcore. |
In summer, walleyes can be just about anywhere on a body of water and often that’s why covering as much water as possible is so important to success. In open water, that means utilizing boards and the best one’s out there are the top rated Off Shore Tackle OR12 Side Planers. These boards are ballasted so they run true in the roughest conditions, and even sit upright when still in the water. These boards are rugged too, built to last you for many seasons of fishing.
Review by scoyote from Colorado: "These are the top of the line planer boards.They won't tip, they will pull BIG cranks without a problem. The stay visible in the waves and don't submarine when popping off the tops of big waves."
Fishing Structure
When fishing structure, however, you don’t want to get the lures too far away from the boat as you need more control to keep them on the right contour. This is where we opt to use long rods—really long rods—to get the baits just far enough from the boat to reduce any spooking factor. The Bass Pro Shops Walleye Angler Series fishing rods offer both 10 and 12 foot 2 piece trolling rods that are ideal for structure trolling applications.
Spreading fishing lures vertically is also an important consideration. Sometimes that means using methods that allow lures to run deeper than they normally run on their own. This is a common practice when using smaller sized lures or spinner harnesses that are not designed to dive very deep on their own. In open water it may mean adding a weight in front of the lure, like an Off Shore Tackle Guppy Weight on an OR16 Pro Snap, or an in-line weight like the top rated Bass Pro Shops Fish Weight Inline Weights to gain more depth. Or in situations where we are trolling structure, we often incorporate lead core line to get the baits to the desired depth.
Know How Deep Your Lures Run
Knowing exactly how deep your lures run is one of the most important keys to being successful at trolling for any fish species, especially walleyes. For years we have relied on the data provided by the gang at Precision Trolling to know how much line to let out to get certain baits to specific depths. It was simply a matter of referring to the depth chart for the particular lure we were fishing, first in their books (which are no longer in print), and then on stickers that can easily be attached to the lid of your crankbait box for easy reference. Now, with their convenient Precision Trolling Data App, available for both Android and iPhone formats, having this information is right at your fingertips.
Understanding how to spread out your presentations to cover the water both horizontally and vertically will go a long way in helping you get your Next Bite.
Editor’s Note: If you have questions or comments on this or other articles of mine you may have read, contact me through the website The NextBite.
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