Walk trolling..Say What?

[Lee Borgersen]

 12 /26/2012

                   Fish of the Week: Walk Trolling a Laker.  
    
  
    
  
  
    
 

Danielo X Hamilton showed why he is one of the better lakefront fishermen on Sunday when he caught a 36 1/2-inch lacer weighing 16 pounds from shore in downtown Chicago.

He was walk trolling an X-Rap on 6-pound line, according to his friend Daryl Parker.

I think walk trolling on the lakefront is one of the under-utilized techniques in Chicago fishing.



Walk trolling, who'd a thunk.

[DDSBYDAY]

   I learned that technique a couple of years ago.  I was on a 3 day fishing excursion.  We got to fish for a day and a half.  Rain, wind, heavy rain and then strong winds.  Shortly after that the bad weather came in.  I threw on the rain suit because I couldn't take it any more.  I went down to the marina and fished off the dock for about an hour.  I put on the old trusty slip bobber a split shot and a plain hook with a big minnow.  I sat under the cover of the boat we were supposed to be fishing out of.   The water was really dark.  You could not see a white jig more than 2ft down.   This guy comes down to the dock and asks me why I keep casting my line out when the fish are right under the dock.    The dock is pretty much like a hand with fingers coming off of it.   Fingers to accommodate as many boats as possible.  He grabs a rod out of his boat and starts walking down the dock twitching his jig.  He had caught 3 walleyes before I could reel my rig in, tie on a jig and tip it with a minnow.  He said the resort owners kind of frown on this technique so try to be subtle.  It was almost like ice fishing.  Pike and eyes with 4-8 ft of line out.    I did not believe it.  Like I said the water was very dark.   Given the right conditions walk trolling can be a very effective technique.