1.5 to 1.7 is where you want to be. Maybe even faster

 

Unless you are spinner fishing 1.1 days are behind us, march is when you need to be slow (or sub 40 degree) dec-march) 1.7 from here on out will work fine.

To answer your question, bigger bags or a kicker motor.

 

X2

 

Bigger bags or you can also trim your motor up some and reduce the speed. I run twin F250s of course only slow troll with one. I can trim the one that is running up and slow down the boat about .3 mph. Be careful and make sure the engine is cooling. Although once the spawn is over, I rarely troll under 2 mph. I don’t troll while the jig bite is on. Way more fun jigging them up than dragging for them.

 

Thanks for the recommendations. I went out Monday out of Monroe, MI and we started jigging and using blade baits but no success with either. So we switched, fishing 20 FOW trolling some reef runners and DHJ's at 1.5 to 1.7 only catching 5 and a slow go at that - but did not bring planer boards so trolled reef runners and dh's straight back not really knowing how deep they were. Many others limited out quickly. So I read reports that some were trolling at 1-1.2 which made me think I need to slow down. The other thing that comes to mind is I've read that in shallow water, walleye behind the boat get spooked by the motor and less likely to bite (thinking that's why those with planer boards off to the sides did better.) Which do you think was the culprit - too fast or not using planer boards? I do extremely well in the central basin deep waters from June - Nov and trying to learn more about the shallow western basin methods. THANKS!!!

 

at what depth were you marking fish. you could have just been fishing under the fish. i have caught fish in 20' of water running flatlines out the back. we have done great running not n tots and wiggle warts when deep divers wasnt working.

 

15-20'

 

So you weren't running planer boards ? Just flat lining behind the boat ?

 

we trolled the western basin for yrs and our go to baits was hot n tots and wiggle warts. but there was days the fishing was slow. then we pulled out the kitchen sink. wally divers, mud bugs, and anything else that went deep. back then we used spinning reels. never even heard of clip on weights. LOL.

 

I agree on the speed. As stated above, no need to slow down unless you are pulling spinners and even then you can get Colorado’s to go up to about 1.7, then you can switch to willow’s.
I would also suggest the Precision Trolling app. It will give you a better idea where your baits are running. And as I’m sure you already know, eye’s eyes are on top, you always need to be no deeper than them and generally above them for success.

Although baits will follow the boat pretty much zig zagging might help in shallow water. Most days though I think flatlining works just fine. Some folks have success running baits a short distance behind the boat in the prop wash.

 

get yourself kiker motor,
reason
big motor quit runing,you go home on small motor,
runing big motor for troling cost much more and tun up for big motor is price of small motor.
operation cost and safety is reason to get small motor,replacing big worn motor is big money.

 

what he says. kicker motor or big trolling motor is the best options. otherwise go to larger bags. i have a 21' glass boat with 36" bags i can really get down. other things you can do for small changes is idle the motor down. going down 2 degrees in pitch usually slows you down but you want to be careful you dont over tach at wot.

 

I have 4 sets of bags,thats 2 bags,1 for each size starting at 18,24,30 and 36.i troll my 140hp 4 stroke and trim up and down to regulate speed.while I steer with minn kota autopilot

 

We trolled Saturday by b-can at 1.7-2.2 SOG and lit em up. You shouldn’t have a problem

 

I have a trolling plate on my outboard boat. that slows quite a bit and toss big trolling bags if need slowed more.

 

if you decide to add a trolling plate get the easy troller. its hinged and spring loaded about half way up the plate so if you forget to raise it the bottom swings up.

 

I had a StarCraft 228 Expedition with 200 opti and easy troller I could get it to .9 and troll all day. Like Sherman said the the easy troller is a good option.

 

I use big bags on my boat, however the last few years i have been trolling 2.3-3 all season without bags and doing well