by Capt. Dan Manyen

continued ... burner for today. Cold blooded animal like fish, stay pretty slow and lethargic in these cold water conditions.

Reading the signs and locating walleyes in the open expanses of a big lake or reservoir is a lot tougher than in a narrow river. I guess my first question or observation would be what time of the year it is. Is it Spring Summer or Fall?

Spring fish will be located near or along the shorelines near the rivers, reefs, sunken islands or weedy areas, recovering and foraging after their spawning ordeal. Bigger baits or cranks will work best at this time, because there are no young of the year in the system as of yet.

Summer fish will be dispersed and located throughout the whole system and water column. The usual holding areas where forage cover and close deep water sanctuaries are nearby.

Often featureless, flat areas hold many foraging walleyes. The abundant schools of baitfish roaming these areas keep the walleyes interested and zeroed in on that area.

Fall fish tend to gravitate back close to shore and continually nearer their spawning areas. Bigger cranks will again get their attention as the young of the year have now grown up some. Many of the smaller males will start their runs up any rivers that may run into the main body of the big water.

I guess more of the obvious signs to mention would include local bait shops around the water you plan to fish. Mosey on into the tackle shop, take your time and look and listen to the locals coming in.

Ask about the local favorite lures and techniques. Ask if they have any Lake Maps with the better fishing areas marked on it. Be friendly to the owners or people working for them. They can do more to help you out then anybody else.

Well, you finally launch your boat. Your arsenal today includes crank baits and crawlers. You'll be using both mast and inline planner boards for your technique presentation.

Now what signs are we looking for? As you clear the channel you see a bunch of boats working a reef a few miles off shore.

You head over and set the mast boards out. One side is running shallow and the other deep. You see a few boats around you netting fish, but your rods have not had a touch.

What's going on? Are you listening to what your planner boards are telling you? No, I didn't drink to much Bay water. Read the signs and do a little zig zagging.

If I make a turn and the outside board gets a fish, I speed up. If the inside board get a fish, I slow down. If another boats wake hits the boards and they stall, and get a fish when they start back up, I start stalling and engaging the motor.

This may imitate the darting, fleeing action of baitfish on days when the water is calm. If all your lines are set at the same length using the same lures and the first line out from the boat gets the hit, your others are set to long. That's because the first rods line out from the boat, is out of the water more than the others. And the height and angle from the top of the mast to the board makes the crank bait run shallower.

This doesn't happen using the inline boards, as the in lines sit on top and always run parallel with the water. Conversely, if the outside rod gets more hits, lengthen the leads on the inside lines. Of course reading, calculating and applying all the signs that your other equipment is telling you can all help as well.

The speed, depth, temp and fish markings and where they are in the water column, all tell you both the mood and ...continued

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