Recently had the opportunity to fish Yellow Lake which is located in Burnett County, Webster Wisconsin. Each fall season when the lake turnsover, schools of walleyes head out to the deep mud flats gorging on small perch. This bite normally lasts about 3 to 4 weeks on Yellow Lake. I have fished Yellow Lake since a youngster, having spent many summers fishing the lake as the family lived there for numerous years. Trolling is the best technique to catch these deep walleyes. I employ two different means, 1 using 18lbs leadcore line. Leadcore changes colors each 10yd section so you can tell the exact amount of line your letting out without a counter. I attach a barrel swivel to one end and about a 5ft section of 10lbs mono. When fishing leadcore I try to have the lure about a few inches off of the bottom. I always use a Storm Hot-N-Tot as the lure puts out a vibration so you can determinte whether the lure is foulded with weeds. In Wisconsin each angler is allowed the use of 3 rods, so I also use 2 downriggers spooled with 10lbs mono. I use line counter reels and put out 75yds before attaching to the downrigger. Top lures for me have been the Cotton Cordell deep 2.5in minnows, Norman deep baby N, and Rapala deep diving jointed shad raps. I normally am trolling in depths of 25 to 30ft. Boat speed is a key factor and I try to keep it moving around 1.8-2.2mph. Normally, 4 to 4 1/2 colors of leadcore when trolling a 2in hot-n-tot will put the lure near the bottom. My favorite color is green/ black herringbone which is no longer made since Rapala bought out Storm. The past 2 weeks, I had limit catches of walleyes in terrible weather conditions consisting of high winds, freezing temperatures, lots of rain, and even 2 inches of snow. However,give deep water trolling a try when your lake goes into the fall turnover period and you might be surprised on your catch!
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