Backtrolling to Catch Walleye

Backtrolling, Drifting, Trolling: Three Ways of Catching Walleye

Trolling, backtrolling, drifting are three of the most popular methods of walleye fishing, and for good reason.  When done properly and at the right time of year, each of these techniques can help you catch a lot of keeper walleye. 

Drifting, although it is usually a controlled drift, allows anglers to give walleye a very slow presentation while still covering water.  Live bait and jigs are both popular for drifting and are usually fished vertically.  If a hotspot is found, many anglers resort to backtrolling to work that spot over as much as possible. 

Essentially, backtrolling is a vertical jigging technique where you use your motor to working your bait back and forth over a promising piece of structure, usually one specific feature that you know, or highly suspect, is holding walleye.  Backtrolling is designed to get your lure extremely close to the structure and can be used during times when walleye are relatively inactive will make only the most feeble attempts at feeding.  Pulling your lure right across a targeted structure feature repeatedly by backtrolling can be, at times, the most effective way of catching walleye. 

Although the current plays a role, many claim that the best backtrolling strategy is to position the boat with your back to the wind, preventing you from being blown off your target area.  The main issue when backtrolling is boat control and keeping your bait confined to a small, highly productive piece of structure. 

Jigging spoons, jigs, and live bait rigs all provide an excellent presentation when backtrolling.  Some experts even suggest that slip bobbers can also be used when backtrolling over a shallow structure. 

After hooking into a walleye when backtrolling, many anglers will throw out a marker buoy or punch in a GPS marker (to get right on that exact spot, since it is likely that there are a dozen or so more walleye close by).  Another popular common sense strategy is to use the motor to pull the boat and the hooked fish into deeper water to get it away from any structure it could use to break your line, as well as keep it from spooking the other fish any more than necessary.

Trolling, on the other hand, is a much more aggressive technique.  The gas motor is used to pull the boat and lures, usually deep diving crankbaits or rigs, at 1 to 2 mph, covering a lot of water in a short period of time.  Planers, downriggers, and pole holders are commonly used when trolling to get several lines spread out in the water, possibly at a variety of depths with different lures. 

Drifting and trolling can both be used as a locating technique or the preferred method at certain times, but they both work best when specifically targeting likely walleye hangouts or hotspots.  Learning how to troll, drift, and backtroll, as well as appropriate times to use each method, will help you catch more walleye in any season.