“Wiring a Pattern” for walleyes means to determine, through a combination of educated guessing, trial and error, and experience, the optimum conditions, location, and presentation for catching the most fish on a given day. The goal is to play Sherlock Holmes… using a process of deductive reasoning to zero in on the perfect bait, in the perfect color, run at the perfect depth , to get the perfect result… catching a bunch of walleyes.

In this example we’ll concentrate on a typical day’s trolling situation like you’d find on many popular walleye waters. For this explanation we’ll start with four lines… running four different lures in a variety of colors, set at four different depths. The tackle will include Off Shore Tackle Side Planers to help spread out our lures, Walleye Angler Signature Series Trolling Rods, line-counter reels, and 10-4 FireLine).

Trolling speed is an element that can play a major role in your success. Using a kicker motor speeds from 1 to 2 mph are easily obtained. Trolling with the wind will also give you better boat and speed control. If you are dealing with warmer water and more aggressive fish, faster speeds (up to 2.5 mph) will be an advantage because you will cover more water thus putting your lures in front of more fishes’ faces, upping your odds of contacting the “biters”.

To start, knowing what depth lures will dive to with a particular amount of line out is important. It is also noteworthy that the baits we have chosen cover the gamut from moderate action to high action… some with long – thin profiles, some more shad shaped. All good choices for summertime trolling. In certain bodies of water, walleyes can be very “forage selective”, so it’s important to vary the size and shape of your offerings in order to allow the fish to tell you what appeals to them the most.

The chart below outlines a typical beginning set-up. It’s designed to cover a range of depths with a good selection of lure styles and colors.

LURE	COLOR	LINE OUT	DEPTH
Storm Rattle Tot	Blue Scale	30′	8′
Storm Deep Jr. ThunderStick	Hot Tiger	120′	15′
Storm Lightnin’ Shad (DAL)	Blue Tango	80′	17′
Storm Deep ThunderStick	Met. Rainbow	240′	28′

Begin trolling along (hopefully where you’ve marked a bunch of open water fish) and “There… fish on!”. A nice fat and feisty six pounder comes to the net. It’s on the Lightnin’ Shad. Now let’s analyze this for a moment … The lure is a “shad” style bait with some blue, orange and gold coloration. It was running down in the 17′ depth range. The thing to do now is change out one of the other set-ups. Let’s drop the shallow running Rattle Tot and replace it with another Lightnin’ Shad. We’ll choose one with some blue color to it, run it down in that same 17′ depth and see what happens. Remember also, this would be a good time to put out an icon on your GPS to mark the spot you caught the fish.

LURE	COLOR	LINE OUT	DEPTH
Storm Deep Jr. ThunderStick	Hot Tiger	120′	15′
Storm Lightnin’ Shad (DAL)	Blue Tango	80′	17′
Storm Lightnin’ Shad (DAL)	Pearl/Blue Back	80′	17′
Storm Deep ThunderStick	Met. Rainbow	240′	28′

Again we’re trolling along and… “Fish On!”.

This one is a real dandy… an eight pound beauty. Guess what… it came on that new Lightnin’ Shad we just put out.

OK… we suspect they like the “shad” style baits… it certainly seems that blue is a good color, and the depth the fish are biting at is around 17′. Now let’s switch all the set-ups to Lightnin’ Shads. We’ll still play around with colors, and maybe vary the depth slightly. Our pattern is definitely taking shape.

LURE	COLOR	LINE OUT	DEPTH
Storm Lightnin’ Shad (DAL)	Pearl/Blue Back	60′	15′
Storm Lightnin’ Shad (DAL)	Blue Tango	80′	17′
Storm Lightnin’ Shad (DAL)	Pearl/Blue Back Blue Back	80′	17′
Storm Lightnin’ Shad (DAL)	Chart/Blue Back	100′	18

As you can see, each fish is getting us closer to the final pattern. We’re still playing around with depth (although in a much smaller range), and colors are all variations of blue.

Your goal is to be “Perfectly Wired”. That is to say you’ll be running all the same baits, all the same color, all at the same depth. If that ever happens, you’ll be catching a lot of walleyes.