Choosing the Best Walleye Trolling Rods is an important thing that many anglers are looking for. Walleye fishing can vary greatly according to equipment used for trolling, so choosing the right trolling rod can have a huge impact on your experience. .
In this article we will help you improve your walleye fishing experience by providing you with Some trolling rods that we recommend for fishing walleye. We will also list its important pros and cons. We will clarify some important tips for walleye trolling. We will present to you a helpful guide about the most important elements that you should consider choosing the right rod. keep tend and read:
5 Best Trolling Rods For Walleye Fishing
In a hurry? Here is our list:
- Lew’s Speed Stick Telescopic Walleye Trolling Rod
- Fiblink 2-Piece Saltwater Offshore Trolling Rod
- Okuma Classic Pro GLT & Rods
- Daiwa Telescopic Trolling Rod
- Okuma Great Lakes Trolling Combo
Lew’s Speed Stick Telescopic Walleye Trolling Rod
The first thing you will like about this rod is that it’s telescopic. This means that it is travel friendly and you can take it anywhere with you. Lew’s Speed Stick trolling rod is constructed from IM8 graphite blank. It’s good to find this material at this price range. IM8 graphite blanks are sensitive and offer lighter weight than IM6 and IM7 graphite.
The reel seat is made of graphite for comfortability and to be lightweight on your hands. The handles are full length cork grips. Cork is comfortable and more sensitive than EVA foam grips. It also offers heat shrink tubing grip. You’re probably asking what this means, right?
This means that you can easily remove the handle from your rod holder. It will help you react faster when you get a bite and want to fight the fish and land it quickly.
This Lew’s rod comes with Fuji Concept O guides. They are developed with the Deep Press technology which help those guides to get more durability against bumps and dings. The rod length is 8’6” which is suitable for walleye fishing especially if you’re trolling with a planer board. (you will know the reason when we get to the buying guide section).
Fiblink 2-Piece Saltwater Offshore Trolling Rod
This rod was designed for heavy duty and big fish. I like that Fiblink rod is available in different models or lengths.However, I recommend getting about 6 feet rods. You can also choose to get straight or bent butt from the different models on the buying page.
Starting for construction, this rod is constructed from E-glass graphite composite blank. The E-glass adds the required strength for big walleye species while the graphite enhances the sensitivity. The guides like most of the rods in this price range are made from stainless steel. They are corrosion resistant and are designed to allow for minimum resistance when casting the line.
The reel seat is made from Aluminium which is durable and lightweight. The Aluminium handles include a cross cut butt which helps in mounting. They are also covered with rubber for a stronger grip. Fiblink Saltwater trolling rod comes with a warranty for one year. You can use it if you notice any defects in the rod which gives a feeling of reassurance.
Overall, I think that this rod is worth trying especially if you’re targeting big walleye or love saltwater fishing.
Okuma Classic Pro GLT Rods
Okuma Classic Pro GLT was originally designed for downrigger fishing and lake trolling. However it works well for walleye trolling. The rod is constructed from E-glass and this explains that it’s cheaper than other options. E-glass is pretty strong and can handle big fish species, but it lacks a bit on the sensitivity side.
Surprisingly, the guides are supported with titanium oxide inserts which is not expected at this price range. Titanium is a pretty strong and durable material. The guides are made from stainless steel like most rods. The handle some with an EVA grip which adds more to the durability of the rod. It also comes with a rubber shrink tube butt to ease the process of removing it from the rod holder.
The reel is made from stainless steel and is cushioned with graphite inserts from more comfortability on your palms. I like that the rod is available in a variety of models from
7’6″ to 10’6″ and from medium light to medium heavy in power. This gives you the opportunity to get such a cheap rod with the specifications you need.
Daiwa Telescopic Trolling Rod
Daiwa is one of the most popular companies for making high quality fishing gear. The first reason why you will want to get this rod is because it’s travel friendly. You won’t have to care about how you will take with you to different destinations, because it’s telescopic. You can choose between 7′ 10″ and 8′ 6″ in length and both of them are suitable for walleye fishing.
The rod is medium heavy in power which gives enough backbone for large walleye especially if you’re pulling walleye with planer boards. It’s constructed from graphite composite (fiberglass + graphite). It’s considered the superior alternative to fiberglass. However, you need to make sure that you’re experienced enough to deal with the fast action of a graphite rod.
It comes with aluminium oxide guides. They are thin and lightweight. They also offer smoothness for a quality performance. Daiwa Telescopic trolling rod comes with an air foam grip. Honestly, the information on this type of grip is too little. Daiwa also didn’t give much information about it. So, it’s hard to say whether it’s worth it or not.
My overall verdict is that this rod is a nice one for the price you pay. However, I don’t like that it comes with limited features.
Okuma Great Lakes Trolling Combo
If you haven’t bought your reel yet, most probably this is a good option for you. Okuma great lakes trolling combo is offering some features that work great with walleye and made it to our list.
The rod comes in 2 pieces which makes it travel friendly. The length is 8’6″. It’s suitable for walleye fishing and works well with both flat line and planer boards trolling. It’s constructed from E-glass blank. As previously mentioned, it’s not as sensitive as graphite, but it’s extremely durable and strong enough to pull large walleye .
The combo offers double footed Aluminium oxide guides which are smooth and offer good performance. In addition, they are thin and lightweight.
In addition to the rod, there is the CLX-300La reel which is one of the popular used trolling reels offered by Okuma. I like that the design is lightweight and that it’s made from corrosion resistant materials . The spool is made from graphite while the reel foot is made from stainless steel. The handle is made from Aluminium which is durable and also lightweight.
Overall, I think that this combo is worth trying, especially if you’re looking for a walleye rod and reel combo and not just a trolling rod.
Also, if you want to check more trolling rod and reel combos you can check our complete buying guide here.
Walleye Trolling Tips
Although some anglers will get set up in the good area, having a good spread of their baits out, they don’t catch any fish and they wonder why? If you’re asking the same question, you probably need some tips to help you out.
That’s why we’ve prepared some tips to help you through your walleye fishing journey. In the following lines, we are listing the most important tips for walleye trolling specifically:
Knowing where (how deep) your bait is
Knowing where your bait is, whether in relation to the bottom or targeting suspended fish, is a very important element in a successful walleye trolling. Regardless of whether you’re going to troll cranks on lead core or even dragging nightcrawler harnesses.
The good news is that there has been a lot of research done on this, and fortunately there are many resources to tell you exactly what depth your bait is running through.
Using bait harness
Walleye Trolling by a plain hook with a bait works for walleye, but using the bait harness can work better.
Using movement and colour
Walleye are usually attracted to colour and movement, so the addition of the spinner blade on the bait harness can help to draw more strikes.
Also using fluorescent colours for walleye like hot pink, blaze orange or chartreuse will be more preferable to catch up more walleye.
Changing speeds
Changing speeds is another important key. Although changing baits comes easy,
Many anglers don’t think more about experimenting equally with walleye lure speeds.
Typical trolling speeds are 1.5 – 3 mph, and they don’t change quickly as there are times when they make a big difference. You should be patient and not be afraid to slow down, or speed up, If you are marking the bait and fishes but not hooking up.
When you are heading into a turn, the inside lines will become slower and the outside lines will be more speeder. So we can say that if you’re getting fish outside bends of turns, it is a good idea for speeding up.
Don’t worry about going shallow
There is a common belief that walleye fish are creatures of the deep only, and if you are gonna to fish walleye you must be so near from the bottom and trolling near the deeper portions of the lakes.
This belief isn’t farther from the truth as we can say that many walleyes are at the bottom, but There is a point that the vast majority of the walleyes, especially bigger ones will be located at places where the food is.
In most lakes the highest abundances of baitfish are in the shallows, so many walleye will go there looking for their food. Shallow flats adjacent to weed edges, creek channels, bars and reefs are all considered a great dynamite shallow water structure for targeting walleye while trolling.
Buying Guide On How To Choose The Best Walleye Trolling Rod
While choosing the right walleye trolling rod for you can be a bit overwhelming, there are some factors that you need to know that while it an easier process:
Rod blank material
Usually, trolling rods have their blanks built with fiberglass, as fiberglass is more flexible and more durable than graphite, which were the right choice for anglers for many years. [1]
But there was a problem with fiberglass rods, is that walleye don’t put up much of the fight, which means that there is too much power that can be overkill. That’s why many manufacturers turned to building rod blanks from fiberglass added to graphite and even from pure graphite.
There are many advantages to adding graphite. Graphite strengthening technologies have overcome fiberglass flaws, and made it more durable as a fiberglass rod. At the same time it is also much lighter, which allows you to get a better feel for the walleye.
So we can say that graphite blanks are more preferable in walleye fishing rods. However, fiberglass rods are more recommended for beginners as it is low cost.
Length
Rod length for walleye trolling is an essential element in walleye fishing. Choosing the right length depends on the setup you’re intended to use. There are two main setups for walleye fishing:
1. Flat line trolling.
2. Trolling with planer boards.
Flat Line Trolling
Flat line trolling means that the line will go straight from the tip of your rod into the water. it is an easier way to set up, but it doesn’t allow getting a bigger spread between your lines when using more than two rods together at the same time.
Perfect length for you if you are going to do flat lining is 5’ to 6’, and also some longer rods somewhere 8’ to 12’. It is best to have both somewhere shorter rods as this enables you setting up the outermost lines with your longest rods. Also, setting up the innermost lines with your shortest rods will give you much spread.
Trolling with planer boards
If you are planning to trolling with planer boards, you will need longer rods which are
at least 8’ long. Longer lengths enable you to keep the line between the rod tip and planer board over the surface of water that helps in avoiding line friction which leads to dragging the planer board from its run.
Trolling with both short and long rods
There is another nice option that many anglers prefer. It is the combination between the The two methods described above at the same time. By using short flat line rods for innermost lines, and using long rods with the planer boards for outermost lines.
Rod power
Best rod power for walleye fishing is medium or medium heavy. It can give you enough rod backbone that will help in dealing perfectly with dragging planer boards strain through choppy water, and also pulling big walleye with a planer board.
But If you are planning to make flat line trolling, you will need a little lighter rod power, so you should choose a medium light power. It gives a slight bit more sensitivity to feel the walleye at the end of the tackle.
Rod action
Medium rod action is a good choice that you should look for in trolling poles. It allows a parabolic blank bending down at the middle of the rod. This gives more flexibility that helps in reducing the load on the tackle that came from fighting big walleye and dragging planer boards.
Number of Pieces
When choosing the number of Pieces of your wallylle rod, you should choose The two-piece rod as it is more portable. However, some anglers don’t prefer it as it often loses some of its strength and sensitivity.
Sensitivity
Walleye are more known for their faint bites. Your walleye fishing rod should be higher sensitivity to help you in detection of all faint bites.
Handle
A high-quality cork build handle or EVA handle is a good choice for you in targeting walleye as these materials are more durable and it keeps frim and lasts for years.
Line capacity
The Right line weight for walleye can range from 4 to 12 pounds.
Budget
Rods’ budget can be differentiated according to many factors. You should choose the most important options for you, to buy a suitable rod for your budget.
But generally the common budget for a good fishing rod for walleye fishing starts from 100 $ to 300$.
Conclusion
We covered in the above lines various important aspects about Best Walleye Trolling Rod. We mentioned some good types of walleye trolling rods and their pros and cons. We also presented important tips for walleye trolling.
In the end, we summarised accurate information through our search to make it easier for you to choose the right trolling rod for walleye fishing. We hope you take advantage of that. Also, feel free to contact us if you need more info.