Crawlers Catch Bass and Walleye

We spent a few days on Lake Mitchell and Lake Cadillac over the Memorial Day weekend. Folks, these two connecting lakes are my go to fun vacation lake. The fishing can be fantastic and a true angler’s smorgasbord. On Friday we caught bass, pike, perch, walleye, bluegill and crappie.

As many anglers already know, crawlers land plenty of bass and walleye. You can drift a crawler, slow troll a crawler, run it behind a bottom bouncer or a sinker. I remember my early years of fishing I remember fishing out of my uncles 12 foot Jon boat. My cousin Dave and I were casting nose hooked crawlers along a cabbage weedbed. We limited out on crappie!

Four local guides that are members of West Michigan Walleye Club that I also am a member of shared some of their favorite ways to fish a crawler. Todd Venema from Third Coast Charters (231-740-0304) shared his thoughts.

“I use a lot of slow death hooks with a Mack smile blade” said Venema. And he typically fishes them at less than 1 mph. He will also use a two hook crawler harness typically with a Colorado blade in various sizes usually a 3, 4 or 5 depending on where he is fishing and what time of the year it is.
Craig Tipton of MI Time Charters (269-312-0562) will often find summer time eyes right near the weed edges feeding on bait. Another great option is trolling small crawler harnesses over weed beds. Sometimes you can locate eyes suspended over deep water, although tough to detect on sonar, these fish will feed all day long as they are out there foraging on schools of minnows. One key to this is look for a thermocline somewhere in the water column. Walleyes will always be where the food is stated Tipton.

Derek Nykamp of Freedom Charters (616-723-5964) stated that when the bite gets tough in the summer months this is an absolutely go to bait. From bottom to suspended fish it will increase your catch rate. The size of the blade depends on the body of water that he is on but one thing that holds true is 1.2 mph is the go to speed with a lot of turns. “I'm not a guy that likes to go in a straight line as the fish will continue to follow it and I've learned they love to hit on turns (speed change) said Nykamp. You can determine if they want it faster or slower by the side they are hitting on during a turn.

Recently Nykamp has been messing with Berkeley SR to keep the mess of worms out of his boat! “When I do run worms I was them before they get in the boat” said Nykamp. When he says I wash my worms it's exactly what it sounds like. Once they are clean I put them in a little cooler filled with water and 2 frozen water bottles. They biggest reason is you need fresh water!! Not treated as it will kill them quick. Remember to not even put ice from a gas station in your water as it has been treated! When you are done you can take them out and put them right back in the dirt.

“My go to crawler presentation is by far a slow death hook. I particularly like the Northland Fishing Tackle Super Death Riggs with a butterfly blade on them. I troll them at .8 to 1.2 mph and I use a full size crawler”, said Bryan Buist of 2 B Caught Charters (626-293-0256)

I bounce back and forth with my crawlers. At times I use fresh waters with ice cubes that I make from my pond water and throw the crawlers into it. Other times I place three or four crawlers with some bedding, no dirt, into a sandwich bag. I add lots of frozen water bottles to keep them chilled.

My favorite crawler rigs I make. My favorite blades are the Mack Smiley blades. When I use a Colorado blade I only use a high quality blade in Gold or Silver. Half of the time I use the hammered blades and half not. If I want some added colors I scratch on some crazy lines using a Sharpie in whatever color I like. Remember, fish will see the back of the blade longer than the front, so mark it up a bit. Crawlers catch both walleye and bass. Remember to stop in at Grand Valley Sport Shop in Allendale.
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