Winning strategies in Detroit

Top three finishers at RCL Walleye event on Detroit River share secrets to their success

With the first tournament of the 2002 Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Circuit in the books, let’s look back on the strategies the top three anglers used to take them to their lofty finishes. With many walleye pros and local experts claiming hand-lining would have a large impact on the outcome of the tournament, the old standby, vertical jigging – and, to a lesser degree, pulling plugs – were the dominant methods used by the pros to coerce less-than-enthusiastic walleye to bite.

Jigging was the top technique.

“My presentation was pretty straight forward,” said tournament champion Jeff Russell of Grand Haven, Mich. “I stayed in the river and used a vertical jigging approach. This method allowed me to stay on fish whether they were in shallower or deeper water.”

Russell’s presentation was simple. He stuck with 3/8- and 1/2-ounce chartreuse and orange jigs tipped with a 3-inch orange twister tails. Added to the jig and twister was an emerald shiner.

The emerald shiner is a baitfish indigenous to the Detroit River and connecting waters. This bait was essential for Russell and other anglers who employed the jig and minnow technique on the Detroit River.

“You had to have the emerald shiner on the back of your jig to get the good bites,” said Russell. “I bet I went through 10-12 dozen of them per day making sure I picked out the best bait. The emerald shiner is what you want to use on this river. Other anglers tried other baits, but they were not as successful.”

Russell targeted the “steel mill” area of the river throughout the tournament, focusing on water ranging from 14- to 22-feet deep on the last day.

Many top finishers employed jig-fishing techniques

Jig fishing played an important role for runner-up Danny Plautz of Milwaukee, Wis. Plautz used his Crestliner boat to keep his jigs vertical, a technique which helped him qualify for the final.

“On day three I fished the ‘hot ponds’ area and a few other spots with a jig and minnow,” said Plautz. “I was using a homemade jig put together by a guy in Colorado. I would tip these jigs with a shiner and keep my jig vertical. There was nothing very complicated about this approach. You just kept looking for bigger fish.”

Evinrude pro John Hertensteiner of Victoria, Minn. used a jig to earn a fat $20,000 check and finish in third place.

“During the last two days of the tournament I was exclusively jigging,” said Hertensteiner. “I was using ¼- to 3/8-ounce purple Fuzz-E-Grubs with a brown body. I tipped this with a small crappie-sized emerald shiner. Since the weather kept getting colder, the fish in the river really were only interested in a slow jigging approach. On the final day I was fishing the ‘steel mill’ in the 16- to 22-foot depths to catch enough fish to finish in third.”

Anglers said that boat control is key for jigging success on the Detroit River.

“You really had to make sure you had complete control of your boat,” said Russell. “There is a heavy current in the Detroit River and you had to keep your jig as vertical as possible to be able to catch the fish.”

Hertensteiner found jig fishing to be difficult at best.

“I have never fished so hard in a tournament before,” said Hertensteiner. “With such a heavy current, about 7 mph, I really had to work to keep a vertical presentation. I watched Jeff Russell and local pro Tom Dinneweth keep their presentations vertical. I think Russell and Dinneweth are two of the best anglers – as far as proper boat control – that I have ever seen. They were very impressive.”

Planer boards, plugs and plenty of walleye

Pulling plugs saved the day for Plautz.

“I was planning on staying in the river and jigging today,” said Plautz after the final weigh-in had concluded. “After fishing for about 20 minutes near the ‘hot ponds,’ I just had a gut feeling that it wasn’t going to happen. So I told my co-angler we are going to fish the lake. I guess I made the right decision and finished with a great check in my first pro tournament.”

Plautz headed out to fish the islands in Lake Erie. His weapon of choice was a Reef Runner Ripstick pulled behind a planer board. The key to Plautz’ success was to keep the lure in relatively shallow water.

“There were some other anglers in the area of Erie I was fishing,” said Plautz. “I was trolling Rip Stick plugs about 75 feet behind planer boards. The key to my success was keeping the lure in the upper 10 feet of the water column. You don’t always see these fish on your depth finder, so many anglers fish too deep. Fishing a little shallower in the water column worked well today.”

Hertensteiner planned on pulling plugs for the entire tournament.

“Most anglers either fish with jigs or use the hand-lining method to fish the river,” said Hertensteiner. “The other option is to head out onto Lake Erie and troll with crankbaits. In practice I found plenty of fish in the river trolling crankbaits with leadcore line. Where I come from in Minnesota, anglers learn to use leadcore to pull crankbaits like anglers in Detroit learn to handline.”

Hertensteiner was fishing at depths of 8 to 12 feet with an orange-shad colored size 5 Shad Rap.

“When the weather was warmer at the beginning of the tournament, the walleye were more active in the 8- to 12-foot depths,” said Hertensteiner. “If the weather would have been more normal for the time of the year, trolling with leadcore line is probably the method that would have worked best for me. I had to switch to jigging halfway through day two since the temperatures dropped and the fish moved deeper. Leadcore and the size 5 Shad Rap is the perfect choice when walleye are in the 8- to 12-foot depths.”

The bottom line to the success of the top three anglers was their ability to adjust to the changing conditions rapidly and to master the techniques necessary to come out on top.

The next RCL event is scheduled to take place at Lake Sharpe near Pierre, S.D., from May 1-4. If you are interested in signing up as a co-angler for this event, there are still a few openings available. Check out the registration information contained on this website.