On reservoirs, natural lakes, Canadian shield lakes and the Great Lakes, many walleyes hang on structure. The key to finding these fish is to start looking along the deeper parts of points, reefs, humps, slopes and other prominent structure - say in the 15 to 20 foot zone. Although the active fish may be shallower, it's much easier to spot "life" in this deeper zone. To see the fish, a transducer with a narrow cone angle and high resolution is essential. A 192 kH transducer sends out a 20 degree cone and gives you a clear, immediate picture of what is right below it. A transducer with a wider cone angle gives you too much information - especially on a sharp drop off - making it difficult to spot fish on your liquid crystal graph.

Units like Lowrance's LMS 350A and X70A with their 200 vertical pixels make seeing fish easier because each pixel represents a small amount of water and therefore they deliver more detailed information. Units with fewer vertical pixels are fine for spotting fish on structure, too -- as long as they have a "zoom" function. A true zoom such as the one on the Eagle Magna II or Ultra II allows you to use all 128 vertical pixels to scope out the bottom five or ten feet of the water column, which gives you an excellent picture of whatever is hugging the bottom.

When you see fish along this deeper structure you might have a tough time getting them to bite. You're likely to find more active fish up in shallower water. Crankbaits are a great approach because they allow you to cover a lot of water quickly along the same depth around the structure. For structure trolling, we spool up with heavier line like 12-pound test Berkley Trilene XT. That's quite a bit heavier than the 8-pound XT we generally use for open water fish, but it serves two purposes. First, the heavier line has more water resistance, which means you can put the lure farther behind the boat to get it to where it's just ticking bottom and not diving too deeply. Distance behind the boat is important because we generally don't use planer boards with shallow structure fish. In-line planers can be quite a hassle running over rocks and humps and they're difficult to keep in the fish zone when the bottom changes rapidly. The second benefit of heavier line for structure trolling is that you'll lose fewer lures on the inevitable snags.

Effectively cranking structure means following the contour and keeping your crankbait in the fish zone. You want to start in the 15-foot zone and move shallower if you don't catch fish. Storm Rattle Tots are great for the deeper fish in summer, although as you move shallower, you'll want to switch to the shallower-diving 1/4-ounce Hot'N Tot. Both lures have the violent shaking action that triggers summertime strikes.

Keeping your lure in the fish zone means staying over the same depth and setting your lure so it is pretty close to the bottom. You're better off having the lure a little bit off the bottom occasionally ticking instead of grinding into the bottom. A crankbait depth guide like "Crankbaits In Depth" by Dr. Steven Holt and Tom Irwin helps immensely with depth control. Daiwa's SG27LC line counter reels, in combination with the depth guide, make it easy to determine your depth.

For colors, you should match the prevalent forage. If, for instance, you're fishing an off shore reef of one of the Great Lakes or a big reservoir where shiny alewives or shad are the main forage, chromes with different color highlights work well. In natural lakes where perch and other panfish are the main fare, try greener patterns - fire tiger, perch or chartreuse. If the fish are feeding on insects or crawfish, give brown color patterns a chance.

Trolling shallow water structure can often be done by using the gas kicker motor. If there's even a little wind, a Mariner 8 to 15 hp gas kicker gives you better control and doesn't create enough commotion to spook fish. Fish on structure are accustomed to noise in most walleye waters. Plus, we contend that the motor doesn't turn fish off -- the walleye's brain is so small that it probably has already forgotten about the boat by the time a lure passes in front of it. Structure fish are not like open water fish, they often choose a particular location on the structure because they feel "secure" there. A quiet running kicker engine isn't enough to make them want to search for a more secure holding area. When the wind is calm, you're probably better off trolling with your transom or bow mount electric motor.

See, it's pretty easy. First find them deep, fish the ones you see and then always check shallower for more aggressive fish using a high action crank. Remember, summer walleyes are hungry, aggressive and just waiting for their next meal to swim by - so make it a tasty crankbait dinner. It really isn't rocket science - but it can be a blast!