bottom bouncers?

[Dahitman44]

Thinking about getting some of those, but not sure how to use them or if they are effective. Going to use them on the Lake of the Woods.

thoughts?

[PerchJerker]

You typically use them over rocks so you can stay on the bottom and not snag, this means fishing vertical to maybe a 45 degree angle in your line. Snell lengths typically run 18 inches to maybe 4 feet for bottom bouncers. Some allow you to rig them slip-style but usually with bouncers you just give the fish slack with your rod tip, then set the hook.

[Walleye Rueben]

I agree with PerchJerker. Keeping the angle near vertical is important. With practice, you should be able to pretty much eliminate snags. I was on Namakan last week and fished in the rocks for 3 days with the same bottom bouncer rig. I drop the line til I feel bottom, then lift a few inches and drop again.

I do have have to change snells on occasion as they get twisted around the bouncer and line. Can be quite a mess. I usually just cut the snell and put on another. If anyone has a tip to avoid this issue, please chime in.

[wplatehunter]

I like to use them for pulling spinners and live bait rigs trolled at slow speeds.

[mrklean]

thats just about all we used on lake sakakawea in dakota, we usually used 6 foot sneels or longer never really had any problems you do get snagged sometimes they work great on rocks and where there is lots of junk at the bottom of the water. Buy some ouncers and plane chartreuse hook snells they worked the best for me

[GRH]

Walleye Rueben, make sure your always moving forward, and when you drop down do it slowly or stop every couple ft. so the snells stay behind the bottom bouncer

[fishwater]

I use BB quite a bit in the summer to find active fish, often over sand. Drop the lines and put them into the holders and head forward over fishy breaks at .6-1.8mph. Once you get some strikes you can decide if you need to slow down, possibly rig them using a lindy style setup, or possibly just speed up to get a harder reaction strike.

I like to use the pencil style BB, but have good luck with the free and fixed arm types too.

[Northlander]

Walleye Rueben, make sure your always moving forward, and when you drop down do it slowly or stop every couple ft. so the snells stay behind the bottom bouncer

Exactly what I was going to say. 1 oz for every 10' of water they say. I will however use 3 oz bouncers in 3' of water on rivers going against currnet. I stay 45 degrees or less.

[MN Shutterbug]

Exactly what I was going to say. 1 oz for every 10' of water they say.

When I used to sell tackle, I made my own bottom bouncers from scratch. My best selling size to Babe's in Ely was the 1/4 oz. size. I never could understand that.

[mrklean]

i adjust size by wind conditions, if its calm we went 1-1 1/4oz on calm and up to 2 oz on windy days look at the lindy joe type sinker its pretty light and suppose to be very snag-less

[Cicada]

I have used them on Lizzie, Lida and Big Sand by Park Rapids with pretty good success. I like to pull a spinner and crawler on the deeper flats. Not only to help with the rocks, but to get down deep effectively. I will adjust the size of the spinner to the clarity of the water and use the three hook setups. If you're in bottom that has sand grass or other deep weeds, it helps to blow a bubble of air into the nightcrawler to keep it up a bit. Just release enough line to keep contact with the bottom. Too much line and it will start to drag on the bottom. Give them a try, they're cheap and east to rig up and run. Good luck.

[Dahitman44]

Can you "feel" the fish or is it just something to get used to?

[fishwater]

You can feel the fish take your bait in most instances. Obviously the more lead and line you put out gives you less feel, but usually when you're power rigging you can feel the bites and dip your rod tip back before hookset. Usually I have one rod in a holder, sometimes both. Sometimes the deadstick does better, often you can feel your way to better success with the rod in your hand.

[mrklean]

you can feel them but its something different

[wanger29]

Can you "feel" the fish or is it just something to get used to?

Most definately, you can easily even learn to differentiate the species underneath you.

If a pike or walleye that smack is like nothing else. I too let up a little after the initial hit.

The 4", worm stealing perch I can do without though! I come across them I typically go wide out and try & run a quick circle around them. I'm pretty confident a nice pike or some eyes aren't too far away.

[Dahitman44]

Are u serious? U can put them in a rod holder? Really? will that work for LOW? might be a nice break and change of pace -- Would I use just regular rods or the rappin rods?

[eyebjim]

When bottom bouncing I usually leave them in the rod holders. I seem to have beter luck hooking them that way. When ever I hold in hand I either set the hook too soon or let the rod tip go back thinking that will give the fish more time to inhale and it always seems to backfire. In the rod holder it is consistent so the fish sees no change and continues to hit/ swallow whatever. This is just what seems to work best for me. Others may disagree. This and that fact that the rod is quite heavy with all that weight on and it gets tiring. (whine)

[Borch]

I remember the first time I used one of these things. "You got to be kidding me! I'm never going to catch a fish on this gob of lead or wire." I was never so wrong about a piece of fishing equipment.

I rarely put them in a holder. But it can be effective especially if you pulling them in that 2 mph range. I push the speed windows with spinners on bouncers and pull them from .6-2.5+ mph. Although most of my time is .9-1.5 mph. A lot of people do not think a spinner will rotate at those slower speeds but using the correct spinner rigged certain ways they'll spin down to .5 mph. As far as feel goes you can defintely tell fish from other stuff. Walleye hits are usually a tap followed by a pulsing pull. Drop tip keeping light pressure on the fish for a foot or two and set the hook usually results in a very good hooking percentage. If you're missing a lot of fish it's usually a sign to switch to lindy rigging.

Bottom bouncers are for more than fishing snaggy areas. I used them on sand all the time. Benefits are keeping the spinner in the strike zone. Simple hang on technique for inexperienced fisher people. Plus you get a camming action with the bouncer as it bounces and drags along the bottom that causes the spinner to jerk, pause, rise and fall for great triggering action that you don't get with other sinkers.

Good Luck!

[Dahitman44]

awesome information guys -- thanks

[Northlander]

If Im over a ounce they go in the rod holder. The fish set the hook themselves no need to have the rods in your hand.

I just got 2 new Diawa Mega Force reels with the twitchen bar and man are they the shiznit for live bait rigging and bottom bouncing!

[PerchJerker]

The only walleye over 30" I ever got out of Mille Lacs came on a bottom bouncer in a rod holder over the gravel.

The fish bit and hooked itself. My wife put down her book and her beer, grabbed the rod out of the rod holder, drove the hook home, and reeled it in

I knew she wouldn't be holding the rod much that day, and we were over snaggy structure a lot, so I rigged her line with a heavy bottom bouncer with a 24" leader to a small flicker blade and a leech. No snags, lots of action, easy for the fish to hook themselves. Happy wife. Don't argue with results.

[Mr.Seaguar]

I pull crankbaits, spinners, plain snells, chubs anything I want down there behind a BB. I have an assortment of sizes. I dont like using them with spinning rods but some guys do. I prefer 6' medium for smaller sizes and MH for heavier sizes.

[bmc]

I used a bottom bouncer last night for the 1st time ever. Within 20 minutes, I CPR'd a 26" eye. That fish absolutely CRUSHED my spinner rig w/ a leech. I had a hard time getting the rod out of the rod holder. I was backtrolling about .8 to 1.2 mph and staying in the 17-20' depth range with a 2oz bouncer. I was using a GM Advantage Planer Board rod/line counter reel combo 8', 37' of line out per the line counter, and it seemed to work good. I'm anxious to use this technique more. Does this seem to mainly be a big fish system or do the "eaters" like it too?

Brian

[Borch]

All fish eat spinners.

[hanso612]

I notice many fisherman new to bottom bouncing using rigs that are not substantial enough for the job. I see guys trying a 3 ounce bottom bouncer on a 6 foot light action rod and spinning reel spooled with 6 pound test, they then complain about loss of feel and hindered fight or stetched and twisted line.

I like a seven foot medium heavy trigger stick with 17 pound mono. The wire on the bottom bouncer amplifies the ticks and strikes so feel is never a problem and the 17 pound test doesn't over stretch.

I catch many eater sized walleyes on this rig on Vermillion and I like the extra bulk when the inevitable big pike or musky hits the spinner. It doen't hurt my enjoyment of realing in the dinkers one bit.

As stated by many above, I also like to stay vertical and like to use a reel with a flipping switch to walk a bait down an incline with one hand still on the tiller. Hans