Willowleaf or Indiana style blades for crawler harnesses

[tacklejunkie]

As an extension to the post re: good rod for spinners, I'm curious if anyone has used crawler harnesses with the above mentioned blade styles.

It seems what you find in stores is the Colorado style. I'm thinking the Indiana or Willowleaf might be better for either trolling the open waters of LOTW or the Great Lakes for walleyes.

For those that have used them, how effective are they compared to the Colorados and any tips on trolling them or rigging them and how would they work for lake trout on L. Superior?

[PerchJerker]

For pulling spinners I usually go with colorado blades, or maybe indianna blades or hatchet blades. I've never used willow blades for walleyes and never seem to hear of them being used.

The guys that pull crawler rigs in open water use BIG colorado blades on them. Colorado blades put out more thump and vibration, willow blades put out more flash, indiannas and hatchets are in the middle.

[reinhard1]

willow leaf means faster speed for them to spin. maby on a big lake like you say, but for the average lake, i stick to the colorado. good luck.

[Gordie]

I love hatchet Blades a couple years ago I mopped up on the eyes on bowstring when nothing else worked . great slow roll presentation and as you speed up the vibration is awsome

[tacklejunkie]

I haven't used them but I have heard mixxed reviews about the hatchet blades

[reinhard1]

i have some. something new at the time so i got some. still in their packages. it's realy hard to change when your confident in one presentation. i wonder why i bought them in the first place. just like half the stuff i have. but after reading elwoods post i will try them. willow blades for me on harness's wont do it for i like a slow troll with my harness. a lot of times i will cast with a harness while on a slow drift also. good luck.

[Mr.Seaguar]

Ive used willowleaf and the Dakota style some just as a test rod quite a bit, since we can use 2 rods. The never catch anying but whitebass, and the Dakota style not even many of those. Never tried hatchets. Like others have said, IN and CO work plenty good.

[tacklejunkie]

Can one troll a large Colorado faster than a smaller one??

[reinhard1]

i made a home made live minnow harness one time to troll big sucker minnows slowly over weed beds for pike. you could go real slow with the big blades while the sucker pretty much swam along. good luck.

[james_walleye]

The newer blade being used on the great lakes now are called choppers. They work very well on pressured waters. I've had good luck with them.

[tacklejunkie]

It seems the willowblade and Indianas are not that popular around here.

I've heard of guys using them on Erie

[JohnMickish]

A couple of years ago I was fishing on Leech with a guy that was using tandem (yes tandem) willow blades on his crawler harnesses. It worked very well on that day. I have used them too, but it takes more speed to spin them so the fish really have to be "on" when using them.

[gregg52]

reinhard how did you make that rig

i;ve done the same thing i get lots of hits but

have trouble hooking them

i made it kinda like a quick strike rig with a hook in the butt and out the side and they would rip that sucker in half and i'd still miss'em

i was useing wide gap big hooks to

[reinhard1]

i made it out of a two foot black coated leader material. i ran some beads [white] down the leader and atached a clevis with a large white colorado blade on it and had a swivel on the front end and and a snap swivel on the buisness end. then i make a short [harness] rig with a big single hook in front and about three inches from that a large treble [ i forgot the size ]. i crimpt a swivel to front of the harness and attached that to the snap swivel. put the single hook in the mouth and the treble in the back of the sucker. i used to use frozen smelt with this up north for pike also. but i could troll real slow and that blade would spin just right.

i used to belong to northerns inc. years ago and it was then when i was making all these homemade rigs, spinner baits and other wierd stuff. but that rig worked. got me thinking of making a couple this year. i think i will use a white blade with red or orange beads. on a side note. while i was typing this, i dont know if you remember what the old strip on's looked like [i still have the originals still fasted the way they made them on paper] but one of the biggest pike i ever saw in my life was in boulder lake by duluth.

this is back in the 60's. i was in a boat with my brother and my dad. we were trolling and i was watching two guys in another boat having some beers and trolling with strip on's with smelt. these guys were not paying attention behind them just looking ahead and talking. one of the strip on's would be skipping on top of the water once in a while and this huge pike kept trying to grab it, once comming completly out of the water.

they never knew it until i told them later, when they were bobber fishing. i always remembered that and sort of got my idea of trolling slow, covering a lot of water with i rig like this. good luck.

[tacklejunkie]

Ah..the old Strip Ons. I remember them well. Great for pike but never caught a walleye on one.

[reinhard1]

they were the hot item of the time up north. worth trying again. whens the last time a fish seen one of those. good luck.

[gregg52]

i was lookin for some of those couldnt find the old style back in the day type any where

i think freds in deer river was the closest

[reinhard1]

gregg 52, i have three i believe, still never touched. let me look and see where they are and if you want one i will send you one. i got my grandkids here for 12 days and babysitting 2 dogs and when i get to them i will send you one if you want. my email is fisher-l-49@comcast.net give me your address and i'll send you one this comming week if you want. your talking about the original strip on ritht?good luck.

[gregg52]

reinhard

maybe if you can just give me the name of the company that

made them

i'll look them up online here see if i can find them

[reinhard1]

Prescott Spinner Company. mankato minnesota. model no. s22. surprised me they were made in minnesota. good luck.

[gregg52]

ok cool

thanks much!!!!!!

[tacklejunkie]

I went on the site that RH1 gave and I see they still make the Strip Ons.

I bet they would work with a smelt behind a dipsey on Lake Superior for lakers

[reinhard1]

looks perfect for a average size smelt. the rig was well thought out. remove the rear double hook, put the wire into the baits mouth, shove it through by the anal area, and put the double hook back on, and adjust the bait and put the front double hook on and your set. it has been a long time since i have used one. it will be fun trying them again.

here are some of the other baits they made at that time [on the original packaging] : snag slippers minnow tow, nipigon cockatoush, and the K-B spoon. cant remember the snag slippers minnow tow, that cockatoush sounds very interesting since the name nipigon is added, has to be a trout bait. i have always had the k b spoon of various sizes. i still use the small version for rainbows. good luck.

[JohnMickish]

I used to use one of those as a kid. I didn't know they where still around.

[reinhard1]

when my father in law passed away he had a couple of tackle boxes. he didn't fish much. but when i opened his box's most of it was all rusted up. but there they were. still packeged up. i forgot about them also. always new stuff you know. but it's like going back to the future, so to speak. same with the old lazy ike. we cought so many walleys on those back then. when is the last time a fish saw one of those. good luck.