Lindy Rig

[ECP1989]

Haven't done much Lindy Rigging from a boat seeking tips/advice.

Thanks

[JohnMickish]

What kind of advice are you looking for? Equipment or techniques?

Here is my setup.

St. Croix Tournament Walleye 7'6" rigging rod. Great backbone and soft tip. I prefer the extra length for taking up the line on the hookset when fishing deep water. Shimano Symetre 2500 reel with Berkley 8lb Trilene XL line. I love the combination of mono and this rod, it works great for little dinks to 8 pounders.

My leaders are 6 or 8 pound Berkley XL line, ranging from 6-8' in length with Mustad Double Wide Gap hooks, #6 for leeches and #2 or 1/0 for creek chubs.

For weight I use a variety from barrel weights to wing it weights. I mostly use 1/4 to 1/2oz weights, but will use 3/4 when I get deeper than 20'. Whatever you use, use the lightest weight possible to keep the bait where you want it.

I try to keep my speed in the .5MPH range, and if I can't stay under .8 I will switch to a technique that is better suited to the speed. I use driftsocks and the electric bow mount to control my speed.

Hope that helps.

[CaptainMusky]

John has good info there, but to add, when trolling make sure you dont have too much line out. You want to maintain contact with the bottom but not have the line carrying way behind the boat. Something like a 45 degree angle of the line from the rod tip to the water when you are dragging bottom. Adjust more weight if necessary. Lots of different weights will do the job. Lindy no snag, the Northland Slick Stick (my favorite if in rocks) or some other sliding weights. You want your line to be able to travel through the weight to feed the fish some line when they pick up the bait. You dont want the weight to be felt by the fish.

[ClownColor]

A good rod with sensativity is a must. Fluoro line is also a must. My leaders range from 6 feet to 10 feet are are 6 lbs test. VERY VERY slow movement/drift. I woulnd't even call it trolling. Also, go small on the hooks...you'll be suprised with the results. Red hooks are a great starting point. 1/8 size weight. Drop line to the floor and pull it up so slightly so you're just off the bottom. Keep checking it how close you are to the bottom aver now-and-then. Get to learn the difference between "bites" and "bottom"...this tends to be the hardest for beginner lindy riggers.

[Fowlmouth]

Try making some of your own. It's cost effective and also fun. Plus the pre made ones they sell at the stores are too short.

[JohnMickish]

Clown color, interesting that you say flouro is a must. Do you use it for the main line or the leader? I use flouro exclusively on my crawler harnesses but not at all on my lindy rigs because of the positives it has.

Flouro is denser than mono, therefor it sinks while mono floats. Flouro is also much harder and more abrasion resistant and unfortunately as a result is also stiffer than mono. I find these are great features on a spinner rig, but for a lindy/leech combo I find that the limberness of the mono allows the leech to swim naturally which I think also allows me to run a hook one size bigger resulting in fewer deeply hooked fish.

ECP 1989, There is no wrong way to lindy rig but some little tricks will work better for you than others will. You will just need to spend the time to figure what works for your style. #1 is a good rod. The bite can be very subtle, and a good (I mean GOOD, this is where you get your moneys worth), sensitive rod will be your friend.

Practice on a lake that has a good lindy bite going first. That way you know what to feel for.

[ECP1989]

Thanks for all the replies guys good luck on Opener!

[delcecchi]

There is one wrong way to lindy rig. That would be to believe that you can drag that walking sinker on the bottom in the rocks on Vermilion. Using egg or bullet sinker doesn't help either.

[CaptainMusky]

Del, try the north land slick stick. Didn't lose one on the gnarly rocks on LOW last year. The other guys donated plenty of their other weights.

[ClownColor]

John

Have had pretty good luck with fluoro. Its virtually invisible underwater and has very little stretch making it ideal for "feels." Light weight fluoro...6 lbs or less isn't too bad regarding stiffness.

But...now you gave me something to test out next time I have a pile of fish under my boat. I'll pure tie some mono and see if the go after one presentation over the other...invisibility vs. Life like.

[JohnMickish]

invisibility vs. Life like.

The age old question...

[deacon]

Anyone use fireline for main line and something like fluoro for leader? Use mono for main and fluoro for leader myself. Do jig with fireline and feel is incredible.

[Mike Stark]

I use Power Pro as my main line on all my rigging rods. It really helps being able to feel the bottom and bites. I like hi-vis yellow too. It is a lot easier to keep track of where your line is. I use either flouro or mono as my leader material. Mono is nice if you are fishing in the rocks. Less snags because the line floats.

[Xplorer]

I strictly use main line of power pro (15/4 usually) and then tie my own one and two hook lindy rigs with mono (tho I do run braid rigs too in very sharp rock areas). Most of my rigging is done up on Rainy and Namakan so I'm dealing with rocks and many times 20' + water. I love the sensitivity of the braid down to the leader. Typically run anywhere from 3-6' leaders depending on what the fish tell me they want, and hooks from #8 up to #2.

[Hawg]

The snells for a Lindy Rig is the only application I've ever used floro line for. No matter what people post on here it's just too stiff for most things but for this it works well.I agree with the Power Pro for the main line, the difference in sensitivity is night and day for me.

[neptune]

Del,

You are correct about Vermilion. I use the Lindy no Snag sinker but I have to work it like a jig almost to ensure no snags. Those rocks are far to jagged to drag it around like you would on mud flats somewhere else.

[CaptainMusky]

Del,

You are correct about Vermilion. I use the Lindy no Snag sinker but I have to work it like a jig almost to ensure no snags. Those rocks are far to jagged to drag it around like you would on mud flats somewhere else.

3 words, Northland Slick Stick. :-)

No, Im not sponsored. I just find they were excellent in those types of situations. Thankfully I have a stash of them so when you folks rush to the store to buy them I already have the ones I need. :-) Not cheap though, roughly $5 a pop, but worth it.

[Hawg]

Bottom bouncers are a lot cheaper, but for that application or rocks on any lakes either one is the answer. The old quick change Lindy one was always my favorite, slip off one weight slip on another and they never spun.

[CaptainMusky]

Bottom bouncers are a lot cheaper, but for that application or rocks on any lakes either one is the answer. The old quick change Lindy one was always my favorite, slip off one weight slip on another and they never spun.

Bottom bouncers are cheaper, but they also get snagged in the rocks a lot more because of the big round piece of lead. One guy went through like 10 of them on a trip last year. 10 bottom bouncers cost more than 1 slick stick. I will stick with them.

[Hawg]

You're not supposed to drag them into the rocks.

[CaptainMusky]

You're not supposed to drag them into the rocks.

obviously, but there are times where there are sharp ledges or rocks on top of rocks where its unavoidable and even tapping it off the bottom the weight will slip between rocks snagging you. You should have seen the guy's GPS with all his trails looking like a figure 8 race track!

[Hawg]

It's a tough way to fish if you're with inexperienced people. You're right, why don't some people turn their trail off so they can see where they are when stuff like this happens or on a small spot? But then again, rocks are tough anytime when they're super snaggy.

[kfk]

Slick Sticks work great and I'll never use the old style bottom bouncers again if I can help it. They can both be used in rocks but Slick Sticks are much less prone to snag. As the name says, they were originally designed to be bounced and not dragged. In rocks you have to jig them almost vertically and fish them much like like a jig.

[JohnMickish]

10 bottom bouncers is like $13. If that's all I lost in a year I'd be happier than a camel on hump day.

Anyways, bottom bouncers are not really a lindy rig weight, but designed more for pulling crawler harnesses around.

[delcecchi]

You ever fish Vermilion? West end especially?