3-way rigging soft plastics

[CALVINIST]

One of the things I want to try this year is 3-way rigging. And although I have never heard of this being done, I was considering rigging some soft plastics, twister tails or nightcrawler immitators onto the business end of the 3-way using a 1/16 oz jighead and then speed trolling for reaction bites. Has anyone ever dabbled in this? Any advice on this tactic would be welcome.

[poutpro]

I have never tried it with plastics, but it works wonders with floating rapalas. It is the best way to get a Rapala to stay close to bottom.

[PerchJerker]

I've used real crawlers on spinner harnesses with 3 way rigs - no reason plastic crawlers shouldn't work. Like you said, go fast and look for a reaction bite.

[markkstanley]

It works Cal. Paddletail type plastics and twisters. I have used 5" Power Bait Inshore minnows and 4" Power Bait grubs. Bought some Power Bait crawlers last summer but never got around to dragging them but I have used real crawlers on 3-ways on Pool 4. Just expect a 4:1 ratio pike/bass to walleye. Even got a musky doing this.

[FishinBill]

Explain 3-way rigging to me please. I probably know what you are talking about but just for piece of mind to follow the conversation

[CALVINIST]

Mark,

Do you use a weighted jighead, or just a hook?

Fishinbill,

A three way rig is a way to cover alot of water to find actively feeding fish, or provoking reaction strikes. The basic setup with the 3-way swivel goes like this. To one eye of the swivel you attach a "dropper", which is a piece of mono line, typically 2-3 feet long, and on the end of the line you put a 2-3 ounce bell sinker. This drags along the bottom as you troll along. To another eye you attach a live bait tipped lindy rig, or a mono leader with a shallow running crankbait like a floating Rapala on the end. And to the other eye you attach your line. I believe for every five feet of leader, your presentation drops a foot. So if you want to present something a foot off the bottom, use a 2 foot dropper and a five foot leader.

[Schnauzer]

I have not worked plastics with three ways but have spent a lot of time pulling crawler harnesses with spinners, or smaller rapalas. This is one of my favorite summer time presentations and personally favor three way rigs over bottom bouncers, which are similar in application.

I use 6# fireline on the main line with a mono dropper and mono snell. Since you are looking for a strike as much as you are looking for a bite - I think it is fine to use fiberglass or graphite rods. It is a middle ground between trolling cranks and live bait rigging/jigging.

[Tonka Boy]

Another thing to remember is always tie your dropper with lighter line than what's spooled on your rod. When you get stuck you can most often break it off without loosing everything.

[markkstanley]

I only have a wide gap hook no weight for the grubs and paddletails. I have several rigs with #3 and #4 Colorado blades and beads in front of a 3/0 wide gap worm hook for the plastics. As for dropper weight usually a 2oz. The usual dropper ratio for a 2mph troll is about 4:1 - 4ft lead 1 ft dropper. I go longer with the dropper as I have found big walleyes (on Tonka at least) are not snug to bottom so I will use as much as a 6ft dropper. I use 8ft rods for this type of fishing so the long dropper isn't too much of a hassle. I have never tried the Storm swimbaits behind this setup but don't see why they wouldn't work. A little trial and error. One other thing I read about and tried when using longer dropper lines was using a slip float on the dropper line to keep your rig a little more vertical and higher in the water column as you change speeds. At a dead stop the float will still push up the swivel and keep the bait off the bottom.

[tonyjor]

I tried tying a 3 way rig last year. How do you cast without the dropper line and the bait line swinging around and tangling on each other?

[poutpro]

don't cast it, just drop it and let is sink and go behind you as you troll.

[PerchJerker]

Tonkaboy, I used to go with a lighter line on the dropper, until I got tired of losing too many sinkers and having to retie too often. Now I keep everything the same and if the sinker gets snagged I can usually pull it out. I've been much happier since I got rid of the light dropper line. Good luck.

[Swimmer]

I too use identical lines so I can yank the sinker out of rocks. Another note: I seem to remember Al Lindner, I believe it was last fall, state emphatically that you should drop the sinker down until bottom contact is made and then lift it up a foot. The idea was to keep the sinker off the bottom, with very occasional bottom contact OK. He seems to think that a sinker dragging accross the bottom and stirring up silt spooked more walleyes than it attracted. This insight is intriquing and now must be added to my list of yet to be tried techniques.

[Jeff S]

Al is correct. It is better to hold your sinker a foot of the bottom, or even higher if the fish seem to be suspended. Trolling three way rigs is a deadly technique. At times they will hit so hard they about pull the rod out of your hands, other times it just feels like extra weight. Trolling speed is critical in this presentation. I like to use a 3 ounce sinker and run my line at a 45 degree angle. If you drag your sinker you stir up the bottom and you can't judge your speed properly.

Practice this technique and it will put many fish in the boat for you.

Good luck!

Jeff S

[HunterLee]

i used this last sunday except had a foot dropper and a 3 foot leader. drifted slowly with a leech and half ounce sinker caught 2 decent walleyes. seemed to keep me off the junk on the bottom while still letting me feel the light bites. ended up with 5 17 to 23 walleyes that day from 10am to 2pm