Rigging Basics

[Seabass77]

I have never had problems rigging in my life, but this season has killed me and I need to double check my basics.

On Thursday, I sat just north of Rocky Reef on ML and watched boats all around me catch walleye after walleye while I could not hardly buy a bite. One boat was using plain hooks, some using floats, some leeches, some crawlers. I caught 2, all day!! I was using a 3/4 oz weight, bead, swivel, 8-10 foot snell, and all types of hooks and floats at the end.

A couple of points to mention - I was using florocarbon leader material. I was also fishing in a small boat without a sock, so I had to back troll to slow down.

Any other tips are appreciated.

Thanks.

[JDM]

Sounds like you have it covered. Maybe it was one of those days. I was out Saturday and while my 7 yr old daughter and I caught fish, my freind got skunked. In fact, he hardly had a bite all day. I think that sometimes it just isn't your day.

One thing I will mention is that I have had a lot of bites this year where you just feel a subtle amount of weight on the line and then give line to the fish for quite a while before setting the hook. Others are just hammering the bait and they are on. My kids do just fine without giving any line though.

Did you have a way to tell how fast you were going? The other possibility is that you were moving to fast for your presentation.

[Gordie]

sounds to me you were doing it right just didnt have luck on your side

what pound test was your line? I know that sometimes this can be very important for the presentation of the bait alot of times I will run 4lb test and that makes the biggest difference of all but then their are those times when one guy can have the exact same rig as the other guy in the boat and not catch a fish to save his life(thats talking from experince). Speed can also play a big factor in the presentation found this out last weekend pullin blades 1.2-1.5 was the magic speed .

Where were the fish on the graph? might be bait wasnt in the zone. The sinker I use is just heavy enough to feel bottom then I can dictate where I'm holding the bait with the rod by holding it up or down or somewhere in between.

[gunflint]

How deep were you fishing? 3/4 seems like a lot of weight for rigging. The heaviest I use is 3/8ths and that's when it's really windy or I want to speed things up. Most of the time I rig with 1/4oz weights down to 20 fow.

[Seabass77]

I was fishing in 23 - 28 FOW, speed was around .8 to 1.1. Has anyone ever heard of your vanish sinking and not catching fish? Maybe mono leader is better? I was using 6lb.

[Team Otter]

The basics sound right on, other than the weight, as previously mentioned. The lighter you can get away with and still hold your presentation at a 45 or closer to vertical, the better off you'll be. Vanish is 'da bomb'. I use it exclusively for snells.

[vermilionwally]

I use berkely vanish and have not had trouble with it sinking so far... I havent had much luck this summer on the rigs but if you blow up your crawlers with a worm blower they should float off the bottom more.

[crappace]

I was on the pond this Saturday with my Dalmatian. We were on the water for about an hour and had three hits before it was time to go. Two of them made it in the boat. The only thing you might try is slowing down even more. .5 is the number I am looking for while rigging.

15-20 minutes of my time was spent with the leech in my splashwell. Had trouble feeling the bottom and finally decided to reel up and see what was going on. Sure enough, in the wind and the waves the leech hadnt made it out of the boat...moral of the story is I had three chances in 45 minutes of actual fishing to get nice walleyes. Its addicting.

[bigbucks]

I would venture to guess I would almost NEVER fish a crawler even close to that slow. Minnows sure, leeches maybe...

[taw]

Try adding DAP (A fly tyer's wax)to your fluorocarbon leaders. This floats the line reversing the trend of fluorocarbon sinking due to it's density.

[crappace]

bigbucks - you wouldnt fish crawlers that slow? I am new to this but fished with pros for three days during the PWT. Two of the three fished with crawlers this slow, a lot. I tried it on my own and did well with it also.

[Team Otter]

Riggin' slow with crawlers is definitely an option. Sometimes that slow roll of a crawler out-fishes the snake-like slither of a leech.

[Mike Walerak]

I fish crawlers on lindy rigs just as I would any other bait. Just last week on Winnie we were slowly dragging crawlers slowly across a small piece of structure. It out produce any of the other methods we tried..

Manytimes a crawler with a JB Lures rattle bead can be dynomite during cold front conditions.

mw

[bigbucks]

I fish them just the way these guys are talking about, just not slow very often.

[ChuckN]

I'm kinda with bigbucks on this one. I've found myself fishing crawlers faster in the past couple years. My buddy has pounded it into my brain about this technique, and it does work...especially shallower water. I'm still working on feeling more comfortable with this style of fishing as I'm more finesse.

bigbucks- may I quiz you on how you weight this presentation? light or heavy weights?

[bigbucks]

Light as I can tell where the bottom is. 3/8th's is the heaviest I'll use unless I'm fishing 20' plus & it's awfully rough. I would agree that I definitely fish them faster shallow, the weed fish tend to react to the speed better I think.