Trolling fall walleyes with crawler harness

[whitetail113]

Hello everyone i am planning on doing some trolling this fall for walleyes with bottom bouncers and crawler harnesses. I am going to be trolling depths of 30-40 feet in a clear water lake, i am also only fishing with one other person so i can only use a total of 2 poles. My questions are should i use planer boards or just right off the side of the boat, also what speed should i be going, what weight of bottom bouncer should i use, and what length of crawler harness should i be using. Thanks.

[pikerliker]

If you are fishing 30+ feet I would just fish off the side of the boat. The speed and length of harness you might just want to experiment with. I usually go at a speed where my line would be at about a 45 degree angle when pulling bottom bouncers. You could start with 3 to 5 ft harness snell length and then go shorter or longer from there if nothing is biting. I would also experiment with size of blades and colors if nothing is working.

[guyonacouch]

I've always heard 1 oz of weight per 10 feet of water depth. I've been bouncing in 20-30 feet of water at 1.8-2.2 mph and achieved the desired 45 degree angle with a 2-3 oz weight. Anything smaller and I've got to put a lot of line behind the boat and I can never tell if I'm actually close to the bottom.

[whitetail113]

thanks for the info and what speed should i be going

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Straight over the side.

2 oz. to 3 oz. bouncer.

1.2 mph to 2.5 mph

As mentioned also vary blade color and size.

Cliff

[WaveWacker]

Don't even think about going less than 3oz. I use that even in 20'. I usually don't go over 1.5mph

[CANOPY SAM]

Is it really that critical to have your weight directly beneath the boat? I hope to do some of this as well this fall, but I really don't have the gear to support dragging 3 oz. weights, nor do I intend to buy line-counter heavy gear systems just for this application.

Do you lose a lot of the feel as the bouncer gets further from the boat? I was thinking of simply dragging 1 - 1 1/2 oz. bouncers and drifting, or just slowing my troll enough to stay reasonably close to the rig.

[TruthWalleyes]

I was running a 4oz 3/way rig crawler harness yesterday. It was a sheephead magnet. Only reason i kept it vertical was because i was fishing suspended and needed to know what depth i was running. I'll run a 6-8' leader.

[Chad Holst]

Whitetail,

You have some options. I will tell you what i would use first, and would probably end up sticking with, then i will give you some things to play around with.

First, your gear can handle 3 oz bouncers, they are not "that" heavy. Especially if you are fishing walleyes. (for walleye you usually use a firmer pole, as they are sometimes VERY light hitters and feel is everything in walleye fishing, so there should be no issue with a bit oh lead on the line)

Anyway. I would use a 3 inch crawler harness, any excess crawler can hang off the back.

Start with a blade that is #4. This will make a huge difference on how much weight or line you use and how much speed you can use. The bigger the blade, the more "pull" the blade will have with the water, this makes the blade harder to keep down. Smaller blades are easier to keep down than larger blades. The bigger blades attract more though.

Use braided line, this allows you to use a thinner line, with less friction on the water, so it will be easier to keep it deep. Plus you dont want to loose too many of those bouncers.

The goal is to use the least amount of weight, yet keep the line at 45 Degrees or less. You want to "walk" the bouncer, not drag it. so you need to be able to "feel" the bottom. The more line you put out, the harder it is to "find the bottom".

Typically, to start out, i will get the boat to my target speed. ( i dont let the lure dictate the speed, i pick a speed then ajust the lure to match it) now put you harness and bouncer in the water. open the bail and watch your line. You will see when the bouncer hits the bottom. Close your bail and pull out 2-3-4 more feet of line. Move the rod tip down until you feel it hit the bottom. Pick up the rod tip 3-4 inches, lower it to see if it hit the bottom again. If it doesnt, you have too much line out and you are just "dragging" the bottom. You want to "walk" the bottom. DONT bounce it up and down very fast. simply hold it 3-4 inches off the bottom and every 10-15 seconds, move the tip down to see if you hit bottom again, then bring it back up. your really just checking that its still the same depth. When the bottom drops off, strip some line out, when the bottom gets shallow, reel some in. But, keeping the line almost verticle is the key to not dragging or not being close to the bottom. 40 feet of water is alot of depth, so you may find that you have to let a bit more line out, but the goal is to not have any more than absolutly needed. (this will also aid greatly in hook set)

Next, the big question....3 way or bouncer? you said you wanted to use a bouncer, and that is what i used on tour 80% of the time. There are situations where a 3 way works better, but for lake fishing in 40 feet of water, with a trolling motor (not drifting) i would use the bouncer.

Speed... Speed is always the key to pulling bouncers. some days they like it fast, other times they dont want it moving at all. So, to start i would run 1.5 or 2 mph. Dont go in a straight line. Your searching for what the fish want, so you are going to zig zag down the lake. You wont do this all day, but just to find a good speed the fish like. If you are getting more hits when your line is on the outside of the turns then the fish want it faster, if your getting hit only when you are on inside turns, then they want it slower. We have even been known to troll in very large circles to start, to see if the outside or inside polls get hit more. If you are getting hit when the bait isnt even moving, then you should be anchored and using jigs...lol.

If it doesnt seem to matter how fast you are going, then 1.5 mph is about perfect. easy to keep it on the bottom, still covering a good amount of water and boat control is pretty easy at this speed.

Some things to consider: If it is windy, it will be alot harder to find the bottom consistantly, so use a bit of extra weight. Wind makes a constant speed much harder to hold. at 40 feet, with 3 oz bouncers, 1 mph will change the depth of your rig by as much as 5 feet, so you really want to be using enough weight on windy days or if the trolling motor operator has had a few to many canned fish attractants.But remeber dont use more weight than you have to.

Colors: there are 2 colors of blades for crawler harnesses..bright and NOT bright. dont be as worried about the color as much as the brightness of them. Most of the time i start with bright, then go to dark if its not working. once i know what they want, then you can play with different colors and patterns.

planner boards... i wouldnt use them, you have only 2 lines out, so no need to seperate multiple lines. You are fishing in 40 feet of water, so there shouldnt be any worry about the boat spooking fish, so no need to get the lines away from the boat.

Do yourself a favor and get some rod holders. 3oz isnt much, but add the 1.5-2 mph and the hours and hours add up to pretty strained wrists. Have some rod holders available for areas you know the depth of and dont have to "find bottom" as often. I hold my rods more than the next guy, but its nice to have a place to hold the rod when i need a break and dont want to reset my line.

Get fast clip blades for your spinner/harnesses. This way you can switch the size of the blade or color without re-tying the entire rig.

If it is windy, consider using the wind to blow you around rather than trolling. A "wind sock" tied to the boat is a great investment, if the wind is blowing you to hard. And you WANT to be on the lake walleye fishing when the wind is blowing. (I'd rather fish walleyes at high noon with a 20 mph wind, than at dusk or dawn with NO wind)

Anyway, there is a short book to hopefully answer some questions. feel free to PM me if you need more help.

OH YAH...make sure you take a kid with you fishing. Your going out anyway...why not take a little partner with you?

[Cicada]

Awesome tutorial sirlips. Very well said and easy to understand.

[whitetail113]

Thank you so very much for all your info and i will put them to work. I will also have a little buddy with me to keep me company and fish with.

[CANOPY SAM]

No kidding. Thanks SL! Terrific info. Thank you.

Hey, as you're from Rochester, and obviously an avid fishermen, coach, etc., you don't happen to know a guy named Pete Luhman, do you?

[Chad Holst]

Pete? nope, sorry.

Glad i could help.

[Gordie]

I would also try and use some hatched blades you can slow the troll down a bit and they have a ton of vibration put out from them.

[iEatNoodles]

.9 to 1.1 mph...

12 foot rods, 2.5-3.5oz weights, 3 way rigged with 12' leaders.. DEADLY!

http://youtu.be/lmBNBA_meKM

[Chad Holst]

ieatnoodles,

Thats some pretty big gear for rigging on a lake. I can see using the 12 footers if your pulling boards on a river, and that heavy of weight if your in a very stiff flow or extremely windy conditions...

I would guess if the fish are slamming it this would still work, but me thinks you would miss alot of fish if the bite is soft.

If a leaf hits my line, i want to feel it. Thats not always possible, but it is the goal.

[iEatNoodles]

ieatnoodles,

Thats some pretty big gear for rigging on a lake. I can see using the 12 footers if your pulling boards on a river, and that heavy of weight if your in a very stiff flow or extremely windy conditions...

I would guess if the fish are slamming it this would still work, but me thinks you would miss alot of fish if the bite is soft.

If a leaf hits my line, i want to feel it. Thats not always possible, but it is the goal.

You would be surprised I think.. the beauty of the 12' is there are NO Boards.. ever.. we cover 32 feet of water with every pass and the rods are actually designed with a fairly soft tip and a stout backbone that the fish bsaically hang themselves.. No hookset nothing.. pick the rod up and reel in your fish. Currently they are in the boats of Three of the top 15 MTT Walleye teams and were in the boat of the team of the year last year. This is an extremely productive technique.

Best of luck! noodles

[John Mickish]

For pulling harnesses that deep that is exactly the setup I would use. Those long rods are great for letting the fish hook themselves, and you will need that kind of weight to get down that deep.

[Chad Holst]

I like the idea of being able to cover that much water with each pass. Realistically with 12 footers and an 8 foot wide boat you are covering... 28 feet or so...thats a huge swath to search without boards. I like it. This would also allow you to make more and tighter turns without fouling your lines.

Like you said, its basically board fishing, without the boards. If the bite isnt ultra light, i can see a use for this set up.

[John Mickish]

It's not quite that wide, the rod holders are inset a bit from the edge and the rods have a foot+ on the inside of the boat, but you will cover a wide path.

[Chad Holst]

Yah i was thinking about that.. 12 foot rods x 2 plus 8 feet of boat gets you to 32...i only subtracted 4 feet for rod holders and the extra length of rod in the boat... Your probably right, its probably still a bit less than 28 feet, but that is still a pretty good amount of water to cover in one pass.

When was this guys trip again? curious to see how he did...