Bottom bouncing rigs for walleye

Bottom bottom bouncing rigs for walleye have become a staple of the walleye fishing industry. The reason they are so popular is because they are easy to run, versatile, and just downright catch fish. This setup is so simple, yet it can have so many alterations for differing styles of fishing.

Bottom Bouncer walleyes is often a slam dunk for summertime walleyes. We reached out to Tony Roach, one of the best walleye guides out there, and asked him a few questions about how he approaches bottom bouncing throughout the summer months. I tend to use a lot of nightcrawler, minnows, leeches, however, there are times when I actually prefer plastics. They work great when the walleyes are scattered through secondary breaklines, humps, deep weed edges, etc. They allow you to go from fish-to-fish-to-fish and really cover water quickly.

Bottom bouncing rigs for walleye

In both North and South Dakota, bottom bouncer rigs have been catching walleye on the Missouri River reservoirs for an awfully long time. The popularity of bottom bouncers however has expanded far and wide. Come mid-summer, bottom bouncers are probably my go-to presentation to catch walleyes day in and day out on many different fisheries. The reason bottom bouncers are so effective is the simple versatility. You can speed up to cover the water at over two miles per hour with a bottom bouncer. You can also slow down at a mile per hour or less. You can fish in deep water or shallow. You can run plain snells and live bait. You can run half-crawler Slow Death style hooks that have become so popular over the last decade. You can run spinner harnesses with blades. All these options enable the angler to fish slow or fast, with subtle or vibration with flash. You can fish shallow or deep. Through this entire spectrum, bottom bouncers are forgiving in that you can slide out into deeper water or move up shallow and keep your presentation near the bottom if need be. You can also simply put the rod in the rod holder and the rod simply loads up with a fish. Bottom bouncers are so simple to use and so effective.

Lastly, forget the TINY bottom bouncers. This time of year, the bigger blades resemble the bigger prey species and many walleye are going to be chowing on them. I personally like to lean heavily on spinner harnesses whenever the water is dirty or stained either from wind, watercolor, or algae blooms.

One of the most consistent walleye presentations is a spinner-crawler rig spinner-crawler harness on a bottom-bouncer. Mainly a trolling or drifting tactic, many walleye anglers have used this technique before, but few have perfected it. For many years, bottom-bouncer fishing has been my primary method in my busy charter fishing business that operates mainly on Saginaw Bay and Lake Erie. Last year I pulled body-baits during early spring, but after the water temperature nudged into the high 40s, we fished bottom bouncers almost exclusively and caught limits on most trips. When all other programs were failing on other boats, we consistently caught walleyes, even during the toughest fishing conditions.

There are so many ways to fish bottom bouncers, making it one of the most versatile tactics for walleyes and other species. The 3 simple reasons I use bottom bouncers for walleyes are:. I mean, all you have to do really is hook up a bait rig to the bottom bouncer and go. But is it really that simple??? Not really. I will explain. This may cause your lines to tangle, which can be very time-consuming and annoying. This keeps my bait at a degree angle, and away from rods at the back of the boat. Keeping this in mind keeps my line out of my buddies on MOST occasions. Lastly, forget the TINY bottom bouncers.

Bottom bouncing rigs for walleye

For the business end of a bottom bouncer, the most versatile and commonly used bait is a spinner rig also sometimes called a worm harness , consisting of a few beads, a rotating blade and one or more hooks. The beauty of these rigs is how they can be adapted to many situations by varying the length of line used, the number of hooks, the size, quantity and colour of beads and the colour, style and size of blades. As an added bonus, spinner rigs are well suited for using live bait, frozen minnows and artificials. When fishing with leeches or minnows, a rig with one octopus-style hook is the norm I often tie on a second hook close to the first one as a stinger.

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The heavy leader is abrasion resistant when trolled over rocks, zebra mussels, and other rough substrates. Cart subtotal. Bottom Bouncer with Crankbaits — Another method for fishing bottom bouncers is to use a long leader and a crankbait behind it. For holding the rod, nothing beats a good baitcasting reel with a flipping switch which are getting harder to find. It allows you to go shallow or deep in an instant, making depth changes easy. I personally like to use a stiffer seven-foot medium-heavy baitcasting rod as the stiffer rod loads up and pops the bottom bouncer through rocks and snags much better especially if you have the rods in the rod holders. Subscribe To The Magazine. Late season and fall walleye bottom bouncing setup Towards the fall, I begin the transition to size 3 and 5 Colorado blades. Chris Hustad. Start typing to see results or hit ESC to close sportfishing fishing anglers canada angling. Feeling a hard strike on a bottom bouncer and setting the hook is right up with catching a fish on a jig. I LOVE to use this presentation when fishing breaks or ledges, where my depth changes a lot. Posted in Dock Talk. That length also provides a good distance from bottom bouncer to fish for optimal netting.

A bottom bouncer rig for walleye is one of the most effective tools for catching walleye with trolling, and it can also be very effective when used from shore.

See All Other Magazines. Bottom bouncing rods, reel and line preferences I like to use a stouter rod when bottom bouncing. The only problem with heavy bottom bouncers is that they can be dangerous if anglers are careless while reeling in fish. One of my favorite tricks for improving the size of walleye I catch with harnesses is using soft plastic or Gulp! See All Videos. Sign Me Up. Bottom bouncers and spinner harnesses can be run with no live bait as well which can be extremely deadly at times. Keeping this in mind keeps my line out of my buddies on MOST occasions. If I must fish slow with a light line, I often prefer to slip bobber or live bait rig. How do you select bottom bouncer style and weight? Rigging a bottom bouncer is really quite simple once you start using it.