Fish Facts at Strike Zone Custom Tackle

Bottom Bouncing

I've chosen an article on "Bottom Bouncing" by Charter Captin Joe Holly of Lake Erie Charters first off because he was kind enough to give me permission to use it on my Near North Outdoors Site as well as, it sums up this very productive method of Walleye Fishing.

"Bouncing for Walleyes" by Capt. Joe Holly Lake Erie charter fishing

What's the simplest tactic, but also considered one of the deadliest when mastered for bottom dwelling fish? What do you do when the hungry gator' decides to take a break from the action and `lay out' deep? The answer is simply a bottom bouncer rig when used with a worm harness or spinner!

What is a bottom-bouncer rig is? It's a weighted L-shaped piece of wire with either a worm harness, live bait rig or spinner attached to the non- weighted end through the means of a snap or similar device. The weighted L-shaped piece of wire can be as light as « oz. or as heavy as 3 oz. All this is attached to the anglers rod at the middle loop of the bottom bouncer itself. When set up properly, this will allow your live-bait presentation to work at a controlled depth, or just off the bottom.

Anglers have used of this rig on Lake Erie for years. But it's just been since the clearer Lake Erie water, thanks to the Zebra muscle, that these rigs have come out of tackle boxes and proven there effectiveness in taking good numbers of walleyes. The productiveness of this presentation is often times more better then a cast and retrieved weight-forward spinner. Generally speaking, the name given to this rig simplifies the depth range where an angler should fish this type of presentation. In other words, when the fish are deep, set up your attack with bottom bouncing rigs!

The two best fishing conditions to use this method, is 1) When your targeting bottom hugging fish, and 2) With periods of high wind/waves. This make's for ideal situations that warrants the use of bottom bouncers. Water temperature rarely influences the success rate of these rigs. Beginning in April when you have to long line deep, cold-water walleyes, to the heat of a hot summer day in June to August fish, the bottom-dwelling bouncer/harness rig is a must and extremely deadly. It's easy to correctly set the bottom bouncer/harness rig. Nothing gets much simpler then opening the bail and dropping it over the side of the boat. Just remember that regardless of the weight for the drift conditions, should never help out line when setting the depth, and this even includes casting them! This presentation is meant to be drifted slowly at a determined depth, so this means you have to be aware of how much line you let out. Just remember when locating the correct depth, it will be found more easily by letting the rig fall to the bottom unassisted. When you find bottom with the rig, or as slack line appears because the bouncer is resting on the bottom, shut the bail and reel up one crank to tighten any slack line. The bottom bouncer/harness setup is now ready to go. [Tip: It's best to place the rod in a secure position, always tip high to detect the subtle, light walleye pick-up. This can be accomplished by putting the rod in a rod holder, securely leaning it against a high rail or gunnel]. Always double check to be sure that the rod is secured. Even though walleyes are light biters, a hard strike from a shaped or white perch could possibly pull the rod overboard!

If after a period of time you fail to get any strikes, let out extra line. Particularly on windy days let out line in 10 foot increments. Do this until you begin getting strikes. Remember how much you let out to help reset after re-baiting. Some days when the walleyes are suspended, it's possible that you may have to bring line in order to fish the shallower fish holding level. If it's relatively calm, this can be adjusted easily by changing to a lighter bouncer weight. This decreases the sharp angle (scope) of your line, allowing the lure to be fish shallower, but still further away from the boat and noise. Choosing the correct weight of bottom bouncer is relatively easy. Just remember to lighten up on calmer days. Probably the best all-around weight would be 1-1« oz. size. These can be used under any condition from 1 to 4 foot waves. Just remember that bottom bouncers come in sizes from « oz. to 3 oz. Pick up as many sizes as you feel you might need. Even when the lake is mirror-like, I use a light « oz. bouncers with my harnesses. Guess what, I still manage to catch a few bonus fish each trip.

When comparing the best harness color to use with the bouncers, is like saying there's a best weight-forward spinner color to throw. Every angler practically has a favorite color or pattern that they like to use. I try to use three basic blade and bead colors. These are golds, greens and chartreuse. If you are new to fishing with harnesses or spinners, try these colors first. Other colors or patterns also work very well. The point is that any color can work as good as the next under the right lake conditions. Get comfortable using colors that work for you, but have others on-board ready to go if it's a day the walleyes are finicky, is smart.

The blade size and lead length of harnesses may be important some days. When the walleyes are not attacking your offering, often a smaller or larger blade or the overall harness length (a.k.a. lead length) could make the difference. A good tip is to have two of each color harness or different blade size with identical colors. This way you can run different size spinner blades or different lead lengths on tough days to experiment which works best. Flexibility is important. When lead length is important, cut and tie one harness with a 36 inch lead and the other 18 inches. If I had to pick one lead size to run under all conditions, it would be 24 to 27 inches. The best knot to use when making your loop at the end of your harnesses is a double figure-8 knot. This way the harness can be changed and/or removed by simply opening the snap, rather then cutting and often shortening the harness line. Be flexible when using these rigs. They will work well once you get comfortable with them. On my boat, I fish all types of lake conditions with bouncers/harness rigs. I always run one to three rods set-up with different colors and different weights to begin with. I do this to search for a correct weight and color pattern that will work best that day. It's possible that I might have to make a couple changes to any rod that's inactive, in order to make them work better. Usually by the end of each day's trip, my set-ups had to be adjusted with a different color and weight that I eventually found to be successful through trial and error. All this effort is done to maximize my success, especially on slow days.

Remember, since walleyes are light biters, try not to use rods with light, limber tips when presenting bouncer rigs. Most any good walleye rod with a medium to medium-heavy tip works best with bottom bouncers. When drifting with bouncer rigs and harnesses, use a good 8-12 pound test line. The more you use these rigs in your drift programs, the more comfortable you'll get. When that happens, watch your catch rate increase as well. Good charter captains who have high daily catch rates, have been using bouncer/harness rigs for years and consider them an important piece of their arsenal. The interesting thing about these rigs is that they often "out fish" anglers using other traditional casting methods.

Follow this link; http://www.strikezonetackle.com/Walleye%20Combos2010.htm to see my "Floating Walleye Combos" section of my web site.

Have Fun Fishin!

Dave

Before we get into "Jigging for Walleye" I have a request.
I am hoping that we can put together a "Photo Album", but obviously I will need photos to do that so what I'm hoping you'll help me with this buy sending in any fishing pictures you might want to share with a little bit of info if possible (i.e. date, location, bait, you know what I mean). It doesn't have to be trophy fish, it can be anything with a story.
Now to the main attraction, "Jigging for Walleye"
One of my favorite techniques for catching "Ottawa River"walleye is bouncing a 1/4oz jig or 3/8oz jig for heavier current conditions off the bottom.
From season opener through till the cool waters of fall this technique probably produces more fish than any other method.
Jig fishing though can be broken down into different techniques in itself, some being; casting and retrieving with a jig/grub combination while varying retrieval speeds, you can also add to this buy stopping and letting your presentation sink to bottom every few feet, this often triggers strikes.
You can even add a spinner blade to your jig and cast or troll with it.
My personal favorite though, along with many other walleye anglers is to hook a minnow on just a plain jig head and hook and bounce it off the bottom to trigger strikes from wary walleye.
The actual technique for hooking the minnow varies between anglers but I will discuss my personal methods for attaching bait in a later blog.
Bouncing a jig off bottom can also be coupled with casting your presentation, this can attract walleye that are within casting distance of you.
Cast your offering, let it sink to bottom then lift your rod tip binging your line slowly towards you, let sink back to the bottom and repeat the process until you have completely retrieved your bait.
This technique along with just bouncing your jig beneath you can be even more effective if your using a rod with a sensitive rod tip as walleye are known to bite very lightly and the more sensitive the rod tip the more chance you'll have to recognize a strike, or if a wary walleye has possibly inhaled your offering.
I came up with a system that even increases the success rate of jig fishing.
Because I get most of my offerings stolen or striped from my hooks I decided to increase my odds by attaching lead lines to my jigs whereby I have attached a second hook approximately 1ft above my jig thus giving me a second chance at walleye that manage to get a free meal from the first hook.
This also works well due to the fact walleye usually travel in schools therefore meaning that there is usually more than one walleye eyeing up your bait.
Another positive feature to my invention is you don't necessarily have to reel up and re-bait when you miss a strike because you have a second offering to maintain their interest.
I call my creations "Jigging Harnesses"