6/17/2023 0 Comments Sliding weight bottom bouncer rig![]() ![]() ![]() During prefishing, we found a good spot in 10 to 15 feet of water that was full of walleyes, but it was also full of sheepshead and big catfish. Years ago, I was fishing in a Saginaw Bay walleye tournament with 120 boats vying for a $10,000 payout. In vegetation, I always fish suspended at least a few feet off bottom. This angled shape deflects weeds away from the ‘crawler harness and allows weeds to slide away, keeping things running efficiently. I bend back the wire embedded in the weight until it’s about 3 inches from the snap-swivel end. In vegetation, I prefer a 1/2-ounce bouncer with a thin lead weight. The reason I don’t use a heavy bottom bouncer in shallow water is because the setback becomes too short to allow me to detach the planer board safely and net fish effectively. There are two applications where I prefer to use lighter weights: 1) fishing in weedbeds and, 2) fishing in waters shallower than 6 feet. I occasionally use 5- to 6-ouncers when targeting walleyes in water deeper than 50 feet, but those heavy weights tend to drag back the in-line planer boards that I use, so there’s a trade-off. I use 3- to 4-ounce bottom bouncers for most of my walleye trolling. The more weight used, the shorter the setbacks that are needed, which speeds up the setup process and also lessens tangles. I typically like to troll at the maximum speeds that walleyes still respond to, which varies on any given day. Faster speeds also reduce catches of undesirable fish. Faster trolling equals more water covered and better hookup-to-catch ratios. When fish are aggressive, heavier weights also allow faster trolling while keeping lures in the strike zone. The commotion attracts walleyes and catch-rates increase.Ī spinner-crawler rig taken to depth with a bottom bouncer has been the author's favorite walleye presentation for decades. A heavier weight kicks up more debris and makes more noise. I’ve discovered that you should use the heaviest weight practicable, especially when walleyes are on or near bottom. Years ago, when I started using bottom bouncers on big water, I read that you were supposed to use the lightest weights possible that would take the lure to bottom, which I later learned wasn’t the case. If I see suspended fish on sonar, I quickly shorten the setbacks to bring bouncers up to the fish and they produce results there, too. When walleyes are holding tight to bottom and are inactive, a bottom bouncer ticking along the bottom seems to wake them up and elicit strikes. My side-by-side testing has shown that they usually outperform every other sinker style. There’s something about the wire and weight combination that draws fish. I’m convinced that walleyes are attracted to bottom bouncers. Even when fish are high in the water column or when they’re in thick weedbeds, bottom bouncers can work. When all other programs were failing on other boats, we consistently caught walleyes, even during the toughest fishing conditions. 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. 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. Mainly a trolling or drifting tactic, many walleye anglers have used this technique before, but few have perfected it. One of the most consistent walleye presentations is a spinner-crawler rig (spinner-crawler harness) on a bottom-bouncer. ![]()
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