One is pulling a Lindy rig behind a bottom bouncer, which is a great way to fish rocky areas where conventional Lindy rig weights get snagged. While spinner rigs remain the most popular bottom-bouncing presentations, there are some additional techniques I sometimes use. As with other rigs for bottom bouncing, there are numerous slow-death options, from just a hook with a bead, to multiple beads and even the addition of spinner blades. That ensures the fish also bites the hook, not just the worm. When using a live crawler, be sure to only use a short segment with just a small bit extending behind the hook. Today, several tackle makers produce specific slow-death hooks, and Berkley even makes a Gulp! Killer Crawler to use instead of live crawlers. He hit on the idea of trolling a nightcrawler on a #2 Tru-Turn Aberdeen hook (above), which tracks in a circular wobble that walleye just can’t resist. Using the Slow Death rig requires a specialized hook SLOW-DEATH RIGĪnother important option for bottom-bouncing is the slow-death rig, developed by a South Dakota fishing guide looking for a presentation that could be fished very slowly behind a bottom bouncer. PK Lures also introduced the Wobbler Blade, which is a rigid, egg-shaped floating blade that makes a few rotations then pauses before rotating in the opposite direction. The Dakota Disc is a small round disk with a hole in the centre that moves sporadically from side to side, and up and down. Late last year, PK Lures debuted two new blade styles that move like nothing I’ve ever seen before. They’re also killer when pulled at higher speeds. They’re perfect in colder water or after a cold front when the fish are neutral or inactive. The beauty of propellers is that they rotate at lower speeds, so you can troll them slower. Even newer are lightweight propeller-style blades, such as Smile Blades from Mack’s Lure or Northland Fishing Tackle’s Butterfly Blades. Hatchet-shaped blades, for example, have a very erratic vibration. Lately though, some new styles have appeared, each with its own unique vibration and flash. (Left) a Smile Blade from Mack’s Lure, and (right) a rig using Northland Fishing Tackle’s Butterfly Blade SPINNER OPTIONSįor years, spinner blades were limited to the classic Colorado, Indiana and willowleaf shapes. If the bite slows down, you can start experimenting again. Once you figure out the hot colour or blade, everyone can change over to that pattern. When fishing with a group, have everyone start out with a different set-up to help determine what’s working. One of my favourite tricks is to place a bead of a contrasting colour-usually black or glow-white-right next to the hook as a target for striking fish. Another option is to change the colour, size or number of beads on the rig. In many instances, simply changing the colour of the blade is enough. If I’m marking fish, but not getting hits, I’ll try longer rigs and make changes to the presentation. If the fish are active, I’ll shorten up my rig to capitalize on their pugnacious attitudes. When I first hit the water, my typical search rig is three-feet-long, with a #4 Colorado spinner blade and seven beads. A two-hook spinner rig using octopus hooks ADAPTATIONS The idea here is to have the bait appear after the bottom-disturbing bouncer has already passed by the fish. If the walleye are inactive, I switch to longer rigs, measuring from 40 inches in length all the way up to six feet. Since the fish are actively feeding, they’ll key in on this disturbance and strike. Short spinner rigs ranging from 30 to 36 inches work on aggressive fish, because as the bottom bouncer moves along, it stirs up sediment and makes noise. Some anglers also replace the back octopus hook with a tiny treblehook to increase hook-ups. When fishing with nightcrawlers or soft-plastic imitations, the harnesses usually have two or three octopus hooks, spaced about three or four inches apart, to accommodate the length of the bait. 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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