Have you ever read an article about fishing with Bottom Bouncers? Keep those lines from the rod to the weight at 45 degrees for optimal performance, right? Not necessarily and sometimes completely wrong.
Where do these articles come from? Strictly speaking they are written from experiences gained in Minnesota, Wisconsin or Canadian waters. 45′ is more of a rule of thumb for those drifting with the BB’s in order to keep the right angle for control and feel of the rod. Its a great technique for those inland bodies of water where wind and current can play less of a factor.
Switch around to the Great Lakes and throw the concept out the door, unless you are drifting. Bigger water = deeper water, more current and lots more exposure to wind effects. Go big, or stay home as the saying goes.
If you are looking for walleyes out in Erie where the warm weather has driven the fish down deep this time of the year, stay on the bottom, fish the bottom, heck….POUND THE BOTTOM. Taking that term from a jigging concept, it can apply roughly for trolling with bottom bouncers as well.
I have two rods in the front of the trolling spread always rigged with BB’s, and I want to keep things from getting tangled up with my boards and other lines. This is where you throw that 45′ out the door folks. Run your bouncers as straight down as possible, 4 ouncers rule most of the time. I have rigged a few BB’s with extra weights, so in rough waters, 7 oz bottom bouncers work best for me in this application. I am even trying to match concepts with the Detroit River handliners and rig a 1/2 or 3/4 lb weight, those are 8 and 12 oz rigs .
My harnesses are already pretied at 10 to 12 foot long. That can lead to some problems if you run your weights strictly on the bottom. It didn’t take long SEVERAL years ago to realize that my spinners were dragging bottom, either getting nicked by zebra muscles or gathering huge clumps of the lil’ buggers. I would have line breaking or if they went unnoticed, I would be dragging around small colonies of muscles for 100’s of feet.
Luckily I came up with a solution fairly quickly that required very little thinking on my part on the spot. Do not simply stick the rod out and release the weights, by the time it hits bottom they have already gone too far towards the back of the boat. Give the rod a slight toss towards the front of the boat. Don’t get crazy here, its a heavy weight and will carry the right distance with a flick of the wrist.
When the bouncers finally hit the bottom, close your bail or give your reel a crank to stop the release of line. Lift your rod up slightly, crank in a bit line and set the rod in the holder. Literally, now you are no longer BOTTOM bouncing. What you are doing is no longer dragging your harness on the bottom, keeping the fish interested and increasing your catches.
What is bouncing is your rod tip! Every wave gives the rod action. Even in calm water where the rod hangs below like a downrigger rod, you are fishing smarter than before. Every bite, tug and run is telegraphed back to the rod for you to see. It really is a better way to detect and interpret what is going on below with your bait.
