Well after two weeks of having it mentioned on the show, more and more people started looking and searching for it online.  Remember those forums I mentioned yesterday that I said could be helpful?  Turned out I found it on the Fishing Minnesota site after posting the blog for the day.

Over on Rollie and Helen’s Musky Shop site, they have the exact clips.  The two smallest sizes would be the best for fishing for walleyes though on spoons. Simply take the treble hook off the split ring, then attach the clip.  Then you have a quick and easy way to put on, and take off your treble to re bait when needed.

Stringease Fastach Multi-Use Clip

I start off with a kitty litter box of all things to store all the goodies I need and use while perching out on Erie.

Next I have a selection of weights that fit nicely into a Plano 3500 sized tackle tray.  Although 1/2, 3/4 and 1 once weights are the most commonly used size, I have some split shot and other items that could come in handy.

It seems like you have to cater to the wants of the fish, so even though last year it seemed as if the perch wanted the vertical rigs, I still carry a couple of horizontal spreaders with me when I go out on the lake.  These are the harder to find model of spreader because you add your own weights.  I like these best for keeping a tight line in all kinds of wind conditions because you can adjust as you need to.

Next up, I have tied an assortment of snells to put on the spreaders and rigs.  Some of the long shaft gold hooks, to go along with my Mustad Ultra Point #6 and #8 livebait hooks.  I have added some beads and flickers to them, trying to match up the presentation with the size of the hook.

Next up I have three rolls with the perch rigs that I made up with the 4 inch lears purchased from Jann’s Netcraft in Ohio.  Two rolls are the double lear rigs, while one roll is made up of single lear/arm rigs.

When placed into the cat litter container, I have a complete perch fishing kit made up and ready to go.  It takes up a small amount of space in the boat, and still contains everything I need to have a great day on the water. 

All the weights can be purchased at local shops, you just need some snaps, swivels, lears and I did use some 20 lb Big Game clear mono from Berkley.  You can actually go higher or lower if you wish.  The snells were made with 15 lb Big Game, the stiffness of the line allows for it to hang better from my experience over the years.  You can pick up the Plano tray from any Gander Mountain, Dick’s or Bass Pro Shops fishing/marine department.  If you are fortunate enough to live near Frank’s Great Outdoors or Jay’s Sporting Goods, they have ‘em too.

Report was that more often than not the top snell got snagged up on the bottom arm.  So last night, it was tear up time.  Cut all the parts off and re-did them all with the 4 inch arms, which if you remember right are really called lears.  Both sizes are available at Jann’s Netcraft.

So last night I rigged up 20 double lear rigs, and another 10 or so with a single lear/arm.  Tonight will rig up some more singles, as well as snell some more hooks for my snells.

Have you ever walked up to someone in the sewing dept. and asked if you carry thicker thread?  You get this crazy look in response like what is this guy talking about!  So after striking out there, I picked up my bobbers anyway, then it hit me.

I had been stripping and retying braid on my line the whole trip.  Not wanting to simply throw the line overboard I had saved it all for some reason.  Worn out braid gets fairly soft after a long period of use folks.  So there it is, I used the line as thread and was able to rig up my slip bobber rods.  Worked like a charm, and I have spools of this stuff back in the shop.  Have I mentioned I got this pack rat mentality from my mother?  Well it rubbed off on my anyway.

Tied my thread, put my bead on the line followed by the bobber and tied the hook on. Set my depth and began catching some nice gills.  Not as nice as my cousin Christine’s kids, but still had my fun fishing.

First off I built these portable backstops out of treated lumber, and braced them with some shelf brackets.

Then I built the frame for the sand to go around the stake.  Then I measured around the stake to make it kosher, then using the frame as a trace, I painted the grass around it and started digging.  After getting that finished up I picked up my sand and filled in the hole/pit.

So wah-la, all done.  For official measurements it was as easy to find as g-o-o-g-l-e.  Stakes are 40 ft apart just like they said, got my 3 inch angle on the stakes, and they are 15 inches high…textbook.

The 30 dollar option is good, once you get past the price that is.  Hagens, a well known tackle sales house sells the “Keep Kool” container.

These are a little hard to find, some of the big box outdoor stores used to sell them, and they still might, but I don’t shop in them much anymore preferring the online options to get exactly what I want, when I want it.  In the pic, the door is open allowing you to place your crawlers in the middle, 100 to 200 depending on how much bedding you use, or do not use.  Under the white lid that surrounds the “bait well”  there is a slot that runs around the well to keep your crawlers iced down.  Now if you decide to do this option, that is ok, it works and works well, but here is a good tip to help make the product better.  Instead of using ice cubes, try this.  Take container and fill the slots about 3/4’s of the way up with water, and then place in freezer. This gives the ice room to expand.   Solid ice melts slower than cubes, so this is a far better option.

Now the frugal way, call it cheap if you want, but I like using that extra 20 bucks for other things.  Go to Meijer, Walmart, Menards…..etc.  Look for this Coleman 5 qt lunch sized cooler.

It will cost you 10 bucks, plus or minus a dollar.

Now, everyone is taking meds or vitamins these days, so you have plenty of these lil bottles laying around.  If you do not, go ask your parents, they do.

Prescription bottles and these vitamin bottles are water proof, ie… they won’t leak.  Again, fill them 3/4’s full of water and freeze.  Advantages are they are solid ice and wrapped in plastic so they last longer.  Place two or three of these in the bottom of the cooler, then put bedding and crawlers on top of them.  Now you have bedding insulating them as well.

Now you have an effective and fairly inexpensive way to keep your crawlers fresh and cool. 

Now consider this,  you have the guy driving the boat, and two guys working the lines and baiting hooks and only one cooler of crawlers.  You have already spent 10 bucks compared to the 30 bills for the other option.  Instead of passing the cooler back and forth and opening it twice as much, get a second 5 qt cooler for another $10.  Now you have only spent 20 bucks compared to $30, and you have a more convenient and functional option.

Remember, sometimes the frugal way, is the best way.

To the point, why not combine the two sizes while making one rig?  For my bottom lear, use the 2.5 inch wire rig.  Then use the 4″ lear for the top hook.   To the best of my knowledge I have not seen this done before.  All the rigs I had stored up from previous purchases before tearing them apart and  making my own, always came with two of the two and half inch types.

Now for the rationale for this though, to increase the hooking percentage of those lovely yellow bellies by having two hooks in or at least closer to the strike zone.  ie….near the bottom.

Because the four inch lear will hang out further than the bottom rigged 2.5″ arm, you should be able to rig it lower than you normally would without getting it tangled with the bottom hook or wire.  Thus having one hook rigged with a shiner on the bottom, and the second rig  a mere 7 or 8 inches above it.  Much closer than the standard rigs you can buy in the stores.

Now its yet to be proven through actual fishing, this should increase the rate of doubles per rig….at least that’s the theory so far.  Another couple of weeks should tell one way or another.

Here is the only pic that I could save, it is an Eagle Claw rig already made up with hooks.

Here is what you will need for components:

(1)  Duolock snap, size 3 is good, but really any size will do.

(1) Barrel or Crane swivel, again size three is good

(4) 4 or 5 mm beads

(2) Hook lears, 2.5  or 4 inch or combination of the two

(1)  36 inch length of mono: 20 or 25 lb will do nicely

(1) 1/2, 3/4 or 1 oz casting weight.  These look like a fat tear drop with a wire loop at the top.

Hook snells can be purchased, or you can make your own up out of fluorocarbon or 10 lb mono with hook sizes running from #8’s to #4’s.  #6 is a good tweener size, but I like smaller sizes available.  You catch everything that way.

The process is simple, at one end tie on your snap.  A Palomar knot is simple and effective or you can run it through a double loop knot.  Next take one of your beads and slide it down the line and estimate how far of a drop your hook leader will have to the bottom of the rig.  Once you have done that, run your mono leader through the bead twice.  It is important to do it that many times because a single looped bead will slip if a sheephead or walleye hits the minnow.

Next slide down the metal hook lears so it rests on top of the bead.  Jann’s Netcraft down in Ohio is the best source I know for buying the lears already made up.  They have both sizes available either in 10 pks or 50 packs. 

A 50 pk might seem like a lot, but if you only buy 10, that’s 5 rigs you can make.  If you tangle with a big fish and the rig gets destroyed with four people fishing, then you are left without a spare rig to fish with.  These are so simple to make, I suggest getting the 50 pack for convenience sake.

Next step is to run another bead down the line.  You can use a single loop of line through the bead here, or if you want to double up that’s fine as well.  I have never had a fish fight above the lear, they always pulling down on the way up.  The key is to leave just enough space between the top bead and the lear as to allow it to swivel around the rig’s main line freely.

The next to last step is to repeat the process with installing the second lear to your rig.  Measure/guess  the length needed to ensure your second hook does not snag the first.  Then your double loop bead, the lear and topped off with the top bead.

The last part of the process is to take your swivel and attach to the top of the rig.  Again either the palomar or double loop knot works. 

You are actually done with the making process now.  All you have to do is attach a weight to the snap, and your main line from the reel to your swivel.  An assortment of weights is good so you can match the conditions, you want to maintain contact with the lake’s bottom.

For your hook leaders if decide to make your own, this is an easy process as well.  Attach your hook at one end of a 6 or 8 inch leader.  You can attach a bead above the hook (just slide down) or a bead and flicker blade (size #0 or #00 Indiana blade) in either brass or silver.  Finish it off with a double loop knot, run the loop through the end of the hook lear, slide the hook through the leader loop and cinch down.

You are ready to go perch fishing…..good luck.

The strawberry box produced another bumper crop this year.  36 pints of freezer jam and enough for all the neighbors to get a quart for their ice cream and short cake.  The berry garden box has already been mowed down and will give it a good watering and one last weeding before winter comes in.

I planted a lot of corn this year, up by the house its 6 ft tall with the ears starting to show.  Back behind the shop, not as good, but will still have enough corn to get by the winter without hitting the frozen food section at Meijer.

In this box are “fingerling” potatoes and kentucky beans in the back, in the “then” pic, the red spuds are just starting to come up through the ground.

Now, it won’t be long before I can start digging up the fingerling taters.  These were actually leftover from last year, and I found them in my seed box.  The bean seeds were kept on purpose.

This is my chive and pepper box.  There are medium blocks, sweet banana, red roasters and jalopenos.  The blocks, sweets and jalapenos have already started to yield peppers.  They were great last night on my grilled philly during the all star game.

The last box up by the house are more kentucky beans and several kinds of tomatoes.  Why several?  All I can ask is if you have ever had a neighbor who bought too much of their own plants?

Finally, the stuff behind the lil’  barn.  There are MORE tomato plants..same source.  Also, a couple of zucchini, spanish onions (different source) and my pumpkins…lots of pumpkins with a shadow included, the camera nazi’s would have my tail for that one.  Even a rogue pumpkin plant in the onions, not sure how that happened.

You have to have fresh veggies with fresh fish, and the pumpkins…ice fishing money, because the fishing never stops for the seasons. 

The key to my garden’s success?  Lots of fish guts (its a fishing blog people), leafs and horse manure.  Bury the guts and leafs in the fall, put the manure up on top and till in before spring planting starts.

Have you ever gone to attach your crawler harness to the business end of a diver before?  There is no snap available, you have to cut off your loop knot and tie directly to the snap or in the case of a Jet Diver, the swivel provided.  Its a waste of time, plus can be a headache. 

Same thing with my leaders that are made up for attaching spoons.  At one end I have a snap for the spoon, the other end a good ball bearing swivel.  Now I could have tied a snap to one end, then a snap and swivel to the other, but that has two downfalls.  One I would have tied up some very expensive snap/swivels to the leaders, and the second is having them sitting on the foam roll just sitting there until I actually break out the spoon box.  Its a waste either way you look at it.

The solution is simple, add a snap to the diver so adding a spoon rig or harness actually becomes a “snap” to do.  I tried the smaller Berkley cross lok snaps, but after deforming several of the wire bends in the snap, I went with the duolock snap, the same type already used on the divers in question.  These are less expensive and really work well for the application.  “Easy on”  is the key here.

You can use a smaller sized snap if you want, but other than these salmon sized ones, my only other small ones in the shop are dedicated for my perch rigs that I make up, which is coming up fast season wise.  In the case of the Jet Divers, or other types for that matter, just open the clips on the duolock snap, and place through, then close up again.  The bigger snap also makes the process of changing out the leaders or harnesses an easy one.  I always say bigger is better, when it doesn’t bother the fish, why not use it.

Its not some big revolution that will sweep the walleye fishing world, and many of you may have thought of it already, but if it works….use it.

good luck