I had a lot of fun last night working the Monroe Evening News’s booth at the fair last night on the web site’s “Meet the Bloggers Nite”. Got to meet some really nice people who blog on different topics and others who were walking through the great facility built/sponsored by Monroe Bank and Trust. Love the air conditioning by the way!!!
I had a really good question about using drifting as the primary technique for catching walleye out on Lake Erie.
The first cardinal rule about drifting walleyes is you have to enough wind to push you fast enough to entice walleye to bite. Sometimes they want the baits slow, say .8 to 1 mph. Sometimes they want a lot of spin on your crawler harnesses, so you look for faster winds to drop your lines down into the water. There are ways to achieve the desired goal here, putting more fish in the box! Either way, “if the wind ain’t blowing, you ain’t drifting”, or just wasting your time trying.
In most situations the first thing to consider is the bottom bouncers you will be using with your crawler harnesses. I am just starting the topic off with BB’s, but will get back into the old faithfuls like Erie Dearies, Hot n Tot Pygmies and my personal fav, the Golden Nugget later. I can tell already, this is going to be a long topic, so it might be two day, two part deal.
Ok, back to the use of bottom bouncers. In most situations three sizes will get the job done and cover your bases at the same time. 3/4, 1 and 1.5 oz BB’s will handle most wind situations that you encounter, but with higher winds or just the need for greater control of your lines, you should not hesitate throwing down a 2 oz bouncer. With a really good wind, you could put out a full spread of lines including 4 oz BB’s and 1.5 or 2 oz off the boards, and maybe some 1 oz off the back of the boat with your regular trolling rods. If you are just dropping down a few lines, then stick to the first three sizes mentioned.
One of the keys, although not entirely a rule written in stone, is that you want your line to form a 45 degree angle from the tip of your rod to where it enters the water. This gives you greater line control and really is a bit easier to notice strikes and react quickly before losing your walleye. Line diameter is important and any 10 lb with a reel with a good drag will do the job nicely. With BB’s, if you want to go to a 14 lb mono, that’s fine. I run Power Pro, so I match the 40 lb braid with its 10 lb diameter on all my trolling reels, just to stay in line with the trolling guides like Precision Trolling for other applications.
The nice thing about the use of bottom bouncers is the average joe can head out with a regular ol’ rod and spinning reel and still have a great day on the water. Lots of times I just use my St. Croix Avid and Premier Medium Light spinning rods with 20 lb/6 lb mono diameter Power Pro for kicking back and relaxing type fishing. If the fish are schooled up, this can be a very effective method.
But if you want to take it a step further Daiwa makes the perfect line counter reel to really help you zero in on the depths and mood of the fish. The Sealine SG 17 LCA is the perfect size to go on a variety of rods to use for drifting, its like the size of a Shimano 300 size or an Ambassadeur 5500/5600 casting reels. I chose St. Croix’s Premier Glass Crankbait rod to match up with the reel, it has a moderate/fast action tip and performs great for this technique. They also have a 7 ft Medium Light action casting rod in the Premier series that would be lots of fun with the smaller BB’s.
Types of harnesses can be a bit trickier. In low winds when the fish seem to want a lot of spin on the harness blade, I go to the harnesses I have tied up with Smile Blades from Mack’s Lures . I like the 1.9 inch size in the mirror finish, but sometimes, specially earlier in the year when the fish are in shallow around Luna Pier, I don’t hesitate dropping down in size to the 1.1″ size.
Another good option early in the year is to drop down to a #3 or #4 colorado blade on your harnesses. Northland has some really good color options here in both their Deep Cup and Baitfish Image holographic blades. Sometimes its good to add a float to your rig if you are using the #4 blades, you are depending on the wind, and sometimes “Mother Nature” doesn’t always cooperate. If you aren’t making your own rigs, its good to make sure you buy some that come with a float of some type. I like the Lil’ Corky’s from Yakima Baits. Don’t be confused by the pic of a spin n glo, but with all the options available color wise, its easy to find one that matches up with your blade color choices available on the market.
If the wind is really pushing at a good pace and you are in deeper water say later in the year, like right now even then jump up to the bigger blades. Either run #4’s or #5’s, from Northland, Silver Streak, or something from DB Fishing. Willow blades are also good choices for running above suspended fish and catching their attention.
The last trick for using a crawler harness is this, sometimes its good to be full of hot air. Well any air really will do the trick, but it sounded better in my head at least. Pumping a little air into a night crawler will give it a little lift, and can be the difference between a nice walleye on the other end, or a clump of nasty ol’ zebra muscles! Lindy makes a Worm Blower, most big stores like Bass Pro carries the product, also many of the local bait shops might be stocking the item too, call ahead though, just to make sure.
That’s bottom bouncer 101 with the use of crawler harnesses. Might still be feeling the effects of last night’s corn dogs, so if you have any questions, email is always an option or post your comments below and I will get to them quickly
