What Line For The Sammy

[Mitch f]

Just curious which line type and size, and rod action do you use for your Sammys or your favorite walk the dog lure. I found a lot of different opionions when I asked several different people. Thanks in advance for your opinions.

[Al Agnew]

Mitch, I use 8 pound test McCoys Mean Green copolymer for all hard baits. From the canoe I use a 5 ft. medium power casting rod, from the boat a 6 ft. medium light--I find it easier to work walk the dog lures with shorter rods.

[hoglaw]

A little slower action seems to work best for me. You need a little give, and you can accomplish that with either a slower rod or mono. I use a moderate action for crankbait rods, a moderate-fast for sammies, trick worms/flukes and frogs, and an extra fast for texas rigging, hula grubbing, and jigging. The ideal sammy rod is a little slower than a fluke rod, but they're pretty close.

I know that wasn't the question, but if you're trying to get by with a rod that's too stiff, I think mono is a necessity for decent action, while a proper rod could let you use fluro or even braid. I'm definitely with Al on the short rod length. The last rod I made was with sammies and flukes in mind, and it's a 5' pistol grip with a moderate fast action and I use 8lb Berkley XT in green.

[rps]

8 or 10# YoZuri Hybrid line. Six foot or 6'8" medium power Falcon Cara rods. Which combo depends on which walker.

[Ham]

I use 12 or 14 lb Silver Thread. It's a pretty decent co-poly that is inexpensive in bulk. I change my line pretty often.

"I do fish fairly light line on spinning gear, but I see no advantage to 8 lb on bait casters.

Lots of good lines out there.

[stlfisher]

I like shorter rods and heavier lines for walk the dog lures. It is the line pushing back against the lure that makes it walk...at least that is what I have been told. The heavier line offers more resistance giving a better walk the dog action. I usually use the heaviest line I can get away with. Usually 12-14 lb mono. I might go lighter if I was fishing a clear water stream as oppossed to a pond or lake.

[tjulianc]

Do most of ya'll like to tie the line directly to the lure or use a snap or clip?

[Al Agnew]

Re short rods...I figured this out when I first started extensively using walking lures. I had a 5.5 ft. rod which had three inches of the tip broken off, and it was pretty sweet for walking them. Then it broke and I went to a 5.5 ft. rod and found it more difficult. A guy I had in the canoe with me right around that time had a 6 foot rod, and he couldn't get his lures to walk very well at all with it, though I knew he was used to fishing them on reservoirs. It dawned on me that the key is to have a rod short enough (in the canoe) to be able to point the rod tip downwards. So about that time I came upon a rod built on a Loomis blank that was 5 feet long on Ebay. They couldn't sell it because nobody wants a 5 ft. casting rod. I snapped it up (for $50). It's been a terrific walk the dog rod for six or seven years now.

If you're fishing from a jetboat or bass boat and you are standing up while fishing, you're limited in length of rod only by your own height, because you can always point the rod tip downwards while standing in a boat. But for canoes and kayaks, you might be amazed at how much easier it is to walk these lures with a very short rod.

As for line, I've heard the theory that heavier line is necessary, but obviously that isn't true for me. I don't think I'd like to use braided line because the limpness of it might mean that, since the line should have slackness at the end of each twitch, it would get tangled up around the hooks of the lures more often.

Ham, don't mean to start an argument about relative merits of casting vs. spinning, but for me casting tackle is SO much more efficient and trouble free when using these lures that I wouldn't dream of using spinning tackle. And since I don't think anybody needs heavy line for Ozark stream fishing and I want my line to match the extremely light casting tackle I use, it's been 8 pound test on casting tackle for me for many years. Like I said before, if using any hard bait that requires a lot of casting and retrieving and a lot of accurate casting, I'll only use casting tackle. The spinning tackle is reserved for fishing soft plastics and jigs, where I find I can feel what the lure is doing better with the spinning tackle, and I can do things like skip lures under overhanging limbs and logs.

Tj...I always use a small (second smallest size) cross lock snap.

As an aside, I think the walking action is the most consistent bass trigger of any topwater lure design. I'm continually looking for variations on it. The first big variation was to find or modify Pop-R type lures so that they walked and spit rather than "bloomping". Yesterday, on a short afternoon wading trip, that was the ticket to the tune of a dozen smallies from 14 to 17 inches. The Tiny Torpedo that usually interests them when they are eating cicadas didn't work, and neither did a Sammy. I've found that the Lucky Craft G-splash walks pretty well.

Another variation is in the depth. I fell in love with my homemade version of the Rapala Subwalk, and I now have versions that walk staying high enough to bulge the surface, down to walkers that run two or three feet deep. Just have to weight them carefully...weight placement is key.

What I have yet to figure out is how to design a prop lure that also walks.

[Smalliebigs]

Re short rods...I figured this out when I first started extensively using walking lures. I had a 5.5 ft. rod which had three inches of the tip broken off, and it was pretty sweet for walking them. Then it broke and I went to a 5.5 ft. rod and found it more difficult. A guy I had in the canoe with me right around that time had a 6 foot rod, and he couldn't get his lures to walk very well at all with it, though I knew he was used to fishing them on reservoirs. It dawned on me that the key is to have a rod short enough (in the canoe) to be able to point the rod tip downwards. So about that time I came upon a rod built on a Loomis blank that was 5 feet long on Ebay. They couldn't sell it because nobody wants a 5 ft. casting rod. I snapped it up (for $50). It's been a terrific walk the dog rod for six or seven years now.

If you're fishing from a jetboat or bass boat and you are standing up while fishing, you're limited in length of rod only by your own height, because you can always point the rod tip downwards while standing in a boat. But for canoes and kayaks, you might be amazed at how much easier it is to walk these lures with a very short rod.

As for line, I've heard the theory that heavier line is necessary, but obviously that isn't true for me. I don't think I'd like to use braided line because the limpness of it might mean that, since the line should have slackness at the end of each twitch, it would get tangled up around the hooks of the lures more often.

Ham, don't mean to start an argument about relative merits of casting vs. spinning, but for me casting tackle is SO much more efficient and trouble free when using these lures that I wouldn't dream of using spinning tackle. And since I don't think anybody needs heavy line for Ozark stream fishing and I want my line to match the extremely light casting tackle I use, it's been 8 pound test on casting tackle for me for many years. Like I said before, if using any hard bait that requires a lot of casting and retrieving and a lot of accurate casting, I'll only use casting tackle. The spinning tackle is reserved for fishing soft plastics and jigs, where I find I can feel what the lure is doing better with the spinning tackle, and I can do things like skip lures under overhanging limbs and logs.

Tj...I always use a small (second smallest size) cross lock snap.

As an aside, I think the walking action is the most consistent bass trigger of any topwater lure design. I'm continually looking for variations on it. The first big variation was to find or modify Pop-R type lures so that they walked and spit rather than "bloomping". Yesterday, on a short afternoon wading trip, that was the ticket to the tune of a dozen smallies from 14 to 17 inches. The Tiny Torpedo that usually interests them when they are eating cicadas didn't work, and neither did a Sammy. I've found that the Lucky Craft G-splash walks pretty well.

Another variation is in the depth. I fell in love with my homemade version of the Rapala Subwalk, and I now have versions that walk staying high enough to bulge the surface, down to walkers that run two or three feet deep. Just have to weight them carefully...weight placement is key.

What I have yet to figure out is how to design a prop lure that also walks.

Al, thats hilarious I have two rods I broke the tips on and honed them down to a point that they were still usable and they are the best rods for "walking the dawg". Al's right both the rods are now about 5 feet tall and pretty stiff now after losing their tips but, they the best for allowing the bit of slack in your line I need to do this.

Also Al, Yozuri made a bait called the Arms swisher???? they don't make anymore and it has a prop on the back that you can effectively walk the dawg with.The design of the body was similar to a Mega Bass but stumpier.I have two still in the boxes and haven't broken them out in fear of losing them.....what a freak I am!!!! This bait was good for long swims of the bait with the spray from the prop and works great.....not sure why they quit making it.....if anyone on this forum knows where i can find them please pm me!!!!!!

[Gavin]

I use and old 5.5' bait casting rod with a pistol grip for walk the dog stuff, buzzers, spinners & crankbaits...Think its a Medium Heavy Fenwick first generation graphite...probably one of the first rods I ever bought...10lb McCoy's mean green seems to work pretty well and I tie to a oval split ring. Need to get out smallie fishing again soon...but it looks like its gonna be a week or so.