Slow Death And Harness

[Feathers and Fins]

I spent the day safe at home rigging up for the next trip and thought I would share a few of my rigs. All leaders are 4ft long of 10lb fluorocarbon.

Just a simple set up with a 1/0 slow death hook and #2 blade

Slow death hook with no blade

Harness rig with #1 hooks with bobber stops to slide the front hook as needed and a #2 blade

Just another example of a harness

Another example

Finally you have to have someplace to keep them.

[rps]

Looking good Scott!

[marknsaw]

Interesting color selection and variation FnF. Never know what works right? It's getting to that time of year for a harness discussion. Just an FYI to anybody wanting to twist your own....hit your beads and blades with a black light...... it'll help with selecting color combinations( you'll see darks and lights abit better( I.E. brass, bronze, and nickel) ) The UV penetrates the water better and will make the dominate shade(s) more noticeable.Yellow and Orange should be about the worst...... somehow they are the some of the better colors. A little flash, a little color, and you'll be hooking bluegills in 35 feet of water

[Feathers and Fins]

Actually its not that interesting its just variations of a "Firetiger" call me an old fuddy duddy or unimaginative but seems fire tiger works great in summer with cranks if they are active so I figured why not with a slower approach lol.

[zarraspook]

F&F -- I have never used 3 floats on a rig.. I was told the walleye are bottom feeders (??) and the bait needs to be close to the bottom..

But, given your success ; I'm going to rig up a couple with 3 floats..I'm guessing you hang-up a lot less than I do...

A technical question -- what is the average length between your weight and the rig ???

Thanks for all the info that you have put forward !!! Even this "old dog" has improved his catch to hook-up ratio......

[kjackson]

Interesting spinners, Scott.

One observation, or maybe two: if you're using a true slow-death hook or some clone, you will probably find that the 10-pound fluoro is going to twist badly (your mileage may vary depending upon the brand you're using). Fifteen may be a better choice. I've been using 12-pound, but I'm still getting a bit of twist. The second thing is you need a really good ball-bearing swivel for the same reason or a bead-chain swivel. The good thing is that from my experience fishing in very clear water in eastern Washington, 'eyes don't really care about the visibly of leaders. The action of the bait is more important.

Two things worth checking out: Northland has a new (last year) Crawler Hauler hook (and a couple of lures using it) that does seem to do the slow-death dance well. Also, VMC is coming out with a "Spindrift" hook that incorporates a swivel as part of the eye. I hope to come back from ICAST with samples of both, and if so, I'll pass them along.

[rps]

F&F -- I have never used 3 floats on a rig.. I was told the walleye are bottom feeders (??) and the bait needs to be close to the bottom..

But, given your success ; I'm going to rig up a couple with 3 floats..I'm guessing you hang-up a lot less than I do...

A technical question -- what is the average length between your weight and the rig ???

Thanks for all the info that you have put forward !!! Even this "old dog" has improved his catch to hook-up ratio......

Two or three of the rigs you see in the picture wrapped on the pink pool float are ones that I tied and gave to Scott as a thank you for a favor. Allow me to respond.

I was taught to use the float beads instead of the plastic beads for a specific reason. When your bouncer hits a boulder or limb and pauses, the plastic bead rigs drop. That makes them more likely to snag on the object that caused the pause, even if you pop the bouncer off fairly quickly. When you have rigged with the floats, the blade may drop on the pause, but the floats keep the hook up. That reduces the chances of a hook snag.

As for the bottom, walleye primarily feed up. A bait within 3 to 4 feet of them or the bottom is well within the take zone. I actually think the take zone is as much a 6 or 7 feet at times. Besides, at .5 to 1.5 mph, the water flow forces the bait to track the bouncer arm which means the bait is only a few inches above the weight.

I ave found 3 to 4 feet between the swivel that attaches to the bouncer and the spinner to be optimal. I know others that swear by 2 feet. Hope that helps.

[bfishn]

I like to add just enough floats to make the whole rig slowly rise on a pause. Saves a lot of rigs. If you add an extra bead and a stop knot or a tiny split shot in front of the blade, the blade stays put, and you can check bouyancy in the sink. I usually give my crawlers a shot of air, so its' weight won't sink the rig, but if you use those fake worms you should probably test it fully rigged.

[zarraspook]

Two or three of the rigs you see in the picture wrapped on the pink pool float are ones that I tied and gave to Scott as a thank you for a favor. Allow me to respond.

I was taught to use the float beads instead of the plastic beads for a specific reason. When your bouncer hits a boulder or limb and pauses, the plastic bead rigs drop. That makes them more likely to snag on the object that caused the pause, even if you pop the bouncer off fairly quickly. When you have rigged with the floats, the blade may drop on the pause, but the floats keep the hook up. That reduces the chances of a hook snag.

As for the bottom, walleye primarily feed up. A bait within 3 to 4 feet of them or the bottom is well within the take zone. I actually think the take zone is as much a 6 or 7 feet at times. Besides, at .5 to 1.5 mph, the water flow forces the bait to track the bouncer arm which means the bait is only a few inches above the weight.

I ave found 3 to 4 feet between the swivel that attaches to the bouncer and the spinner to be optimal. I know others that swear by 2 feet. Hope that helps.

RPS - thanks for the in-site.... I had not taken in to account the clarity of our water compared to the Minnesota waters, where I went for Walleye training......for the most part the water I was fishing had a strong tea color and visibility of only about a foot.....

[Feathers and Fins]

This is my rig. I have found using a dropper loop with the swivel in it pretty much take the line twist issue away. Also I like the three pills for floatation and have several 4 pill rigs. 4 pill will twist but I solved that problem by adding a swivel in front of the Blade and then another swivel at the end of the leader attached to the dropper loop with slow death hooks. Ill get pics of it later.

But anyway here is the basic rig I hope it helps