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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Was lying in bed this morning thinking about my new idea and strategy for running a couple of extra rods close, underneath and on the inside of my Mast type planer boards for this summers trolling season. I plan to run two #40 Jet Divers (one on each side of the boat) with either spoons or spoon harnesses, straight down next to the boat. This would give me a maximum of 12 rods out on a calm day that I could run when enough bodies covered the legal rod requirements. And that requirement may even change this year with our DNR considering letting all boats (not just salmon fishermen) use 3 rods each. I got this new rigging idea from all the fish I seem to hook up with when letting other rigs or cranks out the back, before even attaching them to the tether line of the planer board. Seems that (Boats spook fish to the side) theory doesn't apply as much on Saginaw Bay for some reason.
Then like all charter captains do with any new ideas, I started tearing it apart wondering if the extra hassle and work involved will really be worth any extra fish it might provide for my clients. And also wondering if having so many rods, rigs or cranks out, changes a fish attitude at all when seen by fish that may be in a already negative mood. So I thought this might be a good conversation topic. Does more lines out really mean more fish in the box? Can a bigger school of Plastic and Metal swimming by spark a walleye into biting more then just one or two?
Edited by walleye express 5/22/2008 9:29 AM
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Posts: 1656
| Dan, you ever consider pulling Big Jon mini disks off the corners? Will get you down like a jet diver but also off to the side. And they pull harness and smaller spoons just fine.
As for fish spooking, that's always been the "standard" thinking. I've caught some very large fish 20-40' behind the boat in the prop wash. Perhaps all those props and motors have these fish "trained"?
Bait fish schooled near the surface, boat goes through school of bait fish.....lots of stunned bait fish......easy meal.  |
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Jayman.
I've used the bigger discs and even the minnies right off the tehter lines, all have caught fish. What I like most about the Jets is that they have no line locking mechinism to set to light or to hard, they pivot and plane up when weight is transferred to their backside from the fish. And they either stay neautral or float straight up (depending on your lure/rigging choice) in line with your running course when stalled or on turns instead of sinking, which can cause some real tangles when running so many lines.
Edited by walleye express 5/22/2008 9:57 AM
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Location: LaCrosse, WI | Some of our best fish come from straight behind the boat. We like to run something deep directl behind the boat in most of our trolling applications.
My best 3 fish from Green Bay have come from directly behind the boat way down near the bottom. I can't say I catch as many that way, but have picked up some nice ones that way. On the Mississippi, I hardly ever use a board. We catch tons of fish flatlining. A good number of those fish come on the rods pointed straight back or just slightly angled in less than 7' of water. |
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| The latest In-Fisherman has a real informitive article about using mini-disks and jet divers for walleye fishing. PWT pro Todd Frank gives some of his secrets and techniques also. Makes alot of sense if you dont want to mess around with leadcore rigs. Something else to try.................. |
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| and too much is just right!
My charter Capt friend from Lake Erie uses the exact same setup. Has for years. He usually has a Stinger spoons behind the Jets on these rods. I don't rmember how log of a lead he runs, but varies the disatance to the Jet based on where he is marking, and then catching fish. |
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Shep.
I made up my mind about the Jets after watching a show this winter from Lake Erie with Mark Romanack on this guys charter boat. The guys program in many ways was identical to mine minus the Jets. He was even using rubber bands on his lines and releases, which surprised me. As I thought the torque and pull from the Jets would be a bit much for that. The length back from the Jet to the spoons can only be as long as the rods your using, as the Jets are tied into the main line. On the show I watched they were anywhere from 3 to 5 feet back. About the same buffer length I run many of my rigs behind keels or swivels when using sliders. You want some room left to manipulate the fish after the whatever stopper your using hits the rods eye tip.
Edited by walleye express 5/23/2008 8:19 AM
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Location: Waukesha Wisconsin | Actually, most of us using jets get extra length by wrapping line around the reel seat and back up. You can easily get 6-7' leads this way which is what I prefer for separation between spoon and jet. Is that what you do Shep? |
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Dennise.
I must be missing your point. I can get as much as 8 foot leads between jet and spoon if I wanted to, becasue my rods are 8 footers. But it might be tough to play a fish with the line wrapped around the reel seat, unless you wanted to hand over hand land it. Unless your talking about storing the rods with the gear on. That's the only time I wrap them around the reel seat. 
Edited by walleye express 5/23/2008 11:00 AM
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Location: Waukesha Wisconsin | Yup Dane:
That's what I was talking about. Pure storage. |
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| My buddy out there says his leads can be as long as the length of the rod plus the distance to the deck of the boat to the water surface. Maybe as much as 10-15'! And he stores them by rapping around the reels, too. I don't think he ever goes more than twice the length of the rod, though. Also, I did notice he took the rigs off when done for the ride back to port, and stowed them on plastic sheeves. The kind the handliners use for their leaders and shanks.
Dennis, yes, I rap leads around the reel too, on regular crawler harnesses. Two reasons. 1. I run some pretty long harnesses at times. 2. When using bottom bouncers and keel sinkers, I like those heavy items close to the reel, and not whipping about on the tip when moving on plane.
Edited by Shep 5/23/2008 1:20 PM
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So, is more better?