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Wulp, here they are.

Posted 12/4/2010 9:25 AM (#95508)
Subject: Wulp, here they are.

Member

Posts: 2680

Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay.

Well, here they are.

Took me a little longer from the idea stage to the completion stage then I thought it would. A mix up in the French blade size as well as getting the bodies air brushed took some extra time. But the finished product while using two different type blades combined with the other components, worked out unbelievably well.

THE PROBLEM:

The problem of course this year for us here fishing on the inner Saginaw Bay, was the walleye bite went totally dead about the third week into July. There was and still are many explanations and theories about the what's and why's of this prolonged slump. But I think it's an assortment of variables that when combined together, shut the bite down like trolling behind a Navy Destroyer dropping depth charges. It was IMV a combination of both many good and bad things that sent us into this slump and kept the bite turned off until just before deer season a couple of weeks ago. The water temps this past summer did indeed get a tad high on the inner bay and probably did push those (preferred colder water) baitfish species farther out into the outer bay and lake Huron. Those particular species that include both Shiners and Smelt (according to our DNRE) were way up in their trawl survey this past fall and did most likely migrate out into the outer bay and Lake Huron this summer as the waters heated up.

This scientific yet non-proven consensus made solid sense to me, as a lot of successful and plentiful walleyes catches with bigger fish included were both caught and seen in places well North of their usual haunts, virtually all summer long. Add to this equation the inner Bay's forage base of Gobies, shad and small perch who's numbers are also way up and keeping the walleyes that did stay in the inner bay quit fat and happy right where they are, without having to do much foraging work for any length of time to stay in that happy condition. This over abundant baitfish fact stretching both North and South of the inner Bays imaginary line, tends to shorten a walleyes feeding window and can often isolate or drastically reduce the chances of finding these active, feeding and roaming walleyes pods.

Many of these assumptions were proven to me quit often this summer, when my fish finder would show both baitfish balls and predators stacked both above and below them for mile after mile on it's screen, yet no biters of any kind. So in a way and overall, this assumed information all bodes well for our future walleye population. Lots of walleyes and plenty of baitfish to keep them fed and reproducing. But also sucks for our local fishing related economies and any Walleye Charter Fishing Business, especially when you can only produce good catches of walleyes in 3 of the 6 good months of open water season. So what's the answer, if there even is one?

I've said and believe that you cannot make a fish bite. I still hold with that statement with one reservation to it. Many of those fish that just won't bite are usually in that mood for a variety of natural reasons, most of which are weather related factors. Cold fronts or other quick changing environmental factors that at times can suppress a fish's foraging moods almost to the point of physical paralysis. Above and prolonged normal water temps can also be a factor IMV, but mostly as it pertains to the forage. The other factor in my experience is constantly having a full belly (in both humans and fish) that slows and shortens ones hunger and aggressive urges to feed, but in most cases does not totally shut it off. This has to be when using other techniques and/or baits that elicit reaction strikes or make the meal seem very easy to catch and eat, work much better then the faster trolling/search type techniques using offerings that seems to the fish, too energetic and fast to bother with.

MY SOLUTION:

Hopefully, my new invention that I call the Capt. Dan's Clicker Harness will work. This invention involves using the same technique I/we started out using on Lake Eire back in the early 70's, when their walleye fishery first came back. That is, drifting, casting or trolling a variety of weighted baited offerings that both work good at slow speeds and (if need be) can be used to target the fish in the water column zones they are resting or feeding in. Weighted and often somewhat Gaudy spinnerbait type looking and acting lures, like the Old Gold Nuggets and Erie Deries. Something that can be counted down or easily let out to the walleyes staging/feeding zones and/or reeled back dead slow in that zone if need be, while still throwing off the flash, sound and smell needed to entice a strike. This technique kinda worked for some of the guys last summer on the bay after this slump started. They were catching a few walleyes casting both cranks and live bait in near shore, shallow weeded pockets using a variety of techniques, while guys out trolling cranks and harnesses deep, were continually getting skunked.

This shallow/casting technique indeed becomes an option for people who know how to fish fairly well and have their own gear and boats. But cannot become the only method in my 25 footer, when most often the clients I have on board have never even fished before. So I needed to keep any new technique or lures I use on my boat as basic, simple, versatile and as effective as I can. Jigging spoons or vertical type jigging lures immediately comes to mind for drifting/casting techniques. Maybe even lead head jigs tipped with Gulp, shiners or crawlers. But without people with good casting skills aboard, I still needed this lure to be something different and new, with the option of trolling it if need be. My Solution was to build such a lure myself.

So, knowing what I wanted this lure to do as well as what I wanted this thing to look like, I also wanted it to be new, unique, versatile, durable and user friendly. So I set my sights on building something of real Quality, using the best components I could find, so this new lure would work at it best at these slower (cast & retrieve) speeds as well as varied trolling speeds. I feel I achieved that goal by using a variety of high quality components. Most of the working components I'm using are made by the Pen Tac Fishing Component Company http://www.pen-tac.com/blades.html

Pen-Tacs Dynamic Brass tapered bodies, combined with their quality coated, French Style, high gloss Gold, Copper, Brass and Acid washed/Black Oxide dipped blades and bearings, teamed with their patented offset Dream Stirrup Clevis's (that they themselves invented) are exactly what I was after. Their Dream Clevises are the most unique, in that they direct the blades you use at a more steep angle to the body that starts it spinning with as slight as 2 pounds of water pressure against them. (And all did indeed start spinning immediately when tested as soon as they hit the water.) These clevises are made to direct and allow the blades to hit the dynamic body on every spin, creating a distinctive clicking noise on every spin of the blade. Of course all crankbait's and spinner blades make a slight noise as they work, often attracting fish by making a similar noise that schools of baitfish and crustaceans make when they are moving around themselves. So these offset clevises, along with the tapered brass bodies becomes key, and why I call these new lures of mine the Clicker Harnesses. These unique clevises will allow blades of all types to run easier and at a sharper angles when built into any harness, but work especially well with the two I chose, given it's running relationship with the brass bodies from Pen-Tac.

Like all my inventions, I field tested it in my swimming pool and you can both hear it click when spinning slightly under water and also actually see and feel it's thump in the rod tip, as it actually shakes the crawler behind it as it spins. I know this click will be more distinctive, louder and be heard at much greater distances then the human ear can hear it when under water. I also figured out by observation, that with the weight of the particular body I chose, this rig should run at a 3 to 1 ratio when trolled. 3 feet back/1 foot down. 30 back gives you 10 feet down. Will it scare or entice fish to it's sound and action? Who knows?

This California West Coast company (Pen-Tac) has been in business for a long time and has always specialized in quality Spinner components. All directed mainly at guys looking to build their own Salmon and Steelhead spinners. I started using and buying their components from it's first owner some 20+ years ago now, when I guided out of my Drift Boat for those two salmo species on the rivers in Michigan. Their stuff is truly the best, but not cheap. Nor will be the custom air-brushed paint jobs I'm getting put on some of these components that I'll be using to make these new lures. In fact after shipping and handling costs, each one will probably cost me $4.00 or more per unit to build. But if they work, so be it.

I'm also using some Lakeland Supreme Blades that Tommy Harris spiff's up with Holographic stickers, air brushes in some highlights, clear coats and sells. http://www.tommyharrisblades.com/ Top all of this off with Mustad's Ultra Point Wide Gap hooks and I'll be ready for battle. Like most (but not all) of the things I share with you guys on these boards, these particular rigs (will not) be for sale by me. But with the clear pictures of them posted below and the links to the component sellers, you can build and/or duplicated these rigs yourself if you want. And if I don't catch a few more of those finicky, closed mouthed walleyes next summer on these rigs, I will see how many of those Navy depth charges I can squeeze on my Grady White next summer.

The Clicker Harness Builders Formula.

Line: Any 30# Test, 7 strand, Nylon covered Stainless Steel Wire. Cut length 18". Finished harness length 16 1/2".

Hooks: Size 2 Mustad Wide Gap Ultra Points.

Body: Pen-Tac Dynamic Brass Bodies. Size SS

Beads: Your choice. But key is to be sure to keep the proper space between the body size/length used and the blade, so that the blades bottom at rest (whatever one used) hits the Knurl of the body used in the middle. This creates the clicking noise as it spins, but still allows the blade to keep turning easily, steadily and properly. See pictures for my formula.

Bearing: Pen-Tac 3/32 bearings. These are very small but put between the last bead and the blade clevis. Using these are a must to keep the rig from twisting your line/rig and keeps the clevis and blade spinning smoothly.

Blade Types I used: Pen-Tacs size 4 1/2 French Type in Gold, Copper and Brass. Black Dipped Oxide Blades are also available. Tommy Harris modified, using Lakeland Tackle Premium blades with Harris Holograms, Custom paint and clear cote. Note: I tried both plane Indiana and Colorado type blades on the rig and neither will work consistently/properly. Seems any (Cupped Blades) of that type hits the body either to hard or at the wrong angle and stops the spinning action at times all together. You could probably tell this if/when casted and retrieved, but not when trolled.

Clevis: Pen-Tac Offset/Dream Clevis Size #2. Mainly the key component that allows the blade to hit the body of the rig as it spins. The weight of the body itself forces the rig to hang down slightly at the back and keeps the rig from running perfectly straight when being trolled or retrieved, allowing the blade to hit it as it spins, thus giving it the action and noise. It also shakes the harness slightly when retrieved or trolled because of this stammered spinning action, giving the crawler or Gulp extra tail action as it works. It truly has to be seen.

I finish off the Harness with a simple loop made with the wire through and then back through a #2 sleeve. Same goes for the back hook. Good luck and Good Fishing. Capt. Dan.