Riggers for Walleyes

[Mark Komo]

Ran out to lake erie on sunday for a quick shakedown and decided to drop a few riggers for some fish I seen at 35 to 40 feet in 52 to 57FOW. Figured they may be walleye. I got picked off 2x (got the bait with no hook up on a harness).

I essentially had out about 25 feet of 20lb trilene xt. Wondering if I should be longer. Plus the release, although perfect for salmon, seemed kinda stiff for the walleye. I probably need a easier/better release sysem. Was using the 10 lb ball, but thought at such a slow speed, I can get away with a 8lb or less.

Lastly can I run a two rod spread with the rigger? Keep in mind, I relatively new at this. Thought maybe a harness on the bottom (near ball) one, and spoon or stick bait on top.

Any suggestions would be great.

[Gill-T]

Mark, fish off the Catt. come mostly off the bottom. We take most of our fish on a downrigger line (worm harness W/CHEATER hook)....tap bottom with ball and bring it up quick 5' or so......12-20' leads. You have to really watch the rod to see a tell of a perch or small walleye. The second deep line is a three-way with 4 oz of weight and a worm harness. Keep checking the lines for perch, white perch, sheephead, rock bass etc. etc. When the lake is rolling, higher lines with mini-disks out 180-200' of braid with harnesses or leadcore work........I thought we covered all this Mark

[Mark Komo]

Thanks buddy. Its the riggers that confuse me. Nice pattern though. Right off the bottom.

Dont you cats bounce the bottom for lakers and browns? Ahh yes, thermocline.

[Gill-T]

The Chamberlain release might be what you are looking for. It has two settings...one for the tension of the down line and one for the tension of release to the lure. The idea is you can crank down a rod tight, but you can set the tension on the release to go off if a perch hits. Scotty releases with a tether show small fish better as well.

[Mark Komo]

Yep, a few of my peeps out of ohio like the scotty release but with 30lb mono instead of the factory stuff.

Regular releases will work if you use the rubberband trick. end over end on the main line, then clip the tag loop to the release,. Works pretty good from what I hear.

Have a great vaca with the bro.

[ray koziatek]

ya know me ----long leads with the worms 75 to 125 ft back and this time of year (temps) im never fishin under 70 fow....course my best day was only 14 good walleye and all but one trip ive boxed out every visit so im not the best to give advice ,,,kinda wish i could of been their for the 4 th weekend did excellent last 2years and got to listen to the mega calls from all the weekend worriers to the coast guard,maybe 3 years