Video - Fishing With Seth Green Rigs

[Pete Collin]

Hello All,

I found that on YouTube there was no mention of Seth Green rigs at all.  There's a few showing copper line tutorials, but no Seth Green videos that didn't involve the Austin Powers guy.  I had to  represent for my home state - folks ought to know about this locally-grown method!  Maybe this comes in time to help some of you this season - we have at least a month of good fishing left in the Fingers!

 

Edited October 6, 2019 by Pete Collin

[Tg8]

What a talent, and videographer. Thq for creating these Pete.


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[wishinfishin]

Pretty cool thanks for taking the time to do this.

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[stinger]

Excellent. Anyone that has a slightest interest in getting into this style fishing should be able to setup in short order. 

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this. You are a great representative of New York's Finger Lakes.

[jerktroller]

Awesome video and thanks for posting. Always hard to explain that method but that video shows it well. 

[bandrus1]

Awesome job Pete, this is absolute top notch tutorial. I especially liked all the background.

 

You have a real talent as an educator

[Sk8man]

WTG Pete. Great introduction to Seth Green rigs and entertaining video (as always). For folks interested. I have a full chapter on Seth Greens with details in the book I'm writing (almost finished) on Trout and Salmon Fishing in the Finger Lakes and Lake Ontario so that will provide some written information as well. Pete's video spurs me on to finish up. Hopefully Pete's video here will spark renewed interest in this "old school" method of fishing (my favorite as well). Thanks Pete..

[Hosworld]

This is great.


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[cny_mike]

outstanding!

 

[Copperliner]

Great video Pete, thanks for stirring up some great memories!  My dad introduced me to rig trolling at a very young age, two rods with five spoons out each side.  Rods were around six foot each with Penn reels loaded with braided dacron.  Every 50' of dacron "topline" was marked, we usually had 100' of topline (rig not included) out one side and 150' out the other.  Life was a bit wild at times pulling these out of the back of a 14' boat.   Once swivel connecting the topline to the rig was visible, we pulled the rig in by hand without disconnecting the leaders, laying the loops of line in a box and covering with a sheet of cardboard every two spoons or so.   Fun times and very effective!

[Pete Collin]

35 minutes ago, Copperliner said:

Great video Pete, thanks for stirring up some great memories!  My dad introduced me to rig trolling at a very young age, two rods with five spoons out each side.  Rods were around six foot each with Penn reels loaded with braided dacron.  Every 50' of dacron "topline" was marked, we usually had 100' of topline (rig not included) out one side and 150' out the other.  Life was a bit wild at times pulling these out of the back of a 14' boat.   Once swivel connecting the topline to the rig was visible, we pulled the rig in by hand without disconnecting the leaders, laying the loops of line in a box and covering with a sheet of cardboard every two spoons or so.   Fun times and very effective!

Always gets crazy when you have two fish on one rod!  I think it was you who wrote on the Sanders board that you used to troll right down the middle of Cayuga, never bothering with bottom bouncing. 

 

[Copperliner]

14 hours ago, Pete Collin said:

Always gets crazy when you have two fish on one rod!  I think it was you who wrote on the Sanders board that you used to troll right down the middle of Cayuga, never bothering with bottom bouncing. 

 

That's true, usually trolled down the middle (out deep anyway) with the wind to keep from losing a rig on bottom, as well as to avoid any sharp turns.    

[Bigfoot]

Never had any luck bringing the leaders into the boat and storing them while playing a fish. Usual result was tangles and the constant need to retire leaders. Instead of bringing the leaders into the boat, as they were brought up they were laid to the outside of the main line, remaining on top of the water. If fish was on anything but the bottom leader, the rig was pulled up until the leader with the fish was on top. Then the main line was wrapped around a rod holder leaving both hands free to fight the fish. I was often able to control the fish with one hand and net it with the other. All this is difficult to describe but fairly easy to do (with practice). 

 

I've caught thousands of fish using this method and I would never consider storing the leaders in the boat until the end of the day.

[Pete Collin]

After a few hours' fishing, you will find which 2 leaders are getting all the hits.  So you can reduce it to 2 leaders per rod, simplifying everything.

[Frogger]

Friend of mines dad made me a leader box from victrolla with a 3000 yd spool that I use to store all my leaders on. While playing a fish, I’ll throw the lead snap to the front of the boat like to the dash, lay the line on the floor until I get to the spoon and lay that on the tray at the back of the boat. Once fish is netted and ready to put lures out I grab a lure and feed it out one at a time. Done at the end of the day I’ll wind them up on the box.


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[Sk8man]

I normally run 3  five leader rigs when by myself and for the past nearly 50 years I have used 4x5 one inch styrofoam blocks to set up my lure presentations ahead of time and usually have about six or seven sets comprising 30-35 lures pre-set up this way in a small duffle bag ready to change out as needed. When I get a fish on I reel up to the first leader and roll it up on a block and drop it on the deck and quickly go to the next one. It is pretty automatic and I don't even have to think about t at this point The rod is often wedged between my knee and the rod holder with the drag set to pay out as necessary or else place the rod back in the holder and do so for all leaders till I get to the fish. I gather them up and then put them back out and throw a rubber band around the empty blocks if windy otherwise just pile there on the deck in three piles of 5. I put a slot in each block to hold the wire clip

Edited October 9, 2019 by Sk8man

[Ric66]

I wish I had this information when I first started using them years ago. I also used to use two Clorox bottles to float two of these rigs way behind the boat. I could fish them shallower and then have two rigs fished deep straight down from the boat. Caught two large walleye on Hemlock Lake using these. Not so much fun to fish these rigs when it was rough though.

[fisherdude]

I normally run 3  five leader rigs when by myself and for the past nearly 50 years I have used 4x5 one inch styrofoam blocks to set up my lure presentations ahead of time and usually have about six or seven sets comprising 30-35 lures pre-set up this way in a small duffle bag ready to change out as needed. When I get a fish on I reel up to the first leader and roll it up on a block and drop it on the deck and quickly go to the next one. It is pretty automatic and I don't even have to think about t at this point[emoji38] The rod is often wedged between my knee and the rod holder with the drag set to pay out as necessary or else place the rod back in the holder and do so for all leaders till I get to the fish. I gather them up and then put them back out and throw a rubber band around the empty blocks if windy otherwise just pile there on the deck in three piles of 5[emoji2]. I put a slot in each block to hold the wire clip

Don't let them blow out of the boat on plane or on the trailer going down the road . Seen that happen some where . [emoji16]

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[bandrus1]

I am missing one aspect. Do you basically start your troll, find desired depth and let it hit bottom and reel up a little and that's how much line you have out?

[Pete Collin]

24 minutes ago, bandrus1 said:

I am missing one aspect. Do you basically start your troll, find desired depth and let it hit bottom and reel up a little and that's how much line you have out?

You let the lines partway down, get in your depth, then lower them the rest of the way. You can skip that step if there's two of you. One guy can steer and keep it in your depth while the other sets out the lines. 

[Bigfoot]

Key to success is to be able to put your lures back into the same depth where you just caught one. If you are bumping bottom as Pete describes, this is not to difficult. But what if you find fish suspended over 600ft of water? I know of two methods. First is to place the entire rig into the water so that the top leader is still on the surface. Then an arms length of line is released into the water which equals "one pull". The angler then fishes with say 15 pulls to see if he finds any interested fish. If he is successful he can then replicate the depth and stay on the fish. If not, he can try a different number of pulls, say 20, to drop his rig a little deeper. With practice, one can become deadly. Not me. I have a tendency to forget how many pulls each rod has and I find the method time consuming. Method two is to place bead chains at regular intervals so that all I have to do is count the beads as I release the line. If I have a strike and I have forgotten how many beads I have out, I count them as I am bringing up the rig. Using this method I have taken lakers as deep as 180 over 400FOW.

[Pete Collin]

Bigfoot, some guys count passes of the reel's level wind as well. 

[fisherdude]

Bigfoot, some guys count passes of the reel's level wind as well. 

This is what I do . I know how many feet from bottom leader to top leader . 1 pass with the level line 309 is 5 foot . I put the top leader down 6 passes that will be 30 down on top and pushing 100 foot on bottom . Will pick up slivers on top leaders Lakers on bottom . When targeting the bottom for Lakers I will run cowbells Gambler spinning glows and 1 leader with glow spoon just above the bells ..

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[fisherdude]

I use a leader box the box holds 12 leaders . I can change out spoons from the pads .

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[Sk8man]

8 hours ago, fisherdude said:

Don't let them blow out of the boat on plane or on the trailer going down the road . Seen that happen some where .

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