worm harness floats

[rebs]

I want to tie up some worn harnesses for drifting for walleye. Have any of you guys used floats on them? How do you determine what size and how many floats to use ?

rebs

[REW]

If I am not using a spinner- I don't use a float.
On the spinner rigs, about 1/2 of them have floats.
Theh, just a single float to replace a bunch of the beads which act as a spacer.

Generally use the same color float as if I would use for the beads.

Take care
REW

[Dacotah Eye]

I just take a hypodermic syringe and pump my crawlers up with air. It does basicly the same thing as a float.

[Larry L]

I use #4 spin and glos in chartruese and orange color combinations. Either polka dot or clown pattern. They seem to be the best choice on some lakes and a poor second choice on other lakes. I have had good luck some days with a white float as well. Other rigs that work well sometimes are small to medium Phelps floaters. I also generally tie a float inline with my spinner blade. I started using the spin and glo rig because I thought it would be less likely to snag. That does seem to be the case for me anyway. The spin and glo is almost always my first choice when bottom bouncing now.

Good luck

Larry

[Just Mike]

I have a general formula which I use on my harnesses. It is not stamped in stone but I follow it on about 95% of the ones I tie. After the two hooks are tied on (I don't make three hook harnesses by preference) I slide on four 6 mm beads, sometimes all the same color, sometimes two contrasting colors, say orange and black beads, then either a 1/2" Lil Corky or a 3/4" long pill float followed by two more 6 mm beads. This is where the clevis and blade go on and my final option is to sometimes put a single 6 mm bead in front of the clevis, more often without that single bead. I have used Corkies in colors which are close to the bead color and also which contrast. Both catch fish consistently. In some cases the Corky will be the type which glows. In some cases I use 8 mm beads. I've used both faceted and non-faceted beads. Tying ones own harnesses becomes an "arts and crafts" type thing and folks tend to develop a personal favorite way of doing this. In the past I sometimes used two 3/8" Corkies back to back but I like the way the blade rides against the 1/2" Corky when trolling it. I had good success on Lake Erie last weekend using four red beads, a black 3/4" pill float, two more red beads, and a #5 gold plated Indiana blade. On harnesses intended for use on Lake Erie I upsize my two hooks usually putting a #2 as the front hook and a #1 as the trailer. Metallic colored beads seem to have really caught on over the last couple years. I found some at Michael's Crafts two years ago and I didn't see anyone else at that time using them. Now you can find them at Fishlander and Frank's.
Sample picture of what I do: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v602/tallmike/?action=view&current=spinners2.jpg and: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v602/tallmike/?action=view&current=spinners1.jpg

[Gritty]

Just tied some new ones today for a trip on Green Bay this week and you got me thinking. My typical harness is 2 or 3 hooks with 4 to 6 beads and a size 4 or 5 col or indiana blade on a 30 to 36 inch leader (15 lb flouro). We have found that the shorter harnesses tend to work best for us and do not drag into the weeds while fishing generally 20' of water. I guess if we were using longer harnesses (say 6') that we might want to use floats but havn't found it to be an issue. Here's my question - Do you use floats more often with a longer hareness?

[Just Mike]

I tie all my harnesses 36-37" long. Haven't ever really felt the need for 5 or 6 footers. The 3 footers catch loads of walleyes. I would have to be convinced of a need for longer leads on the harnesses and only a lack of biting walleyes would put me there.

[Meat Hunter Unlogged]

Just Mike, I'm impressed! And that's my specialty... harnesses.


That one blade that is a blue two-tone... where can I get them at? And are they deep cupped?


Meat Hunter.

[Just Mike]

That blade is a #5 deep cupped Colorado in "cheap sunglasses" color and was obtained at Gander Mtn. in early 2006. I'll have to check to see if they are still carrying them. You never know with Gander, they are as bad as Wal-mart when it comes to stocking so many items on a one time basis.