Some of you have been a great help getting me started with tips for using planer boards. Thanks. The next thing I'd like to add to my arsenal now that I am loaded up with trolling great is pulling spinner/crawler harness for open water suspended walleyes. I fully understand what to do when pulling a harness with a bottom bouncer but what kind of weights and set ups do you use when pulling the spinners in the open water keeping the bait off the bottom?

I have a couple snap weights already and am willing to go purchase any other gear I may need. My thought is I'd like to pull a combo of bottom bouncers as well as spinners off the bottom so I'm covering the whole water colum.

keep it simple

get some 1 oz inline or keel weights.

I use inline weights like "Cabela's Keel Lead Sinkers". A general rule of thumb is 1oz weight @ 1mph would be half of your length of line put out. Example: 50'of line would run 25' down at 1mph

Depending on how clear the water is you may also find snap weights to be useful. This allows you to put the weight say 20-50 feet ahead of your spinner rig. Reel up to the weight, snap it off and bring the fish in...

I use the inline weights in stained water and snap weights in the gin clear waters.

I agree with keeping it simple to start out with the 1oz weight until you get the feel for running depths. Once you get the hang of that, 2oz and 3oz weight will come in handy with rough water conditions or if you desire a more verticle presentation.

Bass Pro Inline Weights: http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Fish-Weight-Inline-Fishing-Weights/product/42748/143223

Snap Weight System: http://www.basspro.com/Snap-Weight-System/product/16005/77601


Good Luck and Have Fun!

Really simple.
Put on your crawler, let out 50 feet of line, clip to the down rigger ball.
Drop the down rigger ball to your desired depth and go fishing.

The downriggers make fishing for suspended fish trivial and absolutely reliable and repeatable.

REW

Really simple.
Put on your crawler, let out 50 feet of line, clip to the down rigger ball.
Drop the down rigger ball to your desired depth and go fishing.

The downriggers make fishing for suspended fish trivial and absolutely reliable and repeatable.

REW

Once I have depth and color preference dialed in,the outside lines almost always get the most hits. I would not consider using downriggers to fish - say - 15' down in 45' fow.

I use 1/2oz egg sinkers. Runing depth is somewhere around 4:1. If fish are consistently deeper I go to inlines.

If I were to use my dOwnriggers when fishing walleyes 'round here,I'd use a SWR ( (1 or 2 colors lead so the bait rides below the ball.)

Folks fishing inner Saginaw Bay use in-line weights, 1 or 2 oz, and experiment with line lengths & speed to get the depth right. As an example, people fishing 16'-20' of water will use a 2 oz, 55' behind the planer board pulled at 1.4 mph.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Fishing/Terminal-Tackle/Weights%7C/pc/104793480/c/104779980/sc/104685480/Cabelas-Bead-Chain-Sinkers/739175.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Ffishi ng-terminal-tackle-weights%2F_%2FN-1100373%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104685480%3FWTz_l%3DSBC%253BMMcat1047 93480%253Bcat104779980&WTz_l=SBC%3BMMcat104793480%3Bcat104779980%3Bcat104 685480

keep it simple

get some 1 oz inline or keel weights.

This. You can easily cover depths down to 20 feet with 1 oz. or maybe 1.5 oz.

Really no need for a BB on a planer board in my opinion. If you can't reel in it up/down, you may as well use an inline as they are easier, less obtrusive and won't tangle.

To get started inlines are the simplest, easiest, cheapest way.

Size weight will depends on depth wanting to achieve. Also how deep of water being fished. Here is a link to the depth chart foR the best inline weights on the market. Try to remember this is about as easy a way to fish as I know, don't get over scientific about it. stagger your leads/depths and duplicate what's working to other rods to zero in on a program.

http://rednekoutfitters.com/inline_trolling_weight_chart.html

I think what I will do is rig up all my spinner/harness rods with the Northland stainless bottom bouncers that I have because they have the plastic quick change clevis on them. Then If I want I can just take the weight off the clevis and clip on a snap weight and fish them off the bottom.

I'm assuming I shouldn't have any problem with line twist as long as I use a good ball bearing swivel?

I think what I will do is rig up all my spinner/harness rods with the Northland stainless bottom bouncers that I have because they have the plastic quick change clevis on them. Then If I want I can just take the weight off the clevis and clip on a snap weight and fish them off the bottom.

I'm assuming I shouldn't have any problem with line twist as long as I use a good ball bearing swivel?

so instead of taking our advice you are going to do something different

thats fine, but why ask in the first place???

so instead of taking our advice you are going to do something different

thats fine, but why ask in the first place???


I didn't realize that the only advice that was given in the thread was yours. There were other people who also mentioned snap weights (which I already have a ton of). I also have a trollers bible which lets me know what depth I'm at with the snap weight at 20'. I fish a very clear lake where I can see the advantage of having a snap weight 20' away from the harness.

The main reason I like the snap weight idea better is because I can do exactly like I discribed and use the quick detach clevis on my northland bottom bouncers so that I can rig my rods up and leave them alone for an entire year. I can run a combination of bouncers and snap weights at the same time to target fish on the bottom and suspended fish at the same time and see if a pattern develops then have the ability to quickly switch out my rigs on the fly. To be honest I didn't think of going that route until after I started the thread.

Only reason I was asking if doing it that way would work was becasue I didn't know if leaving the quick detach clevis on there when I was not using a bottom bouncer would create a bunch of line twist.

When I'm on the water I dont waste time changing out set ups on my rods. I have 3 rods dedicated to crawler harnesses, 3 rods dedicated to cranks, bobbers, etc....

I didn't realize that the only advice that was given in the thread was yours. There were other people who also mentioned snap weights (which I already have a ton of). I also have a trollers bible which lets me know what depth I'm at with the snap weight at 20'. I fish a very clear lake where I can see the advantage of having a snap weight 20' away from the harness.

The main reason I like the snap weight idea better is because I can do exactly like I discribed and use the quick detach clevis on my northland bottom bouncers so that I can rig my rods up and leave them alone for an entire year. I can run a combination of bouncers and snap weights at the same time to target fish on the bottom and suspended fish at the same time and see if a pattern develops then have the ability to quickly switch out my rigs on the fly. To be honest I didn't think of going that route until after I started the thread.

Only reason I was asking if doing it that way would work was becasue I didn't know if leaving the quick detach clevis on there when I was not using a bottom bouncer would create a bunch of line twist.

When I'm on the water I dont waste time changing out set ups on my rods. I have 3 rods dedicated to crawler harnesses, 3 rods dedicated to cranks, bobbers, etc....

that great

you are all set then