handlining

[eyefish]

I have read posts that mention hand lining(if i'm spelling correctly) What is hand lining and when and where is it effective or usefully. Thanks

[sib]

my father inlaw hand lines for whitefish through the ice(bays of lake Mich). whitefish have a very subtle bite that is often missed on poles(atleast his dated gear), so he does quite well hand-lining, glove free. i only hand line after a tip-up hit and know little about hand-lining techniques, hope this helps.

"go outside and play"
sib

[Lundluvr]

Handlining is a method for pulling crankbaits. It is done primarily on rivers. It is used alot on the Detriot river. Instead of using a rod a reel is mounted to the boat, then the angler holds the line in his hand with a heavy bannana shaped weight and leader to get the crankbait down.It is used to be able to feel the weight hit bottom and slowly pump the line to avoid snags. Then when you catch a fish you just pull it in with your hands. I tried using rod and reel last year with snap weights. It worked ok, but I soon lost all of my snapweights in the boulders. If I,m wrong on any of this let me know. Like I said I'm a rod and reel guy but the handline thing sure works because I see alot of fish caught on them.

[eyefish]

Thanks for the info. What kind of line do they use? Is it used for trolling against the current, what kind of cranks are used and would thier be any other application for it's use?

Thanks

[Juls_WI]

The most common wire used on the reels is 60 pound coated wire. Attached to the end of the main line is a “shank”. The shank can be any length you want to make it, but the most common length is anywhere from 3-6 foot. It’s made up of 60 pound coated wire also, and has clevises crimped on every 6 inches or so. At the end of the shank, a 1-2 pound weight is attached by a big swivel snap. This weight is used much like a bottom bouncer. By bouncing the weight on and off the bottom, it insures that the baits are down on the bottom.
The mono leads play an important part in handlining. It has taken several years of trial and error to come up with what length the leads should be, using certain baits, and on what clevis on the shank, they should be attached to. I don’t have the handlining experience to give you a run down on how that was figured out, but I can tell you that, because of someone else’s years of experience, I was able to catch a lot of fish! What I can tell you about the leads, is that the bottom one will always be half the length of the lead above it. This allows the stickbaits to run one right behind the other, with both baits on, or near the bottom of the riverbed.


North American Fisherman will have a handlining article coming out in Feb. or March. Check it out. Walleye Insider did an article back in January of 2000 I believe, and it had a thourough explanation of it.

Hope this helped a little bit.

Juls

[Tom (Mich)]

We did pretty decent "pseudo-handlining" this past season on the Detroit River using exactly the same equipment already mentioned. However, instead of the handline reel and wire, we used very short (3 feet) and stout fiberglass rods and Fireline instead of wire. We mounted our Penn salmon reels on the rods. Took its' toll on your forearm because you're constantly pumping the rod, but we took a decent amount of fish.

Our leads were typically 15 feet off the bottom clevis and 30 feet off the third clevis. Any non-deep diving crankbait will work.

[Eric]

Juls had the answer for handlining. You can use coated wire or wire without the coating. I like it without the coating it has less resistance. I fish the St. Clair River every night, weather permitting, and all I do is handline. I use 90# wire. I run a 15' leader 18" off bottom and a 30' leader 24" above that. I use 30# Mason Leader line. On the shank end of the leader I use a snap swivel, on the lure end I use just a snap. I use a 20 oz. sinker that looks like a sash weight they used to have in old windows. For lures I use pencil plugs or any shallow diving lure. With your lures already down close to bottom you don't want a diving lure. This method works better than anything when you fish alot of structure. I troll against the current, slipping from left to right. Its hard to explain in print. Once you see it done, its quite simple to do. Every one that fishes that way has their own special way. If I can be of any help, feel free to contact me. Eric

[Eric Olson]

Nice job Juls!!!
She's got it right. I'll tell you from first hand experience that this is not only effective but a lot of fun. Since my first tournament handlining last year i've learned a lot and made a couple bucks too!!If you've never done it, you should give it a try.
I believe Bass Pro has the Riviera hand lines which what I've been using.Simple easy to set up on a rail mount and comes with shank weight and a clevis.
THen stock up on 7, 9 and 11 floating Rapalas of all colors and start pullin'!!


Hey Nofish... give me a call!!

[Ray]

Handlining is a lot of fun. What I use is copper which is put on a victrola. I use up to 30 oz. of lead and you can troll down to 250 feet on 600 feet of copper. I mostly use dead bait but spoons work good also. I tried wire before but the diameter is just too small to grab ahold of it.