Worm Harnesess

[Jimmy Dean]

I need help!! If I were standing in a patch of poison ivy I wouldnt catch it. I bought 6 off shore in line planer boards and line counters and now I need some advise since I have heard alot of scenerio's. I have heard that bottom bouncers is the ticket, in line weights of up tp 3 ounces and 30 to 40 feet of line back and in line weights with chaines or keel sinkers are the way to go in the Western Basin right now. I have bought many harnesess and need some advice on how and what is best. I will be on Erie this weekend and will be fishing the In take area and need to catch some fish. All opionions will be greatly appreciated. Thank's and I'm hoping for some eye's and only have a couple weekends left this summer that I can fish.

[rathrbfishin]

This is my first summer of fishing Lake Erie, I have fished Northern inland lakes for many years and decided to advantage of a lake close to home and It has been well worth it.

I make worm harness using mostly copper or brass then paint or tape them and add beads to look like some of the hot stingers. I use 1.5oz. and 1.75oz. inline weights and adjust the depth (from 25 ' to 45') and speed (troll speed is critical .8 to 1.3mph) until fish begin to bite. A buddy that I fish with often along with some others that introduced me to this have been extremely successfull. I have had my share of success this summer as well (first day on the lake I had the two largest walleye of my life, a 28" and 31". Fortunatly, we have not experienced the slow bite that others are talking about. Maybe we are just lucky, I hope it continues!

I applied the same strategy out of Geneva this weekend, and my luck held out. I am still trying to figure out the length of line, inline weight and speed-to depth ratio. I am not sure how deep I was running at Geneva because I had so much line out, 65' off the board with 1.5oz and 85' straitlined with a 4oz bottom bouncer.

[K Gonefishin]

In line keel weights are great and easy to run, use the 3 foot harnesses with the inlines directly in front of them, make sure your crawler is hooked straight and swimms good with a good tail hanging. I use 1 oz keel weights at 1 mph they will go down about half the distance back, for example if you are fishing the western basin for eyes say in 32 feet of water and need to target fish at 15 down you would want to run your baits at 30 back, now keep in mind this is at 1mph you may need to adjust weights or speed as they are very speed dependant. If you don't want to add weight just let more line out for every .5 faster you want about 10 feet out or so depends really but the key is if you get a couple fish adjust the other rods to all be about 15 -20 feet from the ones that are hitting.

[Johnnyg]

I would run 20 or 30 jets off the boards.
We did good on Harnesess off jets this weekend.

I think there easier to run.

[cxtx]

I second the jets. Haven't fished Erie in a few years but we always did well fishing meat behind jets on a 6' fluorocarbon leader. If you need to go deeper, you can add a beadchain weight (the ones with the snaps) directly to the front of the jet. Always had an assortment of weights from 1 oz to 4 oz to add to the jets or in front of lures. Also, if you add a 3" to 4" stinger hook (extra strong red trebles) on either wire or hvy fluorocarbon, you will increase your hook-up/landing ratio. We would make our own stingers ahead of time and dip the looped end in the rubberized paint a few times. You can then slip it over the last hook of the store bought or homemade harness and it stays put and in line. Good luck.

[rathrbfishin]

Thanks for the depth info.
Is there a rule of thumb as you increase weight as far as depth is concerned? If 1 oz. at 1mph is half the depth, is 1.5 three fourths?