Three Way River Rig

[Bluebill]

Was fishing the Illinois river today and watch a guy catch a couple of nice saugers using a three way rig. I have fished a three way many times with a floater and a crank baits. My question is this guy was using two rapalas on the same line. He had a dropper line with a bell sinker and he then had a orange rap followed by a blue. I have fished with one never with two I think they would tangle or spin their must be a trick to it any ideas. Thanks for the help Blue

[James Morris]

I think the trick is to rig it up like a handline rig. Make sure both baits are shallow runners (if using a sinker on the bottom) and use a 2 foot lead for the bait on the bottom lead and a four foot lead on the top bait. Spread the baits out by two vertical feet and the bait on top should run behind the bait on the bottom (almost in-line to right in-line). The key is to make sure that the top line is longer, otherwise your top bait will dive into your bottom bait and make a big mess.

Hope this helped,

James

[Jiggereye]

You had some tourney teams over there from Dubuque area and up here in WI we call that a Dubuque tandum rig. Often the front crank is a Rapala 9 and the back a 7. You mentioned a bell sinker(a Pencil weight is usually used)and then I assume the two lures were inline not stacked. The trick is to monkey with the setup till it runs true. This isn't usually hard. Some take the back treble off the front lure and tie the lead to the back hook eye. For me if I use my 10#XT on the first lure and then some type of thin diameter high brake lbs line in the back it works better. The last poster mentioned what we call stacking cranks. We run a standard threeway rig with the first floater about 18 inches off the bottom with about a 40-45" leader. Them up at 21/2ft. from the line on the first threeway you put another three way swivel and put a second crank on with from 15-20 feet of line. IF your by yourself you do have to "hand"le the long line. If there are two in the boat you can usually carefully walk forward in the boat till the second party can net the fish. The purpose for both rigs is for the fish to first be tempted and then fed. The stacked at river trolling speeds(barely moving)drops into line behind the bottom one. It's really a personal preference thing but I usually start with the inline setup and try the stacked latter. BE SURE YOU KNOW YOUR LOCAL LURE,LINE,HOOK LAWS THIS IS TOO MANY OF EACH OR ALL IN SOME LOCATIONS. CURRENTLY IN WI/MN BOUNDRY WATERS "THE MISSISSIPPI" WISCONSIN ALLOWS THREE LURES PER FISHERMAN. THAT MEANS YOU CAN NOT HAVE TWO DOUBLE CRANK POLES OUT AT THE SAME TIME. The stacked version lends itself to a rod holder but the inline seems best held in your hand so that one isn't usually a two pole thing anyway. Lawrence Ecklor

[Bluebill]

Thanks jiggereye This setup makes sense know and he was using a pencil weight. I am just a dumb local who has been fishing the river for 20 years but am always willing to learn. Caught some fish pulling floaters but like verticle jigging the best. water temp 40.4 river is falling but the weatherman is calling for rainwhich will shut down the fishing again. Do you fish the MWC? If so let me Know I may be able to help you. Iam just an avid fisherman who just enjoys to be on the water. Thanks again Blue