Making my own spinner rigs for Lac Seul

[Whit]

gonna make some of my own spinner rigs for next july trip to lac seul. what color and type of spinner blades should i use? what size hooks? what color beads? i'm leaning toward 30" snells with #4 octapus hooks, #4 colorado blades, red or chartreuse beads and quick change clevises. i read these internet sites and there are as many different opinions as there are sites. how about some info from those who live and fish there. ????

[mp3553]

Fish LS 3 weeks p/year for the last 9 years. Tie all my own rigs which are very basic and work very well. 30" snell, 4 orange/red beads or (2 beads w/red float), 2/0 light wire aberdeen hook, 20lb xt Triline wit quick change clives. Run # 1-4 Indiana blades in following colors>>orange, chartruse, gold or combo blades-chart/orange
chart/green. Sure other colors might work but those 5 color possibilities will catch fish.
Went with a 2/0 light wire aberdeen hook to increase the # of fish hooked. Takes care of tail bitters and not having to use stinger hooks. Thread minnow on hook by inserting hook into minnows mouth, exit out eye socket and run hook into tail section back by top dorsal fin. Can even use minnow for multiple catches!

Enjoy.......

[Walleye Wacker]

90% of our Walleye fishing on Lac Seul is jig fishing....Char,Orange,White and yellow colors work the best. The other 10% is Cranks..... same colors in combo and that beauty Fire Tiger......Good Luck....CATCH AND RELEASE

[Reels]

I like to use the quick change clips. Sometimes when they are hot on one color and the bite suddenly stops, switching color will pull a few more fish off the same spot.

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[Lac Seul "ANGLER"]

i wouldnt waste my time with spinners,jig + minnow is where its at!Try a "red devil" or a 5 of diamonds along a weedbed.Spinners suck!

[Big Tim]

mp3553 has the same rigs we've used very sucesfully on Lac Seul for the past few years. You won't go wrong with those combos, just bring a few bags of yellow or chartreuse jigs if you decide to sit still . Any cranks with chartreuse or fire tiger will also produce. Spoons seem to atract the pike, especially if you hang on a bright plastic trailer. remember, Lac seul is stained water & bright colors or metalics help the fish spot YOUR bait much better. Only 175 more days!!!

[Whit]

thanks for the info guys. i don't wanna start a battle here between jiggers and riggers. i like to rig and bottom bounce. jigging bores me and i'm not that good at it as a result. i'll work on it this summer and try to get better, but i catch a lot more fish in mid-summer bottom bouncing flats.

[Jay]

Through my guiding experience on Lac Seul for several years, I can tell you that to be successful (most people do not know or have never experienced what "successful" truely means on Lac Seul) you need to be proficient at both jigging and rigging. Because we are talking about rigging, lets stick with that for now. Snell: 24"-30" (long enough to separate from your bouncer, but not so rediculously long that it's a pain to fish with); 20lb mono should be appropriate. Blades: Magnum blades have worked quite well, so have many others (#4). The staff I guide with and myself have tried MANY colours, but I think we would all agree that silver, gold, and copper (plated and non-plated) consistently produces the best results. Granted several others have proven successful, but these definately stand out. In addition, when you get into chartreuse, green, red, yellow, etc. you are asking for more gator drive-byes (i.e.-tieing a new rig). Beads: usually 4 is good; a combo of red and chartreuse has always worked well for me, or silver, or gold. Hooks: good quality, and a reasonable size; I haven't noticed any trends with hooks; the hooks that stay sharp the longest are the best in my opinion!

I prefer jig fishing myself, but in general (if I had more time I would elaborate) jigging is the better choice for spring. You can work a jig and still maintain a good backtrolling speed because the fish are in only 4-12' of water, for the most part. As well you can pitch jigs into the shallows. As the season progresses and the fish move deeper, there is a slow transition to rigs, simply because you can cover more water efficiently. If you are jigging in 40' of water, you are moving slow or not moving at all. On Lac Seul, being so large and containing mega-sand structure, moving so slowly with jigs will rarely out-produce moving faster with rigs.

Have a good one,

Jay

[Reels]

Nice post Jay.

Thanks.

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[Nate W.]

I too tie my own rigs (I have been influenced by MP3553!) and had best luck with yellow this past summer. We also saw no noticable difference in the times we used live minnows and 3 or 4 inch twister tails. Yellow, chart. and white plastics worked well. I'm noty saying do away with minnows completely, but if they're biting, try slipping on plastic and see if there is any change. You might be surprised.

I found that Netcraft is the best place for beads and blades. 20# line works great for the leaders as mentioned above. If fish are really shallow and bottom bouncers are a pain, try getting rid of the bouncer and go with 3/4 oz bullett weights. You'll find the rig will glide through weeds easier.

We also had good luck this year with in-line weight-forward spinners. Caught my three of my biggest walleyes last July on LS with a Red & White Eerie Deerie tipped with white twister tail.

Get a couple of buddsies on a snowy night, a case of beer and start tying! Makes for a good excuse to get together with fishermen and solve the world's problems!

[Whit]

thanks for your thorough and thoughtful posts. any of you have any experience with using berkley fireline for snells? pros? cons?

[Reels]

I will use fire line on my reel with a mono leader sometimes for a sensitive bite, but you have to use a rod with a soft tip because sometimes you will rip it out of the fishes mouth due to no stretch in the line. Very sensitive setup. You can feel the spinner thumping, when it stops, sweep the rod and reel the pig in!

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[bill brown]

Jay, excellent explanation about the rigging procedure. Which kind of bottom bouncers do you and the other guides prefer on LS...I will be making my first trip there next June...1st 2 weeks. Thanks

[PJR]

Ninety per cent of the fishing on Lac Seul is not jig fishing. You Canadians just don't know how to bottom bounce, that's all.

[mp3553]

LOL!
Takes patients to drown a jig and minnow!
Cover water....locate the active fish then maybe drop a jig.
Naw... keep pullin the spinner rig!

##### stumps!
That ain't a stump it's WALTER!
Set the darn hook!!

[Gary at Lac Seul Evergreen]

With all the stuff being thrown at lodge owners, I hope I don't set the argumentive types off with this posting. I've fished and guided Lac Seul for some time and fished NW Ontario since the 1950's. Jigs will ALWAYS catch walleyes and probably are thge lure of choice for all fish if you have only 1 lure in your pocket. I've also experimented with spinner rigs and have used a 36', 25# snell with a #1 extra long ( Eagle Claw #74) gold hook, trimmed with the beads of choice and a #5 deep cup colorado blade; for years here at camp. We sell 3500 to 5000 of them a year and always have customers coming back for more. They work well because of the stained water and the vibration is a real bonus. They work well in turbid water as the guys from the Dakotas buy them by the gross for use on the Missouri system. They are not the end all by any means, and small variations do work better at times and will work better in other lakes; but on Lac Seul, big, noisey and flashy works. I constantly experiment with other lures and variations on lure design and its a great way to discover new ways of having fun with walleye. I am a camp owner and this is not an advertisment, but if you want to talk walleye fishing , I'd love to do it or you can follow some of my stuff on www.justfishontario.com. Either way, the vast majority of camp owners are darned hard working, straight shooting folks that have put thier life savings into thier businesses and do thier darnest to provide a quality experience for thier customers. They have to put up with the regs from MNR, MOE, every inspector and tax auditor there is and hope that they can do you the rightr job to make sure your stay is the kind you dream of. I know this isn't the "Lodge Owners" posting but hope you all have a great Holiday Season.

[Jigger1]

I'd still like to know if this is the Jay I'm thinking it is. Are your intials JF?

[Jigger1]

Gary – First a compliment, if I wasn’t so “hooked” on Silver Water Wheel Lodge, without hesitation I would visit your camp. I track your postings just about as closely as I track Mike’s during the season. I appreciate your comments and respect your views on preserving fisheries.

If you couldn’t tell from my UserID, I’m a huge jig fan, however last year I wasn’t producing like I had in previous years and succumbed to bottom bouncing. To say the least we just pounded big walleyes as our group caught 18 over 28”, five of them Master Anglers in less than four days. I used large Colorado blades exclusively and found them very productive. However I was not prepared for this type of fishing and have made an investment upgrading my equipment with a new rod and reel. I like using a quick-change clevis to efficiently try different blades. I have one piece of advise, if you're going to create your own, make sure you create secure spinner rigs, I lost my largest fish of the year last year due to a poorly crafted spinner rig complements of myself. Every fish on Lac Seul could be the fish of a lifetime so don’t miss the opportunity due to poor equipment, knots or craftsmanship.

Happy Holidays!

[Gary again]

Jigger - thanks for the comments; they are appreciated. I really didn't mention it but all those lures are hand tied here at camp; I do the vast majority myself with help from several others. We use the 25# to slow the pike and withstand the wear of rocks etc. All knots are hand set with forcepts and a crochet hook that I borrowed from my Mom, a #1 and it works great to set knots in the heavier line. We don't bottom bounce, but use a light tackle "Quick strike" technique useing light trolling sinkers and/or split shot(crimped on the heavy leader not your light line). I use 1/8 oz for each 5' of depth or major fraction thereof and cast out 3X the depth finder depth. Back trolling and adjusting for small variations in wind etc puts us onto those big eyes ASAP and with the single line light rig, the bites are fantastic. When you get a hit, give them the rod tip and count 1-2-and set on 3, and with the slight bend in the #74 hook, 95% plus of the hook sets are in the corner if the mouth and easy to release. Its fun to exchange ideas and techniques; next time try weight forwards on the sandbar breaks for a real supprise; just let them drag along and settle on thier own as you come off the edge.

[Jigger1]

I had a hunch that you may have tied your own at the lodge. My comments were directed towards those others of us "novices" like me that try and tie a quick spinner rig at shore lunch and end up losing a monster like I did. I'll give your method a try next time, thanks for the tip!

[Jay]

Yes Jigger1, my initials are JF, and yes I am the Jay you are thinkning of.

[Jigger1]

Jay - login and shoot me an email some time. If not, I'll catch you in June! We've added another two to the group this year (now eight and in cabin #1) so the three time master angler novice (still can't believe he caught three 29's) and his side kick will be split up. Jigger1

[Vitreum]

hi gary. where do you get your deep cut colorado blades? i see that cabelas has them in 10 packs. and jay, what size blade is considered a magnum? thanks

[fishmaster]

You can some nice blades that i bought from reelbait and they have worked for me really good, I fish Eagle Lake in the spring and they match jigs on our trips. I don't know the owner but his name is Al from www.reelbait.com and he will work with you to find the right sizes for you. The guy also has some nice colored beads in hot pink and chart.
Give him a try also you can try many sport shop or order from Northland or Lindy Joe.
Good luck, and a little tip the white and pink ones work GREAT in spring in darker water.
Fishmaster

[Gary at Evergreen]

I get my materials in bulk from Lakeland Tackle in Isle, Mn. They also supply Cabela's and I think Bass Pro as well as others. They only sell in bulk and to "manufactures"; I established Pinetree Tackle several years ago and will be doing more under that name in the near future. I understand that Lakeland is baulking at taking on any more smaller direct accounts and wants to move the small buyer to there previous mentioned destibutors. I think you can buy thier Deep Cup blades in reasonable bulk quanities and prices from Stamina Tackle in the Twin Cities. Give them a try. Good luck and great fishing.

[Vitreum]

thanks, gary. checked them out. prices seem pretty good. thanks for the info.

[Big Fish]

Gary, hope you're wintering well,(no shows to do). You forgot to tell everyone that #74 hooks are almost impossible to find.. Hope you stop by if you go though S.MN cweir

[Vitreum]

gary, got my order in from stamina. nice stuff. i've been cranking those puppies out like mad. surely have enough for next year for me and my son. don't know what i'm gonna do for the rest of this long and miserable winter. oh well, i'll be crappie fishing in a month. thanks again for all of your advise.