Running Depth Of Weightless Crawler Harnesses

[bloodnguts]

I know there has been a lot of information shared concerning depth charts for various size trolling weights, but I'm curious (since I'm new to the trolling harnesses game), on how deep weightless crawler harnesses will run with varying amounts of line out, with size 4 and 5 colorado blades at typical harness trolling speeds. Thanks in advance for any insight.

[lwfloors]

I run harnesses alot, but I do not like to run weightless. I have found that I need way too much line out to keep them from blowing out, and then the line twist is terrible. I will put really light bouncers on and run less line. That is just my experience, and I seem to catch quite a few 'eyes wirh no issues.

[rabbit]

I fish a spot tha is snaggy and can't even use a swivel. Jigging only produces the little fish in this spot!!!I can only do what I call bumping with about 30 feet of line out. When I say bumping it means turning the elec. motor on and watching the rod tip as it vibrates from the blade spinning, shut the motor off and let it slow down and flutter. When almost stopped repeat the process all day long... To guess a top speed doing this would be about .2-.6mph. If any faster it would cause blowout without any weight... Yes I get line twist but if you cut the harnesss off and let the line out of your reel behind the boat and motor up and it will remove all the twist. I use 8# trilene for this method...
If you attach a small swivel I imagine you could probaly get to about .6-.9 with a #4 blade before blowout and maybe running about 1-5 feet down with about 30-40 feet of thin diameter line out. A smaller blade might get you a foot or two deeper...If you let tooo much line out you will get line drag and blowout.....Hope this helps but not a precise answer! Paul

[T Mac]

Originally Posted by bloodnguts

I know there has been a lot of information shared concerning depth charts for various size trolling weights, but I'm curious (since I'm new to the trolling harnesses game), on how deep weightless crawler harnesses will run with varying amounts of line out, with size 4 and 5 colorado blades at typical harness trolling speeds. Thanks in advance for any insight.

They won't stay down at all in speeds quick enough to twirl those blades.....even minimal speed.
Why do you want to use no weight?

[Johnnie Candle]

PWT Championship at Saginaw Bay 2008 I ran #5 colorado spinners with no weight. At a speed of 1.0 mph this is what I can tell you.

Live night crawler hit the bottom in 6 feet of water with 50 feet of line back. Hit bottom in 8 feet of water with 75 feet of line back.

Gulp night crawler hit bottom in 6 feet with 40 feet of line back. In 8 feet it took 60 feet to hit bottom.

I figure the Gulp must weigh more than the live crawler. There was a very big difference in line out.

The reason I did the testing is because Iwas catching fish like made on live crawlers and wanted to try gulp. When I switched to the gulp I instantly began snagging bottom. I too could not believe I was fishing that deep. I thougth I was within a foot or two of the surface.

I am sure different blades and beads would make things go deeper or shallower.

Best of luck.

[bloodnguts]

Well, I have little experience trolling for walleyes, as most of my time is spent trolling for salmon on Lake Michigan. This past spring, however, I was trolling harnesses for walleyes in the shallows of Green Bay in water ranging from 4 to 8 feet deep. I was running small bullet weights of only 1/16 to 1/8 ounce at the swivel ahead of my six foot harnesses and my harnesses were constantly dragging or snagging the bottom until I dramatically shortened the leads behind my boards to no more than 25 feet or less if I remember correctly. It got me thinking that those crawler harnesses would have had to run at least a few feet down without weight and at about 50 feet of line or so out. I guess I never thought of them breaking the surface and causing a bunch of twist. I guess I was expecting a consensus similar to that of the last poster, but I guess everyone has their own experiences. This year I'm going to run snap weights, so in that shallow water situation, I'll probably stick the lightest snap weights on there, and keep the weights pretty close to the boards.

[oldyellowdog]

I grew up on a small shallow lake in east n. dak. have done this with success..... slide 1/2 of your beads up and put as many split shots as needed for the depth you want to acheive..simply done.. if the weeds are as bad as you say, use the shots that are tottally round. I have also tried the longer body weights that you see on in-line spinners. good luck! Dan

[duckbutter]

I have good luck in the cold water season in the spring with weightless harnesses. I troll in water that ranges from four feet to eight feet with some new weed growth, but not full growth, I use in lines, and number 3 or 4 blades, and run them from 30 to 40 feet behind the boards, and rarely have a problem with weeds. I troll at between .5 mph and 1 mph. I have also learned that trolling in water that shallow, I have considerably more success running the boards out 100 and sometimes 150 or more feet away from the boat. I fish a gin clear lake, and the fish are very boat shy (ie I will never mark fish on my electronics with either the main or kicker running, and will mark fish drifting in the same waters). We can fish three lines per angler, and spreading six boards out that far covers an awful lot of water, and usually doesn't take too long to find the biters. Good luck & tight lines.