Which Reef Runners to use on Erie for trolling

[tomiller97]

When trolling for eyes on Lake Erie a lot of guys use "reef runners". Can you clear up the question as to which reef runners you use? Do you use the deep diver, deep little ripper, little ripper, rip shad or just the standard ripstick? I talked to Freebyrd and Blue Dolphin about this topic last fall in regards to snap weight systems but never asked which types you use. In addition to the snap weight systems do you troll them behind jets off the big boards?

thanks for the info
Todd
aka Discouraged Troller

[Gju42486]

i personally like the deep little rippers for erie, we use them mostly behind the big dipsies off of the boards,,they always seem to produce day in and day out. as far as color goes, last year purple demon, eriedescent, and cheap sunglasses were real hot,,hope this helps

[westwinds]

it depends what water colom your looking for 28-30 ft i use thebig reefrunner without any diving device with a no stretch line like fireline or powerpro.10-12ft ripstics. 20-24ft deep little rippers.snap weights of the boards work really good.buy the book. precision trolling. well worth the money. colors very. firetiger and blue and silver,eridecient,sunglases. westwinds/////

[perchjerker]

quit hiding in your cube and come over and talk once in a while. I will tell you a few things on the subject.

;)

[Silentsixty]

We use them all and use them all with snap weights at times.

I think what you need to know is: reefrunner refers to the deep diver. So you have Reefrunners, Reefrunner ripsticks, Reefrunner little rippers, etc.

You can pull any non-diving walleye stickbait with a dipsy and I'm sure you could pull small non-divers with a jet. No guesses on something as big as a ripstick.

Good Luck,
SS

[Denied]

Todd while reef runners and other stick type baits do a fine job they seem to only work for me in the early spring and late fall when the water temperature is cold. Other than that I use spoons and harnesses behind dipsy's and jets. I keep trying stick baits once the water starts to warm but have found that I do much better on spoons and harnesses. My point is don't think stick baits are the only thing that will catch walleye or spoons or harnesses. It depends on the weather and what the walleye want.

dean

Fishing Lake Erie aboard "DENIED"

(I don't represent any manufacturer or supplier "I pay my own way")

[falcon2082]

When pulling reef runners behind big dipseys (I assume you are refering to size 1 dipseys) how do you determine exact depth of the lure? For example, if you have your dipsey running at 25 ft with a 6 ft leader, what depth is your lure at behind the dipsey? Also, how do you know your dipsey is at 25 ft when it is being affected by the lure? Now you bring into the picture the boards and that seems to add a whole new truck load of questions. I am a rookie troller so this info would be nice to know.

[Toolman]

The only 2 Reef Runner lures I would consider pulling behing a dipsey would be the Ripstick and the Little Ripper. The pull of deeper diving lures really screws up the ability of the dipsey to do it's thing (dive and/or plane to the side).

To answer the "which Reef Runner" question, I would have to say "it depends" (thanks alot-right?) :-). I tend to use more crankbaits into the summer periods when others are pulling dipseys/spoons, because I feel I catch larger fish with them, on average. I probably won't handle as many fish, but you can only weigh 5-if you know what I mean ;-) Real early/late season, generally Ripsticks or Reef Runners on short leads tends to work well. Later spring/early summer, I lean toward the Deep Little Rippers, often using the 50/50 method (or some variation) with 1 or 2 oz snap weights, depending on the depth I'm targeting. (Pulled my best tourney weight using DLRs in late April). Believe it or not, I've pulled some real quality fish on the new Ripshads, too!

As far as colors go a very basic rule for me is more natural (light colors, blues, whites, etc) in clear water. Dark or florescent colors (brown, purple, black, firetiger, bubblegum) in stained.

Tim

Thanks for all the info. yes perchjerker, if they take my chain off for a little while I will try to sneak back down your way and talk to you for a while.

I was curious if the diving cranks were too much for the jets or the divers. I've heard that if you have to much pull on the dipsy, you'll run the risk of either unlatching or flipping it over and having the dipsy rise to the surface. We usually run some jets off the boards with spoons, a couple dipsies with spoons and a couple downriggers with harnesses. This year we would like to experiment with more stickbaits and try the snap weight systems since we've heard a lot of success stories last year.

Did anyone attend the NE Ohio sportsman show in Cleveland and attend the trolling seminar? We wanted to go but the cost and the snow caused us to stay home (not to mention the decent ice fishing in the Irish Hills area!).

In order to help understand the systems a little better, I've pre-ordered the new precision trolling (big water) book. Finally a good depth guide for the dipsies!

Thanks again for the info,
Todd