Bottom bouncers with rodholder

[BucksPA]

Hi Folks, I am new to the site and walleye fishing, but I have been lurking for a while. There is a small (67 acres) electric motor lake near me with walleyes in it. About half the walleyes I've caught the have been on a bottom bouncer with a spinner and crawler rig. This is my favorite way to fish for eyes. I fish by holding the rod in my hand and cruising around the lake in first gear of my 30# electric motor. What I am wondering is could I double my chances of catching a fish by having a second rod with the same setup sitting in a rodholder ? It is legal to fish 2 rods here. What I am not sure of is if the rod in the rodholder would hook the fish. I dont really understand how that works. Also is the a special kind of rod I would need to fish this way ?

[Jason Halfen]

This is a very typical summer method. I fish this way a ton in MN, with 3-4 guys in the boat, running one line per guy. We use 10'6" St Croix Wild River rods as our "outside" rods, and 7'6" St Croix Tournament Series "Heavy Bouncer" rods on the inside. Put them in holders, drive around, and don't remove until the fish loads the rod and hooks itself. We will occasionally give the rod a sweep hookset to drive the hooks home, but this is often unnecessary.

A very VERY relaxing way to enjoy the summer peak bite!

There are some short videos on the pages below that illustrate this method in use up on Mille Lacs:

http://www.jasonhalfenoutdoors.com/m...ansitions.html

http://www.jasonhalfenoutdoors.com/millelacssummer.html

http://www.jasonhalfenoutdoors.com/m...smudflats.html

[rockrunner]

Jason how long of a snell are you running behind the bouncer on those flats? Up here in Northern Ontario the great Canadian shield doesn't allow me to run bouncers in holders very often because of the terrain but that looks relaxing on the flats. Thanks

[Jason Halfen]

It's a 42-48" leader. It's the same basic recipe that I pull on the flats, the reefs or the gravel on Mille Lacs, or for that matter just about everywhere I fish in IA, WI, or MN.

[rockrunner]

Thanks for responding so quickly thats awesome. On the lake I fish I pull my bouncers a little slower and use 36"-42" snells. On a nearby lake I also fish there is a mud flat and I have ran 7 foot snells with a single 5mm bead and a 3 gang #2 octopus hook set up with air in the worm and a travel speed of 1.2-1.5 roughly. I like the air in the worm. I'm always interested in how long people run there snell length. Thanks again

[jigngrub]

I fish 2 and 3 rods like that here in the winter for crappie and catfish, just set them in the holders and drift around until a rod loads up... but I don't fish a harness and crawler, I fish a 4 hook sabiki rig with live shiners.

[Dacotah Eye]

I have seen days when you could feed slack to biting walleyes and when you picked the rod back up and felt for tension the fish was gone. On the same day when I felt the fish grab my bait I could wait a few seconds, set the hook and not hook the fish. I put my rods in rod holders and let the walleyes hook themselves. I did great that day and most of my friends were complaining they couldn't catch anything no matter how they tried to set the hook.

[MrStarnes1]

Originally Posted by Dacotah Eye

I have seen days when you could feed slack to biting walleyes and when you picked the rod back up and felt for tension the fish was gone. On the same day when I felt the fish grab my bait I could wait a few seconds, set the hook and not hook the fish. I put my rods in rod holders and let the walleyes hook themselves. I did great that day and most of my friends were complaining they couldn't catch anything no matter how they tried to set the hook.

i thought maybe it was just me but one out of every 3 or 4 trips i have here i run into finicky eyes!

i typically leave my rods in the holders unless the fish are biting light, then i keep one in my hand and slowly lift it off the bottom and let it fall.

i typically use a 60 inch snell with a 2oz or 3oz bouncer pulled somewhere between .7-1.2mph