Flasher/Dodger

[rockinr]

While watching one of last years walleye tournaments at Saginaw Bay on TV, I noticed that a lot of the pros had what looked like a flasher/dodger ahead of their spinners. I then talked to a pro at Outdoor World that said he started that. He showed me his rig and he had a spoon with the trebles taken off and an in-line weight ahead of the spoon instead of using a bottom bouncer. Has anyone else used something like this. I was thinking about trying it on LSC.

[grizzly]

More than likely you saw a small spoon like for salmon. They tie it inline above the spinner rigs to cover more water and hopefully find fish further up the column. If you look around on the infisherman website im sure you could find what your looking for.

Goodluck.
Grizzly.

[rockinr]

Grizzley,

That's exactly what it was, a smaller salmon type spoon with an in-line weight ahead of it and maybe 3-4 ft ahead of the spinner. My question is---Has anyone else used this setup with success for walleyes etc? It's an easy setup to duplicate. The pro I talked to said he ran them off planer boards or yellow birds. I've never seen anybody use something like this on LSC. Just wondering if it would help the success rate. I intend to try it anyway.

[Getaway]

rockinr,
This setup works great in the Saginaw Bay. I take my old Silver Streaks that have the paint peeled off and remove the treble hook. Run your crawler harness about 2-3 feet behind it. It makes for a great attractor. I always run it with a rubber core sinker ahead of the setup. Vary the size of the sinker with the depth you wish to place the lure at.

Good luck!

[rockinr]

Thanks Getaway,

I just wanted confirmation that someone else had been using this with success. How far you running them behind the boat or boards? I know it depends on the weight and depth, but thought you might have a little formula you could share. The pro I talked to also said he only uses silver spoons. Any reason for that?

[Getaway]

All of us use silver spoons. We never tried any other colors. I'm not sure that other colors would not work, I just know silver ones do.

I've used the small rubber core sinkers about 1-1/4 long. Back 50-60 feet. I think this will put you down about 8-12 feet depending on your speed. It seems to really trigger those early summer eyes especially on overcast days.

[rockinr]

Thanks again Getaway,

I'm going to try another color with the silver and see if it makes a difference. Can't hurt to try (especially since I've already made up a different colored one). I put a beaded weight ahead of the spoon to try and keep from getting any twist in the line. Can't wait to try it now. Thanks for talking...

[Fishbomb]

I don't know, with all the pike and skis in LSC you might be losing alot of rigs if you go flashing that silver spoon at them. LOL

[FishTales]

I have run floating rapala's and bombers using 3/4 ounce rubber core sinkers, approximately 90 feet back (ten passes on the reel) and i get down about 15 feet, the reason i know is i will be hitting bottom, you can adjust the length back or the size of the sinker to change the depth, just have to experiment with it.

[tkpolasek]

I did really well with this set up on Saginaw Bay last year out off the steeples by Charity Island. I also run a silver spoon ahead of my night crawler harness. I was running the spoon about 5-6 feet ahead of the crawler harness on my rigs. I was using this along with snap weights on planer boards.

GOOD FISHING
TIM

[DEERSLAYER]

I'm just learning to walleye fish so I'm not sure if this would cause some kind of problem or not, but couldn't a bottom bouncer be used with this setup to take the guesswork out of getting to the proper depth? {2-3ft. above bottom?}.

[tkpolasek]

Deerslayer I have hooked the spoon directly to the swivel on the bottom bouncer and then run the harness off from the spoon to catch fish off the bottom with sucess.
The method I talked about with the snap weights is for fishing for suspended fish. In Saginaw Bay the fish will suspend and then we run the harnesses higher in the water column. Generally I will start with four different size weights using what we call the 50/50 method. You let out 50' of line then attach the snap weight and then let out 50 more feet of line and attach a planer board. By running 4 different size weights you are able to cover diferent depths looking for fish.
There is a dive curve in the Precission Trolling Book to help you get started at the right depth. Its just a matter of fine tuning it then and finding the correct trolling speed.

GOOD FISHING
TIM

[DEERSLAYER]

Thanks tkpolasek.

[captainqtip69]

What I like to do instead of using the attractor spoon tied in-line, is to use a neoprene or rubber bobber stop to change the distance of the blade to the actual spinner rig. Up here on Little and Big Bay de Noc walleyes are really attracted to large #6 and #7 blades. I tie my spinner/crawler rigs with bobber stops to adjust the distance the blade is from the harness. Some days keeping it 12 to 18 inches ahead of the crawler is best. Other days 4 to 6 inches works great...just have to experiement. Using a bobber stop allows you to change distances anytime without re-tying the whole rig! Been doing this for over 10 years with success. Good Luck!

[STEINFISHSKI]

Man this is some good stuff. I'll definately give this a try this year.