Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Trolling Bottom Bouncers

Just keep trying
its not a "magic bait rig "
have to be in the right place
keep moving up and down the water column until you contact fish
then just repeat what worked that day

I think about pulling spinners at some point during every day. My favorite outdoor entertainment, probably. Nothing I love better than buying a couple dozen crawlers, hitting a lake and setting my lines just off bottom. Leeches when it gets hot, minnows when it cools. Hey fishy, wanna come over for supper? Our last trip after all the cleaning stations were closed. Only thing I'm gonna change next year is to do it more often.

Where do you fish at?

As close to Webster, SD as I can get. That picture was taken at the state park on Kampeska that's just off highway 212.

I grew up fishing walleye in the mid west and Dakotas. I now fish Washington, Montana for walleyes. The walleyes seem to run a lot deeper in Washington( banks lake, Roosevelt lake, pot holes, Columbia river) and fishing bottom bouncers 40 to 60 feet not uncommon. For some reason they just hold deeper out here.

I like nigh crawled on slow death or a floating jig head. Lindy makes them. I find going small and subtle , no blades, seems to work better as times. The walleyes are just different out here.

In the spring pulling small crank baits 200 to 250 feet behind boat long soft rods on Columbia River in pre spawn areas ( humps) at night pick up the biggest walleyes. Caught up to 13 lbs. A buddy has caught a few over 15 lbs. Claims one around 18 lbs (pics) Yes I saw them in his freezer. . Walleyes are considered an invasive species and they want them all removed from river system The next world record will come out of Columbia. secret is getting out. Not a numbers fishery but they get very big

Jigging blade baits works well too in early season in deep water.

nice!

I have watched a ton of Washington walleye fishing videos since I first read this thread. The ones I have watched, they talk about fishing the shallow ends of reservoirs and fishing 20-30' of water, and honestly, if anyone watched a show from there and a video of me fishing the Missouri river, the biggest difference would be that I am a very handsome man as far as I know, because the background scenery is basically identical. Every channel uses more Macks blades than I do, by a huge margin. I have some Macks products but they are kind of expensive and they don't seem to produce on the same level as Indiana or Colorado blades. I haven't tried those Northland butterfly blades, I'm sticking with what works for now. The buddy of a buddy loves the macks spin drift products. I've only fished with him a couple times. His skill level has something to do with the catch rate of the Macks he uses, i.e., he can't fish to save his life. I make some spinners from scratch, especially when I use a solid color like chartreuse, where the entire thing costs less than a dollar, hook and all. Price isn't the main thing but a Macks spin drift rig is over 4 bucks. On a 2 day trip to the Missouri river, I'd rather lose $10 in tackle than $40. Even that isn't the end of the world but I don't want to have to get an insurance rider for my tackle bag. I fish out of 5-6 boats every year, I have a small bag for spinners that goes inside my Cabela's tackle bag from years ago so I can quickly transport enough tackle without too much footprint. I can fit my tackle and my lunch into my bag. I use a lot of store bought spinners too, mostly JB Lures, but in heavily northern infested waters I retie everything onto 20# Seaguar.

If the fish are that deep its likely because the bait is that deep. Tough to fish bouncers at that depth IMO.

I tie my own stuff too, this time of year when I think of it anyway. I mostly fish out of my own boat though. There were some guys out in boats last night, it was a beautiful evening. Most fishermen are on the ice today though. I"m going pheasant hunting. The fish will wait.

Im going out this week in the Columbia River Fish are being taken 50 to 60 feet deep on jigs tipped with crawlers and minnows.

Most of the walleye I fish for would have to swim a ways to find 20' of water. Many of those miles would be over land.

loved doing it when I lived in Minnesota
up on Leech we could outfish the guys using jigs

try a floating rapala on about a 6-8 leader behind your bouncer