Worm Harnesses

[jezzhuntin]

This is a pretty generalized question as there are different weights, circumstances, etc, but I (believe or not) have never fished with a worm harness.  I just don't do that much trolling for any species.  I just like casting and finding the right lure as I get pretty bored trolling.  But I see a lot of people pulling harnesses around and thought I better add it to my arsenal.  So I am wondering what troll speed do you use say spring, summer, fall for eyes?  I realize the fish may be biting at certain depths, but generally what is a good speed and weight of a general harness? 

I am going to make some up of my own, so does anyone have a suggestion for an overall harness on which bead size and how many?  Would 6mm beads a good size? 

Being from ID (no eyes) I am inexperienced at fishing for them so looking to broaden tactics aside from plugs, jigs, etc. 

[Mogi]

I'm a pretty novice walleye fisherman but what I've been told is under 1mph. For weights I like Northand Roach Walkers. You are able to twist the eyelet open to change weights rather than having to cut your line and re-tie. As far as the harness itself I just bought a few to get an idea and then just got creative with spinner sizes and bead colors. Not much but hope it helps

[eyewinder]

There are lots of YouTube videos showing how to tie crawler harnesses.  Many are more confusing than illuminating ("google" tying worm harness). 

A good set of photographs are at  http://hookedforlife.ca/?p=261.  It's a starting point for building your own harnesses.  I know fishermen who catch more walleye than I do, and they fish nothing but bottom bouncers and spinner rigs (with crawlers, leeches, & minnows).  An awful lot of guides fish harnesses pretty much exclusively for most of the year, too. 

If I had to pick one setup to fish walleye, it would probably be some kind of weighted crawler harness.

[perch poacher]

I would highly recommend Gamakatsu hooks.  They are a little more money but stay very sharp.  I used size 6 on the end and 4's on the upper hook(2-3" apart).  Look for some small airplane type spinners (wings on both sides of a floater) in pink, blue, fire tiger, purple and black.  These spin at the slowest of speeds.  At real slow speeds, blades just glide on the bottom without spinning where as the airplane spinners are spinning and attracting.  If you use beads, I always put a small piece of a small rubber band through the first bead up from the hook(s).  I just loop a 6"-10" monofilament through the bead, put the rubber band in the loop and then pulled the mono to bring the rubber band into the bead hole-ckip xs rubber band.  What this does, it allows you to slide that bead up or down so your spinner is not right on your worm or leach.  Don't be afraid to try just one hook and half a crawler.  Put the hook through the very end of the crawler.  I usually make my leaders 4'-6' long.  If you are fishing clear water, I would use 8-12# flourocarbon leader material.  One new hook out that is very effective on walleye is called "slow death".  You can YouTube this to see how it is fished and it is explained on the package.  Cabelas has this hook-other sporting good stores may have this by now.  Once you have them made up, wrap the mono (flouro) around your hand, put 2 small pieces of Scotch tape around the flourocarbon opposite of each other and then slip in a small zip lock bag.  I always stapled about 10 zip locks together and then just thumbed through them to find the one I wanted.  It's a fun hobby.  Hope this helps.

[robbi]

I build all my own harnesses, slow death rigs and lindy rigs and if I can do it......anyone can...LOL.  Different speeds for different rigs, but on the basic harness with a blade I troll from .8 to 1.1.  In the spring many times it seems the eyes are looking for a slower presentation and that's where jigs and slow death rigs come in, but later in the year with warmer water a little faster sometimes is the ticket.  I like a 1 1/2 oz bottom bouncer for fishing in up to 25 fow.  Any deeper and you have trouble keeping on the bottom and I go heavier.  If someone is fishing behind me in the boat I have them use a 1 1/2 and I use a 2 oz which of course allows me to connect to bottom without a whole lot of line and tangling with the person behind me.  You're looking for that majic 45 degree angle when matching speed and weight.  Less isn't too bad, but you generally don't want more.  I make my harnesses in varying lengths, but normally 3 1/2 feet to 4 1/2 feet, I hold the end of the line in my left hand near my left  shoulder and take the spool of line in my right hand and extend it all the way out to my right and that's the length of my harness.......LOL.  I use 4/5/6 mm beads.  Small ones to separate my hook and beads and on top of my clevice.  Never have figured out how many is best.  I've made some with many beads up to 7 or 8 and made some with only a few.  The biggest reason for beads is to keep your spinner blade away from your hooks/bait.  I use all colors and not sure color on the beads has a big effect, but I'm partial to blue/pink  and red/white combos.  Blade size can depend on what speed you will be going.  Gotta make sure it's spinning.....and I've used those spin n glo's that perch poacher mentioned and they do turn at lower speeds, but they're can't be changed instantly like a blade, so most of my rigs are blades and I have all different sizes.  Does blade color matter?  Some say no, but I think it does to an extent.  Depends on water coloration to me........but, shiny, sparkly is what I have on alot.  My favorite is probably silver hammered.....and next is white.  I run others to test when I'm not getting hits.   I too generally use Gamakatsu hooks, but any reputable name is fine.  I prefer circle hooks anymore, since the hook ups seem to have increased when I started using them.  I use a three hook system vs. a single or tandem.  And I use 10 or 12 lb Vanish normally for my leaders. 

Bottom line, get started and tweak as you go........and if you're ever going thru Great Falls, let me know and I'll show you my set ups........

Good Fishing......

[bailey63]

Look into jet divers, torpedo divers and leadcore for depth control and inline boards or big boards to get away from boat i do not know your waters there but google how is fishing in buff. Lots of tips that could cross over.

[eyewinder]

Perch Poacher's rubber band trick can make a big difference on days when fish are striking short.  Moving the spinner up the line a few inches to a foot can help bring a shy fish right up on your bait.  If you forget the rubber band and have some toothpicks, you can peg that first bead (as PP suggested) and break off the toothpick flush with the bead.

[hardwater]

I'll pull mine anywhere from .8-1.5.  I like to use bottom bouncers,  I was shown WingIt Quick Snap bouncers at Devils Lake last month and am quite sold on them, they are pretty handy, I've been running them a lot lately, haven't had any issues and they they are a lot easier to deal with when changing locations. 

I prefer 1.5-2 ounce bouncers, I don't care for running a lot of line.

[eyewinder]

HW:

Thanks for posting photos.  That's the first time I've seen that particular configuration bottom bouncer.  I went to Wing-It's website and was impressed with how they've applied a couple of basic concepts to so many products.  And while they ain't cheap, their products aren't stoo-o-o-o-pid expensive either.

[jiggin365]

1oz bottom bouncers          few beads          2 hooks        4 foot leader            .8-1.5mph             hammered gold, silver, red, chartruse        

[hardwater]

You're welcome, yeah they are more expensive than running regular bottom bouncers, but having a 5" leader and bouncer and changing locations, you get that thing swinging and have a mess, you set it down and you have hooks on the floor, you could take it off but that's less time fishing.  These are so easy, I don't mind paying a little extra for the convenience.

[robbi]

That's pretty cool...........might have to check on those.......

[jezzhuntin]

d**n good info, actually sensory overload.  Really appreciate all the info, actually more than I anticipated!  I also have not seen that style of bouncers, very similar to running tubing with lead and a corkie for steelhead fishing.  Since I have a ton of that rigging I will just modify it some for now, but will definitely pick some of those up.  I had no idea you pull it that slow, so that was a big help.  Now I just have to figure our where to put it to the test this upcoming weekend.   Thanks again!

[jezzhuntin]

You're welcome, yeah they are more expensive than running regular bottom bouncers, but having a 5" leader and bouncer and changing locations, you get that thing swinging and have a mess, you set it down and you have hooks on the floor, you could take it off but that's less time fishing.  These are so easy, I don't mind paying a little extra for the convenience.

After doing some searches and watching a few videos I see your point.  I am going to try to find some of these.  I am all for simplicity and convenience! 

[icing_perch]

I have been fortuante to troll bottom bouncers and harnesses in a few different states over the last 30 years and done pretty good all over.  A few things I have learned in that time.  Less weight is normally better and to fish as far away from the boat as possible.  10 days ago I was fishing with my dad and mom at Tiber.  Dad was at the front of the boat running the trolling motor for all fishing.  Mom was in the middle of the boat and I was at the very back.  Results of 1 evening, 1 full day and one morning of fishing.  Dad 3 walleyes 10-14 inches.  Mom 4 eyes 12-15 inches.  Me 16 walleyes with 8 12-14 and 8 16.5-20.  Most of the time I could see dad's bottom bouncer on the fish finder which equals directly under the boat.  Mom was 10-20 feet behind the boat.  My lines 20+ feet behind the boat.  Plus I used a side planer board at times and caught numerous fish on it in the little time used.  So best thing I can recommend is get your lines farther from the boat.  I have in the past used line counter reels and instead of a bottom bouncer slid a barrel weight on my main line then a bead to protect the knot tied to a snap swivel with a harness snapped on the swivel.  Then I let out enough line to just barely start ticking the weeds then reeled in about 4-8 feet of line to get about a foot off the bottom or above the weeds.  Color is huge in my opinion when it comes to blades.  It all depends on the lake though.  I normally start with something with a chartruese hue, one with orange, one with yellow and one with green.  My favorite so far at Tiber and Francis though is silver hammered with red and black splashes and some sparkles thrown in purchased at Cabela's.  I have had my best day numbers wise though using slow death in about 4-8 feet of water in SD.  I caught over 50 eyes in one day.  A few tricks I have learned is to let out your line until it goes slack.   Close your bail on spinning reels or crank the handle once to lock the spool on baitcasters/linecounters and troll for about 10-15 seconds to get the bow in your line then release line again until it stops going out.  Then reel in about 2 cranks and you are very close to the bottom.  You dontt want to be dragging just ticking the bottom every once in a while.  Then when trolling let your rod sweep back and make contact or let line out  until you hit bottom then reel in again.  Hope this helps.  As far as beads I have used everything from size 4-8 MM beads I have used 4-7 size 5 beads but some I have tapered from 4 upto 8 then back down and have done great on those.  Like I said before have as many color combos as you can afford and keep changing until you find something that works.  Ask around when on the water to see what is working sometime you get tools that won't say anything but for the most part eye fisherman can be very helpful to newer fisherman. Hope this helps.