Do you use them? Any DIY on best way to construct them? Thinking of branching out my walleye arsenal. Stop laughing. ;D

HighnDry wrote on Feb 8^th, 2018 at 10:55pm:

Do you use them? Any DIY on best way to construct them? Thinking of branching out my walleye arsenal. Stop laughing. ;D

I used to fish walleyes with this rig a lot.  I mainly used night crawlers, I would blow air into them with a needle to suspend them but have used leeches too.

It's a simple rig really.  The lindy "walking" weight a barrel swivel and short shank worm hook. I would use a mono leader of about 18" between hook and swivel with the weight right behind.

Side note, I sometimes would put on a floating classic 3 or 4 inch rapala instead of the worm hook.  I caught what I think is my largest smallmouth bass this way. It was 1988 on Sarah Lake in Quetico.  I was in 25-30 feet of water working it in a jerking fashion on the bottom.  Oh yeah, I caught a football!!

My question is where and how you would use it? It’s mainly a live bait rig. When live bait was outlawed in the Q, it was culled from my tackle. I still use it in other lakes.

HighnDry wrote on Feb 8^th, 2018 at 10:55pm:

Do you use them? Any DIY on best way to construct them? Thinking of branching out my walleye arsenal. Stop laughing. ;D

You can use GULP or similar artificial bait and rig them similar to real minnow Lindy Rigs.

This article tells you how to use hook set-up to bring the Gulp hookup rate on par with real minnows.

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I use them every trip on the BW side, tip them with a leech.  Its a handy way for the stern paddler to get some action and locate fish while the bow paddler casts a different kind of bait (say for bass or pike).  I like the rigs that have a spinner blade with beads and a floater ahead of the hook.  Whether they are more effective than plain hook, can't say.

Old Salt wrote on Feb 9^th, 2018 at 3:10am:

My question is where and how you would use it? It’s mainly a live bait rig. When live bait was outlawed in the Q, it was culled from my tackle. I still use it in other lakes.

Fishing it low near the bottom.Ticking it off the bottom while trolling a bit or stationary and playing it off the bottom. The latter is harder to do in a solo canoe.

solotripper wrote on Feb 9^th, 2018 at 4:12am:

HighnDry wrote on Feb 8th, 2018 at 10:55pm: Do you use them? Any DIY on best way to construct them? Thinking of branching out my walleye arsenal. Stop laughing. ;D You can use GULP or similar artificial bait and rig them similar to real minnow Lindy Rigs. This article tells you how to use hook set-up to bring the Gulp hookup rate on par with real minnows.   (You need to Login or Register

Thanks! That's handy. I'm sorting through all of the advice and I appreciate everyone's input on this. I have some colorado blades, 8# mono and worm hooks of a certain size as well as flourescent and gold fly-tying beads. I need a few more items to complete the set-up but I figured I would get ideas for several different set-ups. Mostly, I need something to do up until Copia time.  ;D

Don’t forget to signup for dinner!  ;) 8-)

Lindy Rigging  and Bottom Bouncing are my "GO TO" presentations for walleye in Quetico.

In early spring walleye relate to shallow back bays especially where rivers and creeks come in. I early summer they begin to move to main lake shorelines off shore humps, long flats near deep water and island shorelines.

I like to fish for walleyes over last 2 weeks of June over the 4th of July as walleyes will tend to group in their summer haunts. However, water temps will determine how quickly they migrate to their summer homes.

I use Lindy Rig and Bottom Bouncer setups to FIND walleye then if they are grouped I will JIG them. If they can't be found in a group then stick with a Lindy or Bottom Bouncer setup as you can cover lots of water and catch scattered walleye. Just forward troll in your canoe around 1.5 - 2 mph near rock ledges near deep water basins and you will find fish normally in 10 to 20 ft. of water from mid June through July. Come august when the water warms the most, walleye can be in 30 ft. of water so you will need heavier weights like a 3 oz. Bottom Bouncer or 3/4 to 1 oz. Lindy weight.

I like to pull  4 to 6 inch Gulp/Powerbait worms/ 2 hook harnesses behind 1/2 -3/4 oz. Lindy Rig weights as my 1st choice. If the bottom is very rocky I will go to a 1.5 - 2 oz.  Bottom Bouncer set-up as it is more snag resistant. 

I like to use 10 lb. Trilene XT on my main line. Sometimes I will use 20 lb. Braid. I like to use pre -tied worm 2 hook floating harnesses. I really like a glow Colorado blade setup that Cabelas offered to use in stained water but they don't make them anymore. You can use 3 inch Gulp Killer Crawlers too behind a Slow Death Hook setup too to entice walleyes to bite if they are a bit lethargic.

Just position your Bottom Boucer or Lindy Rif lead weight to angle 45 degrees from the rod tip to water surface for best hook set and bottom control.  The Lindy Weight just drags on the bottom but you want to skim the Bottom Bouncer 6 inches off the bottom for best results.

I like to use a shorter worm harness snell ( 20 inches) if I am stained water as walleyes will normally stick more to the bottom in stained water and a longer (40 inch) snell if I am in clear water as walleye will often be a bit higher off the bottom.

I would just GOOGLE  " BOTTOM BOUNCING and LINDY RIGGING WALLEYE"  and there is a ton of info out there on these 2 methods for catching eyes. I just scratched the surface.

I swore by variations of Lindy rigs as a kid. The spinner blade with the beads and a store bought smelly worm have worked for me after the live bait ban. Plus they are easier to troll solo since it's mostly just the line drag. Depth is key, I think, anyway.

The dam on Pickerel use to have crawlers so I use to bring a bulb with a needle to bloat 'em a bit but the smelly worms travel much better and work just as well IMO. Fish are stupid. Don't over think it. Right place, right time? I'd rather be lucky than good and I only need one for dinner er breakfast.

This has been educational. It sounds like most of you use them similar to the way I use cranks, as a search bait. I don’t carry much Gulp or Powerbait anymore. The cranks get the active fish. I can see where it would be productive to use a Lindy when the fishing is slow. Anyway, I’m working on a tackle reduction plan to simplify my options. I may miss a few fish, but as db pointed out, we don’t need many to have a fish dinner. Like Wally 13, when I locate waldo, I start jigging. That’s when I use plastic or the smelly baits.  8-)

Old Salt wrote on Feb 10^th, 2018 at 1:13am:

I’m working on a tackle reduction plan to simplify my options.

;D ;D ;D

Thanks wallee13. Good comprehensive overview. It's as much as where and when to fish this set-up as it is to know how I should go about putting one together.

db wrote on Feb 9^th, 2018 at 8:43pm:

I swore by variations of Lindy rigs as a kid. The spinner blade with the beads and a store bought smelly worm have worked for me after the live bait ban. Plus they are easier to troll solo since it's mostly just the line drag. Depth is key, I think, anyway. The dam on Pickerel use to have crawlers so I use to bring a bulb with a needle to bloat 'em a bit but the smelly worms travel much better and work just as well IMO. Fish are stupid. Don't over think it. Right place, right time? I'd rather be lucky than good and I only need one for dinner er breakfast.

Well said DB  ;)

Wally13 wrote on Feb 9^th, 2018 at 7:46pm:

Lindy Rigging  and Bottom Bouncing are my "GO TO" presentations for walleye in Quetico. In early spring walleye relate to shallow back bays especially where rivers and creeks come in. I early summer they begin to move to main lake shorelines off shore humps, long flats near deep water and island shorelines. I like to fish for walleyes over last 2 weeks of June over the 4th of July as walleyes will tend to group in their summer haunts. However, water temps will determine how quickly they migrate to their summer homes. I use Lindy Rig and Bottom Bouncer setups to FIND walleye then if they are grouped I will JIG them. If they can't be found in a group then stick with a Lindy or Bottom Bouncer setup as you can cover lots of water and catch scattered walleye. Just forward troll in your canoe around 1.5 - 2 mph near rock ledges near deep water basins and you will find fish normally in 10 to 20 ft. of water from mid June through July. Come august when the water warms the most, walleye can be in 30 ft. of water so you will need heavier weights like a 3 oz. Bottom Bouncer or 3/4 to 1 oz. Lindy weight. I like to pull  4 to 6 inch Gulp/Powerbait worms/ 2 hook harnesses behind 1/2 -3/4 oz. Lindy Rig weights as my 1st choice. If the bottom is very rocky I will go to a 1.5 - 2 oz.  Bottom Bouncer set-up as it is more snag resistant.  I like to use 10 lb. Trilene XT on my main line. Sometimes I will use 20 lb. Braid. I like to use pre -tied worm 2 hook floating harnesses. I really like a glow Colorado blade setup that Cabelas offered to use in stained water but they don't make them anymore. You can use 3 inch Gulp Killer Crawlers too behind a Slow Death Hook setup too to entice walleyes to bite if they are a bit lethargic. Just position your Bottom Boucer or Lindy Rif lead weight to angle 45 degrees from the rod tip to water surface for best hook set and bottom control.  The Lindy Weight just drags on the bottom but you want to skim the Bottom Bouncer 6 inches off the bottom for best results. I like to use a shorter worm harness snell ( 20 inches) if I am stained water as walleyes will normally stick more to the bottom in stained water and a longer (40 inch) snell if I am in clear water as walleye will often be a bit higher off the bottom. I would just GOOGLE  " BOTTOM BOUNCING and LINDY RIGGING WALLEYE"  and there is a ton of info out there on these 2 methods for catching eyes. I just scratched the surface.

I can attest to Wally13's expertise re walleye.  But I have to ask you, Mike....you showed me the technique of using the Mack Lure Super Slow Death Rig last summer and I actually used in last fall with great success....it seems similar to the Lindy rig, but for me, who used the Lindy while growing up in southern Minnesota, that the death rig seemed much more productive.  Care to comment/enlighten us neophytes?

We may have to ply him with beers to entice that information out of him!  ;D ;D

HighnDry wrote on Feb 14^th, 2018 at 6:32pm:

We may have to ply him with beers to entice that information out of him!  ;D ;D

Kind of like the old adage, ‘I provide free information. Good information costs extra.’  :o

Enjoy jigging for walleyes, but to stay on the topic.....I use a single spinner/single hook with some beads.  This can be tipped with bait, where legal, or some Gulp, etc.  I use this with an appropriate sized in line sinker (either keel or cylindrical ).  I love to slow troll this rig to find the fish and if I can localize them, on goes the jig!  So far it's worked well in BWCA, WCPP, Wabakimi and on Red Lake proper.
Fishing = happy me :)

Pine_knot,

Sorry to take so long to respond to your post a few weeks ago asking me for more info on how I fish  a Mack Slow Death Rig. I was on vacation for 2 weeks and when I got back to viewing QJ ... I must have missed your post. No worries ... I am back and vacation has recharged my battery and I will certainly give you my insight into this fishing tactic. No BEERS needed. LOL.

Slow Death Fishing is really nothing new but is really an adaptation to Spinner Nightcrawler harness fishing that has been around since the late 80's and early90's.  Instead of pulling a spinner blade and a double hook worm harness or spinner blade with single hook and minnow or leech, someone ( I think it was Bob Probst) took a 45 degree bent Aberdeen hook to the market with a trailing crawler and "Slow Death" was born.

This crazy "Bent Hook" madkes the crawler attached to the hook spin in a wide circle and  drive walleye to hit especially when they are neutral to negative. What makes this rig so effective is its ability to be fished at variable speeds ... sometimes as slow as .3 mph and still getting real good movement/action from the spinning crawler.

I like to pull spinner blade crawler rigs to cover lots of water when walleye are fairly active and aggressive. I often switch to the bent hook Slow death approach when walleye are more finicky and less active where I slow down and try to TRIGGER them to bite on the wide turning slow death rig threaded with 1/2 a crawler.

Mustad came out with a Slow Death Light Wire Long Shanked Hook several years ago and I like to thread a #2 slow death hook with 1/2 a live crawler and when in Quetico I use Gulp 3 inch  natural colored Killer Crawlers.

Mustad has since introduced a SUPER SLOW DEATH hook (Model #33863NP-BN) which is a heavier guage wire and its aggressive bend in the shank allows one to spin now even full length crawlers with deadly effectiveness. The bigger heavier guage hook will stand up to bigger 25+ inch females that I try to catch. A 4inch Gulp Crawler will spin very nicely on the Super Slow Death hook. The CORKSCREW spin is what triggers neutral to negative fish to bite. In fact, I have even caught walleye with slow death even when the dreaded MAY FLY Hatch causes poor fish catching using conventional methods like jigging and trolling crank baits and even pulling crawler spinner rigs.

You can pull Slow Death rigs behind a 2 oz. Bottom Bouncer weight or a 1/2 to 3/4 oz. Lindly slip weight.

When using a bottom bouncer weight I usually use braided line (Suffix 832  10 lb.) to the weight and then tie on  30 inches of  fluorocarbon leader to my Super Slow Death Hooks.

You can use a Lindy Slip weight  ahead of a #10 barrel swivel and tie on a fluro leader to your Super Slow Death Hook and crawler.

I use longer 30 - 40 inch  leaders in clear water and shorter 18 to 20 inch  leaders in stained water.

Mack Lures took the Super Slow Death Hook a step further and has a Super Slow Death Hook pre rigged setup with a Mylar blade in front with a bead , float, bead and Super Slow Death Hook. I really like this Mack Blade in front of a Super Death Hook as the mylar blade adds flash, color and vibration that seems to call in more walleye to the rig setup. .

There are a lots of slow death hook variations and I haven't tried them all. Matzuo's Rip N Roll 1/0 hook with a 5 mm bead in front of the hook with a 1/2 a Gulp Crawler  appears to be working with some walleye pro's.

Berkley has Fusion 19 Slow Death hook and may be a winner but I haven't tried it yet.

Ok ... my post has gone a bit long. Bottom line ... Slow Death is a proven winner. However,  I fished last June with Pineknot and found walleye fishing to be tough in the unstable and low pressure fronts that we encountered during our 10 day trip. Slow Death even couldn't bring in the walleyes on that trip. But more often than not,  I find Slow Death to be quite effective. 

Tight Lines

Wally13,

I'm not even a serious fisherman but I really enjoyed and appreciate your detailed response to PK.  [smiley=cool.gif]

  I have a few of those Mack rigs and do think that added flash helps. I read somewhere that someone cut the Death Hook off and tied on a snap lock and used a floating stick type bait. Idea its supposed to look like a bigger minnow chasing smaller ones.

I did that to one of my rigs and it seemed to be fairly effective plus the floating stick bait at an angle was almost snag-proof unless the slip weight wedged into some rocks.

Thanks again for taking the time to go into detail. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

That was a thorough description. I kept thinking that it was like building a light saber for walleye fishing.

Yeah, thanks for the lesson!  Is Bob Probst still around?  I fished some of the early walleye tournaments and him and Mike McClelland were kind of  together.   McClelland taught us the shoreline "stuff". 
.....Mike

I picked up some fluorocarbon filament, 8lbs to go with the d-shape clevises, beads, and #5 colorado blades. It's time to start putting these together. I still need a lindy slip weight thing...

You could save a few bucks and have different slip weight if you want to go with a steelhead duck and chuck set-up?

The first link has a pic with a bead and snap swivel so you can change weight sizes.

The second link to slinky slip weight source.

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Heading to Mills fleet farm for slip sinkers. Thanks wallee13.

Quick snap barrel swivel examples? I can't remember what Wallee13 called them but them came in a blister pack. I can't seem to find anything analogous at this end (Twin Cities).

These guys have decent prices.
You should be able to find what you're looking for here?

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solotripper wrote on Mar 16^th, 2018 at 9:19pm:

These guys have decent prices. You should be able to find what you're looking for here? http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Swivels_Snaps__Split_Rings/catpage-TTRSSR.html

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HighnDry wrote on Mar 16^th, 2018 at 10:32pm:

solotripper wrote on Mar 16th, 2018 at 9:19pm: These guys have decent prices. You should be able to find what you're looking for here? http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Swivels_Snaps__Split_Rings/catpage-TTRSSR.html   (You need to Login or Register. Thanks!

I was a little confused when you called them "Quick snap barrel swivels" because I've never seen anything like that?

When I saw the pic of Lindy Swivel clip I thought that must be what you wanted for a Lindy rig set-up.

I buy most of my tackle from discount outlets on-line anymore. The price can't be beaten and if you catch a close-out sale it's even better.

Yes, I couldn't remember what they were called and the quick snaps seemed to come closest. I didn't remember to jot down the name of those swivels at Copia while wallee13 was setting up the various lindy configurations  he was putting together.

I need to take more copious notes next time! Thanks again for the link. I just ordered up a couple of packs. These season of walleye fishing is looking up!

HighnDry,

The Lindy Swivel Clip you have in your Tackle Direct is exactly what I use. Barrel Swivel on one end and you slide your loop knot for your snell on the other end .

Thanks wallee13! I ordered up a couple packets yesterday and as soon as they arrive I'm going to put together a couple of these.  I'll probably experiment with wrapping them around a short length of pvc with two rubber stoppers on the ends. Perhaps that can effectively mimic the tackle keeper that you had at Copia? It's worth a try before I go off and buy one. We'll see.

I use a  “Tackle Buddy” to hold my wrapped spinner harnesses and Slow Death rigs. I put 1/2 oz and 3/4 oz waliking sinkers inside in one end and Lindy swivel clips that are put into a small worm harness bag and then placed inside the other end of the Tackle Buddy. There are 2 end caps on the Tackle Buddy. Simple way to store your Lindy Rigging setup. 

The Tackle Buddy is available at Cabelas and other Tackle stores. There is also the Tackle Tamer snell holder available but I prefer the Tackle Buddy.

I look forward to ordering all I need for this rig and will report back after my trip on the results.  Thanks Wally13!

Wally13 wrote on Mar 17^th, 2018 at 11:51am:

I use a  “Tackle Buddy” to hold my wrapped spinner harnesses and Slow Death rigs. I put 1/2 oz and 3/4 oz waliking sinkers inside in one end and Lindy swivel clips that are put into a small worm harness bag and then placed inside the other end of the Tackle Buddy. There are 2 end caps on the Tackle Buddy. Simple way to store your Lindy Rigging setup.  The Tackle Buddy is available at Cabelas and other Tackle stores. There is also the Tackle Tamer snell holder available but I prefer the Tackle Buddy.

HD,
Save yourself the trouble and get that Tackle Buddy.
I'm big on the DIY stuff and tried the pvc pipe and all you wind up with is a big tangle of Lindy Rigs.

Those ridges on the TB keep the lines separate and the soft rubber lets you embed the hook point to keep the wrap tight.

Solotripper is spot on. Cabelas has Tackle Buddies for $5.99 and I see Sheels has them for $3.99.  Well made and better than anything you can make including pvc.

I'm waiting for the Lindy snap barrel swivel thingys to arrive. Then I will snap a picture of my raw materials. Sort of a "before" picture. Once I get these things together, I'll snap a second photo of them wrapped around my tackle buddy toy.

Lindy snap swivels finally arriving today. I've had my dining room table littered with lindy rig materials for the entire month, it's time to put these things together. Now, if the ice would only melt...

Terry,

Good cold rainy day project. LOL 

I finally started making my Lindy rigs this evening. I don't know what took me so long. Perhaps it was the lakes freeing up a bit in the Twin cities. I took a before picture of most of my supplies-- pretty boring stuff and I'll do the same once I get them all tied.

I'm making them all 36" in length. Two red, two hammered silver and two hammered gold #4 colorado blades. I'm probably making a lot of mistakes but it's part of the learning process.

Anticipation is the best emotion.

Hopefully the photo turns out. It's most of parts to make the rigs. The "after" photo is on the way too.

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Terry, the only thing left to do is post a you tube video of you building one.  I can't wait to see the finished product.

HighnDry wrote on May 6^th, 2018 at 3:29am:

Hopefully the photo turns out. It's most of parts to make the rigs. The "after" photo is on the way too.

Still mucking around with BBC codes and images to see if this picture-thing can appear here 
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I'll get another photo up soon. I'm not sure I could pull off a youtube vid though :)

You tube is very user friendly these days.  Then just post a link.  Wanna see me cliff jump?   :D   (You need to Login or Register

The lindy rig worked well although I should have used a heavier lindy banana weight (that's what I call them). Maybe even a 1/2 oz or better bottom-bouncer would have done the job. Fish were stacked up in water columns running down to 30 ft or more (maybe some of those at 57ft were lakers :)? It was a good test run though and I'll be deploying them again on this next trip, BWCA side.