Burwel walleye riggers and perch

[Rubicon]

Thursday 27. Made it down, here's my report.
Had an awsome day on the water. Caught our limit in eyes with a 10-1/2 pounder at the very end. Almost all fish on riggers. 49-51fow. Finally figured out how to use riggers. I've been using riggers with very little success until now. Heres what I did that changed things around. 12-15 ft Leads. Yes that's correct. 12-15 ft leads. Downsized lures to target perch. Caught about 20 jumbos. Still caught walleyes. Moved riggers through the water column constantly. Found the sweet spot to be the bottom. Literally. I dragged the cannon ball on bottom and wham. It was game on. I've caught lot of large walleye on Erie but this one was the most fun. I saw an arc on the screen so I lowered the ball onto the bottom. As soon as I raised it up he slammed it. Put up a good fight to.

 

[Thirstystone]

Rubicon that's great...in an earlier post I thought the big ones might be on the bottom....12 to 15 Ft. leads.... that's very interesting...thanks for the info....oh yes that's something about the perch.....thanks

 

[Tcat]

Hi Rubicon Great report you might be on to something there,I never would have thought a 15ft lead would still catch fish.Thanks for sharing what worked for you.

 

[Teddy69]

I fish short leeds to they work well little tip clip a flasher on the back of the ball then your Realease clip and 10 to 20 ft back your lure

 

[Uno Mas]

Thank you guys


Uno Mas

 

[Rubicon]

I actually made two small flashers with clear lexan. I want to try them next time to add some lure action. I've always heard the walleye are spooked by flashers that's why I made some clear ones. Ive also heard they are afraid of the cannon ball but I'm convinced otherwise now. This opens up all sorts of possibilities.
To people not catching with their riggers I'll tell you this. Don't just let them sit there all day dragging lures. Move them around up and down. Change your speed a lot. It works.

 

[mick]

if you are planning on dragging your cannonball on bottom for a method, it can be dangerous...your taking a chance getting caught up on submerged debris and snags. The safer method is suspend your cannonball and run baits close to bottom like crank baits or adding weight to your line..

I learned years ago the hard way to keep the cannon ball off bottom...I clunked my ball into something metal and it caught up and snapped 150 lb steel wire like a guitar string in just a few seconds...ya that was the weakest link ...i mounted my rigger bases to the boat rails with 1/4 " aluminum plate backing...I consider myself and my boat lucky and a lesson learned..

you don't no whats on bottom, besides clay, sand and zebra mussels...other experienced great lakes fishermen including gill netters will tell ya the same thing about dangerous hazards on bottom...

 

[Thirstystone]

Not to mention Gas Wells....there all over the place..

 

[jakerboy]

I have ran a dipsy off of the cannon ball before . I let it bounce off the bottom to stir things up . If it ever got snagged up the line would break and I would only loose it .