Walleye Rigger Rod Advice Wanted

F

Farnee

Member
Hey there, I'm looking for some advice on walleye rigger rods. I just started salmon fishing last year and did a few trips to Erie for some walleye. My salmon gear worked fine, but it is awfully stiff for reeling in 1.5 to 4 pound fish. I would like to get some dedicated rigger rods in the hopes that it may be a little more fun to fight the fish. I was thinking about getting something with a Medium Light rating. Am I over thinking things, or will it be a little more fun with a light rated rod? Recommendations on a rod would be appreciated.

Thanks Brad
 
I use 9' medium rigger rods, they are not to stiff when reeling in the smaller fish but have plenty of backbone for when you catch larger eyes and bows.
 
Basically the small fish will have no fight no mater what you use if you are in 40+ FOW. I personally use the same rigger rods for Salmon on Lake O as I do Walleye on Erie. If you are wanting to invest in some new rods and you don't have any already...look into some lead core rods! Our most constant rods going off last year were the lead core's and pretty well all of our largest fish came off those rods also!
 
I really like the Fenwick eagle steelhead rods. They are light and fun to catch walleye on.
 
When you reel in two monsters at a time medium to heavy is good. Light is OK if using only one lure.
 
I used to (and still occasionally do) make custom rods. Mostly steelhead stuff in the beginning but started to morph into other realms..including Erie walleye. I found the typical rigger sticks were just that. I started to play around with different models until I found what I liked as a balance between functionality on a big lake big water and a rod that was enjoyable to use. I settled on 9.5' rods built on 10.5' fast action Fenwick Fenglass blanks. The glass blank is much more forgiving of the big water conditions, the fast action gave the rods a solid butt with a sensitive top 3rd. The length gave the rods the reach and angle for big water/long leads and could also handle inline planer boards. I made these rods around 1990 as I still had access to the Fenglass blanks. These are still my go-to rods today. While Fenglass is no longer available, there are other similar blanks around that would make great custom Erie rods.
 
dont let last year fool you there was alot of small fish around theres still some nice hogs out there that well make you wish you had bigger gear i run all my leadcore on 10ft dipsy rods and 8ft salmon rods for my riggers
 
I have an old fenwick blank that was tied as a twist. I bought it off a guy at the tackle swap 3 or 4 years ago. I've been using it for Owen sound spring salmon and Erie pickerel. It's a blast with smaller fish, bends like a noodle and lots of fun. I'd recommend some light rods of its in the budget.
 
I fish Lake Erie walleye and Lake Ontario salmon. My favourite setup for both has become an ugly stick 6-7 ft range from can tire. I use okuma 15-20 size convectors. This set up has become my go to on all lines. Including planner boards. I run 8 rods at times.
 
One of the trends over the last few years on Erie has been the use of leadcore and dipsy diver setups. Both require stout rod/reel setups...very stout. A 10' dipsy rod setup is something only equaled to stuff I use surf fishing on the beaches of the Outer Banks in North Carolina! Same with leadcore...nothing light about 300' of leadcore out the back of the boat!

Both setups are hot rigs for putting fish in the boat--no doubt about that. However, the setups necessary for this technique negate much of the fight that a walleye might put up..considering the 'eyes don't really put up a big fight to begin with.

I use downriggers 90% of the time. Long leads are often the key...its why I suspect dipsys and leadcore do so well--they get baits back from the boat. I usually run 100' off the downriggers, sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the depth the fish are at. There were soooooo many of the small fish last year...14-16" fish...and they were up high. The long line rigs do well up high to pick up fish that scatter when a boat goes through them. However, there were a lot of bigger fish in the 3-6lb class but I found them deeper...below the huge schools of smalls.

Downriggers let me use lighter setups...and lighter I mean stuff that can handle any 10lb 'bow that wants to strip 100 yards of line off in one run...my setups are usually 9- 9.5' fast action rods..mix of my own Fenwick blanks and some St.Croix Wild River series, some with Shimano Corsair CS 400s..300 yrds 14lb mono, and some with various linecounters..12-14lb mono. I'll use the linecounters with 14lb if I run inline boards.

Thats my setups for lighter action fishing. Not for everyone but fun.
 
I use a 7 ft rod , that way when its loaded up everything else will pass by with any tangles.
 
I use Shimano Talora rods , they are light for little fish and lots of power to fight big fish
I use them as my rigger and my dipsy rods , worth the money
they are definitely not telephone poles like some rods out there
 
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