Fishing is such a neat sport! It’s unique in a way that every angler can have their very own secret fishing hole, use their secret bait and create their special lure. Whether you are a fly fisherman, bait fisherman, boat or shore fisherman, like to troll or jig, every angler can do it his or her way. The goal is to enjoy your time on a lake or river and hopefully catch a few fish. Anglers that tie flies for trout or anglers that use components to tie their own set-ups to catch walleye, bass, northern pike or lake trout have as much fun putting together their tackle as they do using it. Don’t get me wrong tackle manufacturers do a great job of providing tackle that is ready to hookup right out of the package.
I have had great success using pre tied set-ups when I walleye fish especially when a company called Quick Change came out with a plastic clevis that made it easy to change from one colored spinner blade to the next. This was real helpful 20 years ago when I was fishing with Wayne Knudson aka Walleye Wayne. In those days our tackle consisted of primarily gold or silver spinner blades in different sizes and shapes. We would generally spin those over 3 or 4 red or green beads on a crawler harness as we targeted walleye on Tiber, Fort Peck, and later Canyon Ferry Reservoir. We would use gold on the sunny days and silver on the overcast days with a fair amount of success. Today I still use some of those simpler
Today I still use some of those simpler set-ups. However every summer is a little different. Each year I find myself tying up more and more of my own creations. Most of the time I get an idea on how to customize my own setup by watching a fellow anger doing well with his special offering. Two components on these set-ups have changed since those early days for me. It first started with the slow death hook by Mustad. This is a hook that is bent in the middle and once you thread a night crawler up the shaft of the hook, pinch off the tail, it gives the bait a corkscrew spin as you troll it through the water. Next innovation was the smiley blade by Macks Lures. Now some of my more successful setups include a smiley blade, one or two beads followed by a corky and bead ahead of the slow death hook. Each set-up features a different color combination of
Now some of my more successful setups include a smiley blade, one or two beads followed by a corky and bead ahead of the slow death hook. Each set-up features a different color combination of smiley blade, beads and corky. You may view these set-ups on montanaoutdoor.com. Don’t ask me why the walleyes bite these set-ups. Sunny, cloudy, and overcast skies conditions make colors look different as they are trolled on the bottom of the lake in 10 to 25 feet of water at nearly one mile per hour. Over the course of this past summer my fishing partners and I’ve been fishing with as many as six rods that displayed six different set-ups and all the rods were catching fish. That of course is a situation when the fish are biting, but more than not there is always one set-up that catches more fish. I really have gotten to enjoy creating each set-up, each one being a little different than the one before. The fun of course begins when the fish start biting, at that point I really don’t care who invented the setup, because they all reel in the same with a fish on!
Click here to check out the Captain’s six favorite walleye set-ups.
