Bottom Bouncing VS Jigging walleye

[ballistic]

In open water fishing, would most agree bottom bouncing is better to find walleye, and jigging is better to find the bigger fish?

Just an honest question looking for honest answers!

Really depends on the day...time of year, structure the fish are on and a million other variables that could be listed. Bottom bouncing is a great search technique, especially for summer walleye but some days it's also the best big fish presentation. Jigging is also a great technique some days and some days it might be the big fish technique just as rigging, crankbaits, jigging spoons and a number of other presentations could be. The more you fish walleye the more you will realize there are no rules and it's the open-minded angler that is willing to experiment and match the day's conditions that is the truly successful one.

[Winch101]

On man made reservoirs ( compared to natural mesotrophic lakes
on the can. shield ) natural structure is limited . Positive mood walleyes relate to structure . Generally B/B is good to go when fish are spread out on
large flats or along a shoreline . If fish are concentrated on structure
than jigging ( the lighter the better ) will produce more fish .
An important factor to consider is that jigging uses less gas .
If you dont have the ability to recognise good structure , than you will jig a lot of unproductive water . The popular theory is that 80% of the fish use 20% of the lake . W 101 Tip : When buying frozen minnows , buy
Manitoba Lockport minnows , they have that extra touch of PCB.s
in them . I am pretty sure they Glow at 20 feet...

[ballistic]

If you were targeting bigger fish bottom bouncing, what kind of rigs are you using?

[209x50]

Originally Posted by ballistic

If you were targeting bigger fish bottom bouncing, what kind of rigs are you using?

#5 or larger colorado blades to start with.

[Winch101]

As the sheep man says the keys are mobility and versatility .
Being a Manitoba raised walleye efficianado . It has taken me
a couple of years to figure out these man made ditches in south alberta.
25 yrs ago at a tourney in Minaki Ont. I met Bob Probst , the father of Bottom Bouncing , I remember killing ourselves laughing at these guys
out in the middle of the bay , trolling at warp speed . Man did they kick our ass . Fishing was tough post cold front , fish were spread out ,
Bob only caught the fish that were going , we caught a cold .
Probst has a book on the whole system , I saw a copy at Russells
in Calgary lst year , can probably find it on the net .
I tie my own snells 4 and 6 ft, I like big hammered blades
and light #5 Colorado blades . Always use crawler harness
type double hook set up. Got some new single wire bouncer
weights last year . Itching to try .

PS If you have some large walleyes that you are having trouble with
please let me know , glad to give you a hand

[Waxy]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Really depends on the day...time of year, structure the fish are on and a million other variables that could be listed. Bottom bouncing is a great search technique, especially for summer walleye but some days it's also the best big fish presentation. Jigging is also a great technique some days and some days it might be the big fish technique just as rigging, crankbaits, jigging spoons and a number of other presentations could be. The more you fish walleye the more you will realize there are no rules and it's the open-minded angler that is willing to experiment and match the day's conditions that is the truly successful one.

Exactly.

That being said, I've caught most of my biggest fish rigging, slow and lazy like with leeches.

Waxy

[Waxy]

Originally Posted by Winch101

On man made reservoirs ( compared to natural mesotrophic lakes
on the can. shield ) natural structure is limited . Positive mood walleyes relate to structure . Generally B/B is good to go when fish are spread out on
large flats or along a shoreline . If fish are concentrated on structure
than jigging ( the lighter the better ) will produce more fish .
An important factor to consider is that jigging uses less gas .
If you dont have the ability to recognise good structure , than you will jig a lot of unproductive water . The popular theory is that 80% of the fish use 20% of the lake . W 101 Tip : When buying frozen minnows , buy
Manitoba Lockport minnows , they have that extra touch of PCB.s
in them . I am pretty sure they Glow at 20 feet...

Only if you're charging your trolling motor batteries with a generator!

Waxy

[AbAngler]

In unknown waters, we bottom bounce until we find a hot spot, then jig the heck out of it.

[bobalong]

Everyone has there own favourites, but I almost always run structure with bottom bouncers first. It gives you a chance to mark fish, while fishing up and down the stucture at the same time. I bottom bounce at about 1.1 to 1.3 mph (that will vary) and I lindy rig or pull jigs about .03 to .05 mph. I can cover about 3 times the water in the same amount of time pulling blades, if I am continually marking fish or getting short hits but no hookups then I switch to the slower presentation. Got some of the new slow death hooks rigged up and ready to go, only about 5 months to wait.

[Walleyes]

Nice lookin rig there bobalong..

Just want to throw something else into the mix here guys.. Some waters produce better on certain lures.. Around home we have lakes that produce well off of lindys and bottom rigs while others crankbaits will find you fish and yet some lakes that are fished heavy you can drag a crank around half the day lookin for fish and have very little success.. So like said before it depends on a million things.. I have noticed this tho that A crankbait will catch less fish but average larger fish and jigging a minnow slow and steady along the bottom will produce higher numbers of fish.. So it can be kind of a trade off.. But trolling of any sort is a good way to find feeding fish if you are on unfamiliar waters..

[Topwater]

Bob do you have the slow death hooks at the fishin hole?

[209x50]

Originally Posted by bobalong

Everyone has there own favourites, but I almost always run structure with bottom bouncers first. It gives you a chance to mark fish, while fishing up and down the stucture at the same time. I bottom bounce at about 1.1 to 1.3 mph (that will vary) and I lindy rig or pull jigs about .03 to .05 mph. I can cover about 3 times the water in the same amount of time pulling blades, if I am continually marking fish or getting short hits but no hookups then I switch to the slower presentation. Got some of the new slow death hooks rigged up and ready to go, only about 5 months to wait.

Ahhh, slow death, I learnt that from Dave Spaid, fishing the little Missouri just up the pond from the Van Hooke arm, Sacajawea ND. Would have neen in the early 90's.

Originally Posted by bobalong

Everyone has there own favourites, but I almost always run structure with bottom bouncers first. It gives you a chance to mark fish, while fishing up and down the stucture at the same time. I bottom bounce at about 1.1 to 1.3 mph (that will vary) and I lindy rig or pull jigs about .03 to .05 mph. I can cover about 3 times the water in the same amount of time pulling blades, if I am continually marking fish or getting short hits but no hookups then I switch to the slower presentation. Got some of the new slow death hooks rigged up and ready to go, only about 5 months to wait.

That is one sexy looking rig...not sure it catches any more fish but damn it's pretty!

[bobalong]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

That is one sexy looking rig...not sure it catches any more fish but damn it's pretty!

You know what they say TJ, if you can't fish good then you gotta try and look good.

[bobalong]

Originally Posted by Topwater

Bob do you have the slow death hooks at the fishin hole?

North and south have both the red and black, west just the black.

[BloodHound70]

Originally Posted by bobalong

You know what they say TJ, if you can't fish good then you gotta try and look good.

May not catch more fish, but sure will catch alot of fisherman

BH

[Walleyes]

I think we all got a whole crap load of fancy lookin hooks in the box that never caught nothing other than our attention and pocket book..

Originally Posted by bobalong

You know what they say TJ, if you can't fish good then you gotta try and look good.

Ah, I'm pretty sure that one would catch fish.....it just looks deadly!

[pipes]

I converted to bottom bouncing a few years ago. I find much more consistency in catching bigger and better walleye. You can also cover more ground effectively. I also started using a "wally pop" from Mack's lures. I prefer them to blades or wedding bands. They have a soft body which helps those walleye that mouth the bait/lure. Usually tip with a piece of leech.
The other factor in bottom bouncing if you have it available to you, is using an electric motor. We fish the minnkota constantly and burn no fuel (except the electricty). You have a matched electric motor to your boat size you can VERY effectively control your speed to match the walleye's feed pattern (from 3 MPH down to a crawl).
Another method of fishing structure is drop shotting. This allows you to cover a good portion of a transistion zone that you know holds walleye.
Well there's all I know.

[Waxy]

Originally Posted by Walleyes

I think we all got a whole crap load of fancy lookin hooks in the box that never caught nothing other than our attention and pocket book..

Amen to that!

I think I might even have a "Flying Lure" buried somewhere deep in the ol' tackle box.

Waxy

[Topwater]

Originally Posted by bobalong

North and south have both the red and black, west just the black.

Thanx Bob