BOTTOM BOUNCING BASICS
BOTTOM BOUNCING IS A STAPLE IN THE WALLEYE INDUSTRY, AS MACK’S LURE’S NICK HARRINGTON EXPLAINS
BY NICK HARRINGTON
MIDWEST LIP RIPPERS
Bottom bouncers have become a staple of the walleye fishing industry. The reason they are so popular is because they are easy to run, versatile, and just downright catch fish. This setup is so simple, yet can have so many alterations and difference styles of fishing. In this month’s issue of the Mack Attack Magazine, I’m going to discuss the different types of systems we like to run. RODS & REELS I like to use a stouter rod when bottom bouncing. This is because I like to run bigger bouncers and have a firm backbone when I set the hook. I favor a 6’6-7’0 medium-heavy rod with a fast or moderate action. The reason I favor these setups is because I still have a good feel for what is happening with
my line, but I have a firm backbone for setting the hook and fighting a fish.
a mainline and sees the pros and cons to each.
For reels, I favor a larger spool baitcasting reel. Line counters are not critical for bottom bouncing, but if you are fishing with someone that has not bottom bounced much, it helps to make sure that the lines are set at the right depth. As far as line, I favor 8-12 lb. Berkley Fireline. This is because it has no-stretch properties. This allows me to feel every pebble that the bouncer ticks across and also even the slightest bites. It also is strong for reeling in larger fish, especially with the heavy bottom bouncer. I like the crystal color because it is easy to see so you always can tell the angle that your bait is running.
“Mono is less visible for when I am fishing clear water,” Seylar says. “Also, if I am fishing around a lot of snags, when I do get snagged up, it breaks easily. This allows me to spend less time fighting a snag and get re-rigged and back on the fish.”
bouncers are easy “ Bottom to run, versatile and just downright catch fish.
NICK HARRINGTON | PRO STAFF | MACK’S LURE
Mack’s Lure Pro Staff Mason Propst (pictured left, above) runs a slightly difference system. He favors the heavier rods as well, but he prefers to have an 8 ft. rod and a 6 ft. rod. He also runs large spool baitcasting reels and Fireline for a mainline. He favors the brighter neon green color because it allows him to see the line easy — much like the crystal. Chris Seylar likes to run the 6’0-7’0 rods, although he favors a little more sensitivity and prefers a medium-fast setup. He runs both braid and mono for
The braid also has it’s own benefits because, Seylar says, “it is much stronger and has better sensitivity, but it is more visible and I feel that when fish are finicky, it can deter bites.” BOTTOM BOUNCER SIZE All three of us like to run heavy bottom bouncers. When I am backtrolling, I like to run 1.5 oz. bouncers out the front and 3 oz. bouncers out the back. This allows me to have my front rods let a little more line out and the back rods stay right below the boat. This keeps my lines away from eachother and avoids tangles. I have a perfect angle to bounce across all snags and I still get a firm hookset. Mason has a different style of avoiding tangles. He runs 2 to 3 oz. bouncers on all of his rods, but as discussed above, he runs a long and short rod system. “I like to use the 8 ft. rod to get the bait further away from the boat, while the shorter 6 ft. rods keep it tigher,” he says. FOLLOW @MIDWESTLIPRIPPERS_18 MACK ATTACK MAGAZINE | SEPT. 2021
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This system allows him to fish the same weight, depending on depth, but still avoid tangling. When he’s fishing shallow, he runs to 2 oz., while deeper he will go up to 3 oz.
VIDEO: BOTTOM BOUNCING SET UP
Chris also prefers 1.5 to 2 oz. bottom bouncers. When he is fishing shallower or in thick cover he goes with the lighter bouncer. This allows it to bounce around easier and it is less likely to be snagged. When he is deeper or fishing a less thick area, he goes with the heavier bouncer. BLADE SELECTION I prefer two types of blades. Early in the season I like to use smaller blades. I occasionally use a size 0 silver Colorado blade, but the majority of damage I do when fishing with a smaller blade is with a Mack’s Lure Smile Blade®. I really like the Smile Blade® 0.8, as these are a nice, compact profile that adds a little flash and vibration to your bait. This makes it attractive, but doesn’t steal the show. I love fishing these blades at slow speeds, but they are also extremely versatile at higher speeds, as well.
How I like to approach the rig early in the season is to have a size #2-#4 Aberdeen or Octopus hook with a single 5 mm. bead. Usually, either the plain setup like that is going to be the top option or simply sliding a Smile Blade® 0.8 onto it will be the ticket (see above). As the season moves on, blades seem to be a bigger factor. Generally, what I will do is just put a different colored blade on. If I have multiple anglers in the boat, I will keep one plain hook out or possibly put out a size #2 Colorado blade. I will generally keep my Smile Blades® out, but as the summer progresses, I will be switching towards size #3 Colorado blades. I really like the metallic colors with these blades. Gold and silver are colors that I feel are pretty universal and baits I often have out when fishing a new body of water or I just do not know what to do. As far as Smile Blade® colors go, my favorites are Pink Silver Tiger, Chartreuse Sparkle, Gold Sparkle and Silver Scale.
One of the most important parts of bottom bouncing is making sure your rig is at the perfect angle. In this video, Mack’s Lure Pro Staff Nick Harrington highlights how to make sure you’re running as snagless as possible and going to have the highest hooking percentage.
Towards fall, I begin the transition to size #3 and #5 Colorado blades. This time of year the bigger blades resemble the bigger prey species and many walleye are going to be chowing on them. The larger baits are also going to give off more flash and vibration and be really appealing, especially in dark and dingy conditions. Many anglers are switching to crankbaits, but the Smile Blade 1.9 is another tremendous option. Mason is also a huge believer in Smile Blades®. He also prefers the Smile Blade® 0.8 as he feels that smaller blades are just enough to attract attention to your bait, yet still present naturally. His favorite colors are Purple Scale, Green Silver Tiger, Silver Mirror and Pink Silver Tiger. He also favors using Tru-Turns or Slow Death hooks to get more action out of his nightcrawler. Chris prefers size #2 and #3 Colorado blades. He likes gold blades as well because they have a nice flash and pop when fishing clear water. He also likes Fire Tiger and natural perch colors to emulate the yellow perch that are in the Iowa Great Lakes system. The Colorado blades produce a lot of flash and thump so they can attract fish from a greater distance in the deep, clear bodies of water. Bottom bouncing is a very simple concept. This article outlined the basic setup, but when walleye anglers get their minds to work a simple concept can become very complex. This was all about laying the foundation for the basic bottom bouncing rig. In the next Mack Attack Magazine I will outline the more advanced ccncepts, such as speed, boat control and triggering mechanisms.
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SONIC BAITFISH™ (SBF) DEADLY TROUT & KOKANEE LURE
TIPS & TECHNIQUES
TECH GUIDE
IS THERE A BETTER KOKANEE LURE THAN THE SONIC BAITFISH? BY PETE ROSKO
SBF TECH GUIDE
Mack’s Lure Pro Staff Marc Christophel of Christophel’s Guide Service (Truckee, Calif.) provides tips on how to effectively fish the Hum Dinger® 1/8 oz. for Kokanee, as well as tips on how to use the Hum Dinger® 1/2 oz. for various trout species. An informative watch about a great trout lure.
To answer the question to the title of this month’s article, I feel that there is no better month to fish for kokanee than September. In addition, a Sonic BaitFish™ (SBF) is the lure that has the potential to catch the most kokanee by vertical jigging! Before all of you trollers quit reading the rest of this article because of the word “jigging,” please read on as this article is especially for you. The SBF is uniquely effective because of two primary actions — darting and vibration. Watch your rod tip when flatline trolling. It is actively pulsating because of its darting and vibration action. These are two primary actions that cause a fish to strike. These actions are duplicated whether using downriggers or any other fishing device. Tip for trolling: do not attach an attractor (flashers, dodgers, etc.) directly to your mainline. Attach it to your downrigger cable as an “indirect attractor.” Mack’s Lure offers a number of great indirect options for this, including the Ball Troll and Flash Lite® Troll. By attaching an attractor to your mainline, the true darting action of the SBF is reduced. The only attractor I add to the mainline is the SBF itself. I attach an Indiana blade to the split ring on the back side of the hook shank (away from the hook point). Oftentimes, I connect
the blade to the split ring with a duolock snap. This gives a more effective, free-swinging, side-to-side action. I never attach a swivel to the blade, only to the nose of the SBF when casting or trolling — not when vertical jigging. Try not to extend the blade beyond the end of the hook, as to not interfere with hook sets on the strike. Here is one of the truly unique features of the SBF for you trollers and any other angler, in general. During open water seasons, troll with the SBF until you locate fish. Then, vertical jig that location by attaching that same SBF to your second rod. This is how you can catch large numbers of fish on calm water days by monitoring your electronic fish locating and staying over those fish. When that open water freezes over, jig that same SBF through the ice.
feel that there is no better “ Imonth to fish for kokanee than September.
CAPT. PETE ROSKO | SONIC BAITFISH™ INVENTOR
The following are excerpts from a previous article, published in Sept. 2019. “From a personal standpoint, a welldesigned metal jig is the ideal fishing lure for me wherever I travel. Its only limitation is extreme water depth. It can be cast, jigged, swimmed or trolled. It is the Sonic BaitFish™ (SBF). When
I began designing metal jigs almost 40 years ago, my goal was two-fold. I wanted to create a lure that was both effective and easy to use. I wanted fishing to be fun, like I remember it as a youth in the 1940s. In one word — uncomplicated. Today’s world is hectic, stressful and complicated. It can also be very expensive as advertisers tell us about all of the high tech equipment we need to catch fish. Originally, I was a salmon moocher and troller. But, my fascination with metal jigs steered me in that direction. By early 1983, I applied for a mechanical patent for my new metal jig, the Crippled Herring. That U.S. patent was granted in 1986. “Prior to that time, metal jigs did not resemble batifish. The Crippled Herring was the first to resemble a real bait fish, the Pacific herring. The Crippled Herring was also the first metal jig to attach a metal attractor blade to the tail. The Swedish Pimple had one but it was red plastic and kept breaking off. I was never able to catch large numbers of fish by mooching or trolling. That dramatically changed with jigging and casting metal jigs. What also changed was that I needed only a single lure-type to fish anywhere! That included both fresh- and saltwater and through the ice. A multitude of state, IGFA and foreign country fish records are a testament to the effectiveness of that metal jig. The Crippled Herring was a valuable teaching lessen in improving the mechanics, and
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versatility, of future metal jigs. In a short period, the Sonic BaitFish™ has had its share of accomplishments. Some of those notables are as follows: 1. “Best Lure in All Canada,” an award by the All Canada magazine and professional angler / writer Gord Pyzer. 2. Modern day Lake Erie walleye record of 14 lbs. by 11-year-old Will Tibbels. 3. Sept. 26, 2015 - Lake Sutherland, WA - One-man jigging catch of 200 kokanee (see photo). 4. Sekiu, WA. Twice, two-angler (200) coho salmon released, casting 1/3 oz. Sonic BaitFish between Pillar Point and Slip Point. 5. 6.
Trolling I do not carry downriggers on my boat because I much prefer drift casting and vertical jigging — following the natural flow of water. I rely on my fish locator to help me find the fish. If I do troll, I still enjoy flatline trolling early in the morning with fish located near the surface and where I can work the rod. When fish run deeper, I rig with a Luhr Jensen Deep Six diver. This method has given me the opprtunity to troll a glow white Sonic BaitFish™ and out-fish my fishing partner’s hoochies, and cut plug herring, off his downrigger. This method also allows me to more easily detect any debris that may catch on my presentation.
find that adding an attractor in front of the lure actually deadens the jig’s action and minimizes strikes. After almost 40 years of working with metal jigs, I still am learning something on every outing. This year’s biggest discovery happened on Lake Erie when high winds made fishing the Sonic BaitFish™ impossible. Nice walleyes were belly down on the bottom in about 35-feet of water. Even casting the SBF ahead of the drift just gave me seconds to feel bottom. Out of desperation, I attached my SBF, tipped with a peice of nighcrawler, to a borrowed bottom bouncer rig and dropped it straight down. In short order, I caught my limit of six walleyes. With that boat speed, I was actually trolling, and not drifting, that SBF. I would like to think that this bottom bouncer technique could be deadly on the Columbia River. I wish I was familiar with it some time ago when I was invited to fish the Tri Cities area of the Columbia when vast amounts of water were being released from the dams that made jigging very difficult. That’s it for this month. Thank you for being a valued subscriber to the Mack Attack. It is my sincere hope that my articles add to your success, and enjoyment, on the water. — Capt. Pete
I am a strong proponent of adding an Indiana spinner blade to the tail of my metal jig. If the eye of the blade is too small to attach to the split ring on the back side of the hook, then, as mentioned previously, attach it with a duo-lock snap like the one included in the Sonic BaitFish™ packaging. Always place the shiny side out. The Sonic BaitFish™ acts a sa mini-flasher with its darting action. Adding a tail blade adds to its flash and vibration. As a result, I
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QUESTION
HOT DEAL: USE CODE TECH25
OF THE MONTH Have a questions you want answered? Send your inquiry to us and yours may be featured! Simply send an email to media@mackslure.com or reach out to us on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube. Just search @MacksLure and you’ll find us!
PHOTO OF THE MONTH Mack’s Lure’s Bob Loomis headed up to Stehekin, resting at the end of Lake Chelan, to chase cuthroat trout, kokanee and more with the Hum Dinger® 1/2 oz.
Q: I recently purchased a ScentFlash™ Paddle Flasher and have had a ton of success with it. However, it keeps opening up after hooking up. Is this normal? A: This is a great question. And we’re glad you’ve been able to find success with the new ScentFlash™ UV Paddle Flasher. While it’s not designed to open up at all, we’ve found that sometimes it will. Some remedies you can use to fix this are: using a rubber band to hold the lid shut. There are rivets in the flasher that are designed for bands. We’ve also been getting a ton of great feedback from anglers who are using a release on their Paddle Flashers. One we recommend is the GDF Release from GoodDayFishing.com. When a fish hooks up, your flasher releases, removing the drag when pulling the fish in and ensuring that your Paddle will not open up, risking the loss of your removable paddle fin.
VIDEO OF THE MONTH Mack’s Lure Pro Staff Mike Roth is joined by President Bob Schmidt at Vernita for some fall salmon fishing on Angler West TV. ScentFlash Paddles & Salmon Tech 3.5.
Quick tip: check out the movement of the ScentFlash™ UV Paddle Flasher with the fin removed. It gives off an incredible dodger action that has been slaying the Coho.
Follow Mack’s Lure on Facebook and Instagram and tag us with #MacksLure. Facebook.com/MacksLure @macks_lure To submit your catch, send us an email at media@mackslure.com or tag us on social media using #MacksLure.
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