Hotspotoutdoors

Heres my bottom bouncing rigs. 2 7' bass pro PK series bottom bouncer combos for 2oz and less. Anything over 2Oz goes on a 8-8.5' telescoping rod in a med to med heavy with a line counter reel or other good baitcaster and 12-14# mono or power pro. Gander Mt telescoping board rods work great for this.
I never set the hook when using spinners because the speed and weight of the bouncer will do it as well as you picking up the rod out of the holder. Lift up on the rod then out of the holder not vise versa. My rods are in holders almost always. If Im going slower or not using spinners I go to a lindy rig and spinning set up.

It's interesting reading the techniques for bottom bouncing that have been posted here. I grew up in ND where bottom bouncers were a staple in walleye fishing, but when I hear people in MN say "spinners" I immediately think they are talking bottom bouncers but that isn't always the case as it was in ND where spinners meant bottom bouncers, period. We never used BB's more than 1 ounce and trolled, or long lined, them more than it appears that MN's do from what I've been reading. Obviously with lighter weights longer line length was needed to "bounce" the bottom, but we were typically using them in a trolling manner further behind the boat. I still use the ND method today and it can have great results. The bite on a bouncer rig is about as fun as it gets and making home made spinners is just as fun.

Man I have enjoyed this thread. GREAT information and I am excited to try the "BB"

Question though -- when in the rod holders -- do they usually set themselves -- like running raps or do we set the hook after we see it bounce?

Speed -- sounds like a big variety? - -.75 to 1.5 mph?

I plan on using my baitcaster rapin rods with line counters -- sounds like a variety of length on the snells as well?

I am pretty pumped to try this - -any other thoughts?

One interesting tidbit of info. I just found on the net was this. It applies to anytime you'd be using a line counter and something I didn't think of.
If you're using more than one rod/line counter combo, when you're at home hook up the lines to something and walk out 100' of line to make sure both combos are set the same. I'd guess there might be quite a bit of difference between combo's.
I know last night trolling cranks w/ my daughter, I was catching fish w/ 86' of line out. She was using a different line counter set at 86' and she didn't have nearly the action that I did. I have to check them to see if they're close or not.
The guy who wrote the article said make sure your set ups are exactly the same so it's easier to replicate a pattern with another rod if one starts out producing the others.

Brian

Hit, Try running a 7 foot snell with a regular floating rapala behind a bottom bouncer and put your rod in the holder and relax. I have used this method quite a bit on LOW. You can also try a three way rig with a leech or crawler up there.

If I'm out with a couple people running BB's, I usually run one set back like you're saying. At times I'll run 6 rods with 3 different sizes of BB. Linecounters are awesome for this application. Last year a leech/spinner got the biggest fish in my boat, my buddy was joking about how far back his bait was before he snagged up.


It's pretty easy to get them dialed in to within 1' at 100', usually pretty spot on past 180'. The best way is to spool your backer outside with 100' staked out exactly. You leave the spool attached and check your backer before cutting and spooling your 'trolling' line; if your backer is anywhere around 98-100' at 100' any line after that should be dead on.

They can set the hook themselves pretty well in a holder. Running speed varies and is somewhat dependent on what kind of spinner used. You want the spinner to, well, spin! I primarily use Colorado blades which have a nice thump in the water and run anywhere from 1-1.5 mph, but usually around the 1.2 mph speed. Get the spinner thumping and then let the fish tell you what they want. If they're striking the last hook or if you're getting a lot of misses it might be worth slowing down a tad, but in July/Aug when spinners shine the fish will be fairly aggressive anyway.

I usually use a spinning reel/rod but a baitcast setup is probably a better match for bottom bouncing...especially with a reel that has a flipping switch to let out line easily when changing depths. A medium rod seems to work better especially in snaggy areas where you can give the rod a flip and break free from the snag a lot of times. Running a bigger blade will create more drag and a stiffer backbone helps here as well.

I went out today and determined that cranks weren't working so I put on a 3/8ths oz bouncer with a chart/org blade and got walleye in the same spots I had just been pulling cranks through. They decided that they wanted the juicy crawler today! First time with the BB's this summer and it was nice to get back into the swing of things again.

Here's a picture of my spinner making box. Kind of a mess but it's getting full.

I should also mention that the bottom bouncer was developed in Bismarck, ND by Bob Meter who was a buddy of one of my uncles that used to take me fishing up to Sakakawea where we used, you guessed it, bottom bouncers!

Pulling cranks really wasn't "the thing" back then and other than jigs and lindys, the only way to really fish at a faster clip was to use bottom bouncers. I think that's why I use them more as a trolling thing with lighter weights and more line out as that's how we seemed to run them in ND. 3/8 and 1/2 oz were all I ever, and still now, use. I realize that letting excess line out flies in the face of the reason why you use bouncers and that's to avoid snags, but it's hard to argue with what works.

? for you guys-

I don't pull spinners very often, if fishing an area that isn't snag prone or rocky, do you still opt to go with the bottom bouncers or do you change it up to 3-ways or slip sinkers?

Thanks.

I use them everywhere, not just where it's snaggy. They get the bait off the bottom and lets the blade thump along to call them in.

The key to having your line counters read the same is to use the same kind of reels with the same exact line on them, and to have them filled to capacity with the same amount of line on each reel. If you have different brands or even sizes of reels, you'll likely get a bit of a difference. Having different diameter lines on the reels or having differing amounts of line on each reel will for sure give you differences.

I check my line counters a few times each year. With my boat in my garage and my rods in the rod holders my mailbox is 120 feet away from my boat. All my reels --- even different size reels and with different lines on them --- read 118 to 122 when I pull them to my mailbox, which is close enough for me. I think a lot of guys worry too much about small differences in the number of feet out --- you can easily adjust your amount of line out on each reel to offset for the small differences.

In your situation where 1 line was doing better than the other, the first thing I would do is try tuning the non-performing bait to make sure it's running right. After that I'd try more or less line out on that rod, or try a different bait on that rod, or even try changing the 2 baits between the 2 rods.

I use them more often in "no-snag" areas due to their triggering effects and keeping spinner in the strike zone than to prevent snags. They get a lot of use in sand and gravel.

Thanks for the responce Borch and LMITOUT, I think I'll be giving them a whirl later this week.

Do bottom bouncers work better when fishing big rock/boulder type bottoms that will snag the lindy slip sinkers to no end? I'd like to find a better approach for these types of lakes. One missed bounce with a small slip sinker and you're snagged beyond retrieve.

Love this thread ... Excellent job to everyone I am learning a lot.

Hit

FYI,

One more use that I don't think anyone else has mentioned. I use these a lot in sparsely weeded flats or outside weedbeds. The bouncer catches most weeds before they get to you spinner and keeps you in the water longer. Have been hitting them pretty good with this pattern/approach the last week or so.

anybody ever use one while trying to shore fish?

No it defeats the purpose of a bottom bouncer. Use a no roll or lindy style sinker from shore.

Sort of... I was in a boat anchored in the Mississippi down by the dam at Red Wing. I tied on a bottom bouncer to stay out of the rocks with a floater & a minnow on a 4-6' leader. I cast that down stream & just tight lined it back to the boat moving it once a while. It was pretty deadly, but hard to cast without twisting it all up. You had to just kind of lob cast it.