Is your bottom bouncing really bouncing bottom?
Each fishing season countless walleye are caught on crawler harnesses, plain hooks and even shallow diving crankbaits fished behind bottom bouncers in lakes, rivers and reservoirs. A preferred choice for fishing spinners close to the bottom, especially in snaggy conditions, no depth control method is as misunderstood as the lowly bottom bouncer.
Bottom bouncers are a simple tool—a “L” shaped wire with a weight on the lower leg to achieve depth and a swivel on the upper leg to attach a lure, usually a crawler harness, to the bottom bouncer. Over the years several design modifications have come on the market, but simple is better in this case. When choosing a bottom bouncer for trolling on a flat line or running behind Off-Shore Inline planer boards, pick a bouncer with a closed loop line tie. The closed loop allows the bouncer to be attached to your fishing line with a snap or snap swivel, which makes changing bouncer weight quick and easy. I prefer bouncers with a bottom leg about 8-12” long for most of my fishing, and prefer a heavy wire design to help transmit the bottom through the rod.
Fishing a bottom bouncer properly is really quite simple, but many anglers struggle with the method. Just because they are called “bottom bouncers” does not mean they will automatically go to the bottom!! Three critical factors need to be considered when fishing bouncers to be sure they are on or near the bottom:
Angle of the line from the rod tip to the water
Speed of troll
Weight of the bouncer
The most important factor in fishing bouncers correctly is to keep the line at a 30-45 degree angle from the tip of the rod. If the angle of the line is too shallow (more than 45 degrees) the bouncer will have a tough time maintaining its depth and will probably not be on the bottom. Keep the 30-45 degree angle and the bouncer will maintain its depth, and more importantly we can tell with pretty good certainty EXACTLY how far off the bottom the bouncer is presenting your bait. To keep the line angle right, it is important to use the proper bouncer weight, but before we can do that we need to determine how fast we will be fishing. Once we set our boat at the speed we want to troll, we need to pick a bouncer weight that will keep the line angle at 30-45 degrees. Don’t get worried about fishing a bouncer that is “too heavy”—pick the bouncer weight that keeps the proper line angle at the speed you want to fish. It is much better to have a bouncer that is too heavy than one that is too light, and maintaining the correct angle is CRITICAL to effective bottom bouncer presentations.
To set the depth of the bouncer, get the boats speed where it will be when you are fishing, reel the bouncer to the tip of the rod (I like line counter reels so I can quickly and accurately duplicate productive depths) and place the rod tip just above the surface of the water. Now drop the bouncer to the bottom while applying a slight pressure to the line on the reel. At some point you will feel the bouncer hit bottom. Now we need to decide how far off the bottom we want the bouncer to be.
If we engage the reel after the bouncer hits the bottom the first time (assuming we keep our line angle correct), the bouncer will rise about 20-24” off the bottom. If we want to fish closer to the bottom, simply hold the line when the bouncer hits the first time. Hold the bouncer for about 5-8 seconds than release more line until the bouncer hits a second time. At this point the bouncer will fish about 12-15” off the bottom. Hold the line again for a few seconds, release and hit bottom a third time and the bouncer will now be about 6” off the bottom. If you maintain your speed and the line angle your bouncer will stay at this depth consistently and help you catch those bottom hugging walleye! Remember these are called bottom “bouncers” not bottom “draggers”. Try to not let enough line out to allow the bouncer to collapse and lay on the bottom.
Well, there you have it-a quick guide on picking and fishing bottom bouncers for walleye fishing. Fishing a bottom bouncer properly is one of the fastest way to start catching walleye on any body of water at most times of the year. Remember to experiment with weights and how much line you have out when you start catching fish, and the fish will tell you what THEY want each day.