Copper For Walleyes

[Polar Bear]

Did anybody ever try Copper Rigs for Eyes?????

I set up a 150' copper setup with 150 yards or 50# power pro ......hoping to hit the 45 feet down eyes and steelies .........anybody?????

[Walleye Express]

Yupper, copper and gold both catch quit a few walleyes on Saginaw Bay every year. The year I really had luck with copper was when I started using both huge #8 brass and copper blades run short and high over deep water. So I guess I can't say anthing really positive about running them that deep. But please keep us posted if you would.

[JWheeler]

Polar Bear I haven't used copper, but have used plenty of leadcore out there and it has caught a lot of fish. I don't see why copper wouldn't work. One thought that comes to mind is how hot copper blades and spoons seem to work, with that thought I would be curious if a walleye would tag the line itself with that flash of copper it would give off in the water. I used a lot of smaller spoons off the leadcore and a few size 100's and have done well. I have also been toying with the idea of running harnesses of the leadcore. Figure your depths you intend to fish, and if you want you could even run the dive bombs to achieve greater depths. If you do experiment with it let us know how you do. Good Luck....

[Storm Warning II]

There are some innovative anglers here on the PA shore that are starting to experiment with it. It sure beats spending all day letting out a full core.

The tourney we recently won was a real puzzler to most because of extremely warm water stacked on the east end of the lake, steelies and walleyes were from 70 to 95 feet down!!! Most guys that have fished for 20 to 30 years plus on Erie don't even set their graphs to look that deep and have never heard of wire divers.

I am going to rig a few customized reels with copper for these DEEP water applications and Lake O salmon applications this winter.

[Adam Bomb]

Ive never tried copper for walleye either, although im sure it would work well. Allot of people use lead core, so why wouldnt copper do the trick?...ecspecially when theyre way deep like you found them in your tourney. For the majority of my fishing on Saginaw Bay the water is too shallow to really warrant it...thus, i havent tried it. Now, on the outter bay, i think it could definitly be the ticket.

Speaking of salmon-like techniques, I even caught a few eyes on the vibe fly made by fisher tackle. It doesnt require a flasher to give it life because it has a chatter blade on the front. I havent slayed em on it, but i havent fished it enough to tweak things in right. I did put a small piece of crawler on for scent though....Its tough to mess with things when harnesses work SO dang well.

[JWheeler]

AB that's something I've wondered about for a while but have never tried. I will give it a whirl next time I am out.

[Priority1]

Its tough to mess with things when harnesses work SO dang well.

Yes Sir, When it's not broken, why try fixin it.

[Polar Bear]

hard to letout without getting a birdnest.....back to powerpro

[GLF]

hard to letout without getting a birdnest.....back to powerpro

I have heard that from several people. I do not have copper on my boat.

[EdB]

I don't think you could run it on Erie with the heavy boat traffic. The best way to let it out is to keep your clicker on and a thumb on the reel and strip it out until you get about 15 ft of copper in the water, then just leave the clicker on.

The 150 ft coppers have been rocking on the inshore salmon on Lk Mi lately.

[Priority1]

No doubt leadcore and copper will work on the eyes. I have run core for them but I have never fished copper for any species. Running boards, I have never saw the need to run anything but inline weights, or bouncers, with crawler harnesses, spoon rigs, or cranks. In the Spring I use the shallow diving minnow imitators in close. It takes at least twice or three times as long to get the core or copper set, not to mention the time it takes to bring it in. In the mean time you could have set two or three simple rigs up. I'm not against anyone doing there thing and experimenting with different presentations. The K.I.S.S. method works for me. Keep it simple and put fish in the box. JMHO

[Adam Bomb]

AB that's something I've wondered about for a while but have never tried. I will give it a whirl next time I am out.

I saw a post on GLA about this a couple weeks back. The guy put a small hoochie and fly out tipped with a crawler and took a 30" fish i believe it was. I think if a guy stuck with it and refined things it would be a great presentation, although i definitely think it would be for agressive fish only. We use allot of spoons as flashers ahead of harnesses, so why not a flasher and fly. Plus, i can tell you how many walleye we caught on dodgers and squid fishing out of Port Austin fishing for salmon years ago...I sure wish this side would come back...Not that i dont love Lake Michigan, but this is much closer to home.

Frank,

Im with you, for the fishing i do on the Bay, theres no need for copper. I can get inlines down fast with short leads. Nice and simple and effective...K.I.S.S.....oh yeah.

[Storm Warning II]

I don't think you could run it on Erie with the heavy boat traffic. The best way to let it out is to keep your clicker on and a thumb on the reel and strip it out until you get about 15 ft of copper in the water, then just leave the clicker on.

The 150 ft coppers have been rocking on the inshore salmon on Lk Mi lately.

150' copper is shorter than some of the dipsys we have out!

I just see a lot of customized options with the copper and once again, less line out, especially here in the east central/east.

full core vs. 150' copper, 45 to 50' is never a "bad" walleye depth in deep situation (over 70 feet of water for us). 180' copper would be great right now and for basically the last month and still less than a full core. Not to mention it beats the LONG monel steel lines we run with deep diving plugs at 300'+

[EdB]

I think you have more depth and less crowded conditions on the your end of the lake Storm Warning. You should see some of the yee haws that run some of the boats in the western basin. Most people are ok but a few can sure cause some problems. Had a first this year. Another boat was on a parallel troll next to us a couple hundred feet to our starboard. He makes an inside turn toward us. We start scrambling. His planer board was well inside ours now coming at us. We had 4 lines on ours and everyone grabbed a rod to clear. I started cranking in the board but knew I wouldn't make it. The two boards would pass inside each other. Then the miracle happened. Our board caught a wave and the ski hit his planer cable and our board jumped over his cable and we made it. If you run your leads or divers more than 100 back, you're risking your tackle the way some people run their boats here.

[Walleye Express]

Ed.

You need to come to Saginaw Bay on a weekend day of trolling. Fair warning, if you have a Concealed Weapons Permit, leave it in your vehicle or risk using it on some of our knuckleheads.

[EdB]

[Adam Bomb]

Ed.

You need to come to Saginaw Bay on a weekend day of trolling. Fair warning, if you have a Concealed Weapons Permit, leave it in your vehicle or risk using it on some of our knuckleheads.

Ill second that!

[JWheeler]

I always carry a flare gun on the boat:tease:

[Priority1]

Ed.

You need to come to Saginaw Bay on a weekend day of trolling. Fair warning, if you have a Concealed Weapons Permit, leave it in your vehicle or risk using it on some of our knuckleheads.

That's why I seldom fish weekends.

[Priority1]

I can get down to 40 ft with 2 0z weights and 50 ft and better with 3 oz weights and never come close to having 150 ft of line out behind the boards. I experiment with different methods, and respect everyones methods and opinions. The walleye don't seem to care how the spinners or cranks are put in their faces. My point is, why spend a dollar when a nickel will get the job done, and do it faster?

The price of a 2 or 3 oz bottom bouncer less than $2. The look on a fisherman's face when several of his cores or copper lines get whacked, Priceless.

The K.I.S.S. method works well for me. If copper or core worked better or faster, I would be the first in line to buy some. I always keep an opened mind to new and better methods. I have used core for salmon and walleye. There may be times when core or copper will out perform anything else on salmon. If something like copper puts walleye in the boat quicker than bouncers or in line weights, I'd be the first in line to get some. On the other hand, I can barely keep keep up now. I'm just old and slow. Peace brothers.

[tripanic]

priceless----------lol