Spawn Rig

[Josey_Wales]

Ive seen a rig that was for the River at Pere Marquette. It was basically a 1-2 ounce egg sinker tied with a palomar... the guy then took the tag end and tied a treble to the end where he attached his floating spawn.

I read an article talking about leader length from the sinker and I was wondering what your guys thoughts were... Ive played with it a lil bit but with little success. Does current play a role here as well? I was also thinking about exterior floats like wobble glows and such. But I guess I should start with leader length.

[SalmonSeeker]

chris, I fish the PM quite a bit and I use a simpler rig. Take a small swivel and tie it to the end of your main line. Now take about 5 or 6 feet of leader material and tie it to the lower end of the swivel and leave the tag end on the knot when your done, about 4 to 6 inches works real good. now tie a #8 or #10 egg hook on the end of the leader and whatever weight you need, 1 oz egg or even split shot to get you down on the small tag of your knot and your ready to go.

best of luck

Rex

[steeliebob]

I fish steelhead alot and I choose to go real light with the sinker weight. Use just enough to get to the desired depth and no more. If a steelhead hits on the spawn and feels the weight it is gone and it is tough to get the same fish to bite twice.

[Josey_Wales]

From what little ive seen it makes sense. We had that palomar knot set up and while we would get tiny "bumps" or takes on the line, whenever we pulled up, nothing was there. Perhaps they felt that one ounce sinker tied on tight there and wanted nothing to do with it. Goin to try some of these new tactics on Sunday morning I think.. Now I just need to find the right river close by here with a lil bit of current and fish in it.

[steeliebob]

The steelhead are just starting to come into the rivers nice in the UP so it might take a couple of weeks to get them in nice in SE Michigan. I am going out tomorrow am. I will be using a small split shot directly on the line above an egg hook.

[Line Dancin]

on the wobble glows, there are three products that work great from yakima, worden in the rivers. typically i use corkies most. then small spin n glos and lastly wobble glos. with the spin n glos and wobble glows you dont have to use spawn as they are an agravater bait or lure like using a mepps spinner. you can tip it with a small spawn bag just make sure you add enough beads so the spawn bag and knot dont interfere with the action of either.

[Josey_Wales]

Aaron, you mentioned using these in succsesion? im picturing the hook, then a line of these "action" floats before? with bead spacers? So that the fish strike at the action created by the wobbles or spinners as opposed to spawn or lack there of it on the hook?

[Line Dancin]

Aaron, you mentioned using these in succsesion? im picturing the hook, then a line of these "action" floats before? with bead spacers? So that the fish strike at the action created by the wobbles or spinners as opposed to spawn or lack there of it on the hook?

i didnt quite explain that right in my first post. I use one or the other not in succession. Typically i use a spin n glo more then any thing in the river if fish are not hitting on spawn. wobble glos or "peanuts" i typically like to use more for trolling for lake trout behind cow bells. The way i rig spin n glows is use the bait hold loop knot, it is a goosd snell for river fishing. then a small bead and lastly a spin n glow the bead acts as a bearing so the spin n glo doesn't get stuck on the knot or the hook eye. Also with the spin n glow you can use the egg yarn as mentioned before. It really gives that extra second or two to really tell if a fish is there and get a good hook set. Now if you want to use a peanut instead use the same rig just replace the spin n glo with a peanut. Usually i use a number 10 or 12 spin n glo in the rivers. To properly use a spin n glo you need to be able to put it right in the fishes face to tick it off to strike. this isnt a hunger strike at all but an aggrevation attack. One thing you can do to place it is use a Pink Lady or Hot Shot board. They are a small inline planer for use in the rivers. This way you can get it out in front of the hole and start letting it work through the tail of the hole and cover the whole area without using a boat if you don't have one. Offshore came out with a new inline planer for river fishing that i haven't tried yet and church also has one out now. The thing i dont like about the church opposes to the other two is they are a port or starboard board where the pink lady and the offshore are reversible. the other way is to use a slow drift though the hole. casting towards the head of the hole once the spin n glo starts moving down stream of your weight it will start to work.

[Line Dancin]

here are some pics i quick tied up to help explain what i was talking about.

this one is what is called a corky fly it can be used with a small spawn bag When you tie the bait loop leave a tag ned abit 2 onches long off the back of the hook and tooth pick your corky to it. then cut off the tooth pick and the tag end close to the corky

this one is corky fly on top, spin n glo rig then a standard corky rig corky is left floating not toothpicked

another image of above

wobble glo. i am out of the small ones so i grabbed one i use for lakers on the big pond. if i was to rig one for the river it would be size 10 or 12. with a single hook

The hooks i like to use is a mustad 37160 in a 14 or 16. they are actually a fly hook with a good tinsle strength and an upbent eye for tying the bait loop knot. THey have a nice wide gap and wrap right around the fishes jaw and they usually dont throw them. I used to use eagle claw 42r wide bends but have straightened a few out so i switched to the mustads. I also like to use spin n glos with the white wings in clear water, and the lazer reflective type wings in dirty water. You can kind of see through the lid of the box all the corkies and spin n glos in the last pic.

[Josey_Wales]

Those pictures really helped... Thanks Aaron. Now ive got it =) Now the fish need to do their part!

Thanks

Cris

[Line Dancin]

Those pictures really helped... Thanks Aaron. Now ive got it =) Now the fish need to do their part!

Thanks

Cris

Good luck fishing. I am headed north to sit in my tree stand for the next four days. If you have any more qustions i can get back to you monday as the cabin doesn't have internet access.

[Josey_Wales]

My first attempt at the rig. Practice will make perfect, but overall im happy with it. I know wrapping the rig around a pepsi bottle is hillbilly to be sure, but effective. Sry about the picture quality as well. Cant wait to try some of these out later!

Thanks again guys!

[Line Dancin]

Nice job but i would use about half the amount of yarn the length is good though

[steeliebob]

The amount of yarn you use will vary depending on the clarity of the water. In the fall I use spawn alot because the water is generally clear and slow. In the spring I use yarn rigs alot because the water is high and fast. If the water is highly colored or muddy I tend to use more yarn. If the water is lower and clearer I will use less yarn. I think that you will do better by keeping this in mind.

[Line Dancin]

The amount of yarn you use will vary depending on the clarity of the water. In the fall I use spawn alot because the water is generally clear and slow. In the spring I use yarn rigs alot because the water is high and fast. If the water is highly colored or muddy I tend to use more yarn. If the water is lower and clearer I will use less yarn. I think that you will do better by keeping this in mind.

I am going to argue this just a little bit. i am not saying your way is wrong or trying to say you dont know what your doing. If you are using just yarn i would agree with you. But typically this rig is used in a presentaion with either skein spawn or spawn bags. the yarn really is there only to act as a way to get a hook set if you either get to much slack in the line or are fishing really fast water to tangle in the fishes mouth this gives an extra second or two to see the line stop lift up and set the hook. the actual atractor here is the spawn and the corky. the spawn puts the scent in the water and the corky give an added visual appearance to the spawn. Now if just fishing yarn balls again i completely agee with you. Then i like to have a bigger ball to be seen by the fish. also lower and clearer water i tend to try to hide my hook more with the yarn.

[Line Dancin]

Josey did you tie the bait hold knot? If so you can leave the end that you pass through the eye toward the bend in the hook longer to create a longer tag end ad toothpick the corky on the tag end to make the fly type f presentation

[Josey_Wales]

Josey did you tie the bait hold knot? If so you can leave the end that you pass through the eye toward the bend in the hook longer to create a longer tag end ad toothpick the corky on the tag end to make the fly type f presentation

I did indeed. Overall I am EXTREMELY pleased with all the feedback and valuable information. After practicing and perfecting the eggloop knot (took around 5-10 times) I went on a pre rig tear. I bet that I made about 15-20 ready to tie onto swivel rigs that night. I basically took your photo example and made one of everything that you showed with the various color schemes I had at the time IE corkies and Yarn. I also made a few variations with different style hooks, from longer shanked hooks to the ones I posted in the picture. I even cannibalized a red eye spoon and took the front dual hook to make it into a rig.

Forgive me if I ramble here. I had no success on sunday in terms of fish caught, but I had what I think were 2 good bumps on my rigs in the morning, just no fish stayed on and I didnt get to it in time. While I was discouraged I reminded myself that I am new to this and I feel that I am learning something new at every outing. afterwards my friend and I ran into andersons there in port huron to get some feedback on the fishing. The guy there explained which I expected, that the salmon dont run on this side of the state like they used too. That being said, he did say that the fish were in for about a week and then disapeared but expects that there still may yet be some action coming. He did point out that it should be a good steelhead/brown trout fishery through the winter so I have something to look forward too. My biggest problem is getting there when the fish are and presenting properly.. and reminding myself that im not just gonna jump in and slam these fish. I almost need to go out with some guys that have done this before and learn the little nuances they do to be successful.

I appreciate all the info and will continue to pester you guys on various questions until I get a limit

Thanks again!

Cris