Meat rig speed

[Play Dough]

I noted a comment made here some time ago regarding trolling speed with meat rigs which I had not heard before but makes some sense. The statement was that meat rigs needed to be run at a specific speed and didn’t mix well with other presentations. The question then is: What is the speed that these rigs perform best? Are the attractors used, flashers like a herring dodger that requires a slow troll or a rotator that is more speed forgiving? Everyone I’ve seen around the docks generally mixes this presentation in with their other programs so the statement was a bit of a surprise. What’s the real story?

[Nailer]

Here is what Captain John of Day Break charters has to say.

One thing to keep in mind when running Meat rigs is speed! You need to be going slower than nowmal pulling these big rigs. If you go your normal "spoon" speed, its to fast. I think its a big reason many people have issues producing when they just throw a meat rig into their normal spread. If your heavy spoons have the right action in the water, your going to fast for meat rigs. This is why the guys that are very sucessful running meat almost always run a dedicated spread to that tactic, they dont just drop one into a spread of random lures.

My normal meat fishing spread is 2-3 riggers with meat rigs, 2 wire divers with meat rigs, and maybe a few very LIGHT spoons on the leadcore. I will also drop an SWR rig below all rods in the spread to catch any stragglers hanging below the other rigs. Maulers, FINN spoons, and Super Slims are great spoons for slower speeds. You dont need to stack tons of rods into the spread. Better to concentrate on running 5-7 rods properly than to have a dozen just randomly thrown in. I consistantly outfish guys with 20 rods in the water with my normal daytime spread of 5-7 rods. Its more important to run 5 rods properly, than 10+ rods just thrown in with no thought. Keep in mind....they are NOT seperate rods and baits in the water....they are a SPREAD, that should work together, not alone.

I run almost exclusivly the 12" John King Flashers for meat rigs, ALWAYS White or Glow, with the 3 fly rigs and Herring strips or whole Alewife. **Important note...I dont care what anyone says...Fake meat WILL NOT produce like the real thing. If your gonna fish meat, use MEAT! Herring,(whole or strips) or Alewife work the best for me. You should always be running the big flashers with a Meat rigs as well. They give a far bigger and slower roll than the smaller ones and produce 10x more fish on rigs. Remember, unlike a flasher/fly, the paddle on a meat rig is NOT imparting action to the bait behind it, its simply an attractor.

Finally, the most imporatnt part of running a meat rig in getting the correct "roll" of the bait head. A baithead that spins real fast wont cut it, and neither will a head thats not turning. Put the rg in the water next to the boat and watch the baithead. You are looking for 2-4 rolls per second. If it needs to be adjusted, just bend the tab on the baithead to adjust it. This should be checked after every fish, as the head may have straightend out after catching a fish.

The one tip I remember getting directly from John King about running meat that helped me the most was SLOW DOWN! Especially during the day and especially when targeting bigger fish! Hope that helps!

Everything above is just my opinion. I know there are different ways to do things and I dont want to upset anyone. But running meat has won me more money in tourneys and full boxes on charter days than any other single tactic in the water, and I have spent a lot of time trying to perfect it. But its a touchy tactic, as everything needs to be done correctly to really produce.

__________________

Captain John Tomczyk

DAYBREAK CHARTERSwww.daybreakfish.com

Marquette, Michigan

[jphelps]

Great reply Ken! Couldnt have said it better myself.

[Play Dough]

Interesting...makes sense to me. I see many around the marina that have such a hodgepodge of tackle rigged, that I wonder how they ever pick a speed to troll. Thanks for the info.

[Nailer]

Personally I don't run a lot of meat, but I may start. I copied this, printed it, and put it in my tackle box.

The Thanks go to John Tomczyk

DAYBREAK CHARTERS

[SUPERTRAMP]

Captain Keith Kloet of the LIE A LOT in Ludington tells me that he runs between 1.5 and 1.8 mph when he is pulling meat, he starts befor daylight with the normal glow spoon and flasher fly combination then switches to all meat after the AM bite quits. He uses herring strips and spin doctors with 3 fly rigs on all of his rods, his boat is a 34' Chris Craft Commander. and he runs a 16 rod set up. Speed is critical when running the meat rigs. When he fishes with me on the MC2 we fish out of St Joe in the spring and it is the basic coho pattern that any one can catch fish on. No meat unitl about the first of June. I havent tried much meat but am gearing up to go whole hog this year in St Joe. I will be fishing with Keith in Ludington some too. So I can keep this thread informed as to my findings.

[Far Beyond Driven]

No need to slow down, no need to load up. Put one on your deepest rigger, maybe a chrome one on a wire diver, and see what happens.

Don't drink the kool-aid of those that live and die by meat. There's some people that only run it, and I would hate to be a one trick pony.

That said, it does work.

Then again, I'm still trying to figure out why I need to slow down when pulling dodgers. We had days last year where the high riggers and core were taking kings and steel, and we were popping lakers on the bottom with dodgers, running 2.7 on the GPS with no current to speak of.

[mattmishler]

We alot of meet on the charter boat from june threw sept, 11inchers a little bit slower, most of the time its between 1.7 and 2. Depending on the situation, if meats flying, every rod gets meet, if there hitting, spoons, flies and meat, usually just low divers and a chute rigger get a meat rig.

[Blaze]

Thanks guys, that is exactly the kind of info I have been looking for to run meat rigs. I plan to try it this summer in lake Huron. It sounds like the slower speeds for running meat would blend well with j-plugs also, is that correct?

[Play Dough]

I agree, excellent feedback. Thanks to all.

[SUPERTRAMP]

Thanks guys, that is exactly the kind of info I have been looking for to run meat rigs. I plan to try it this summer in lake Huron. It sounds like the slower speeds for running meat would blend well with j-plugs also, is that correct?

Perfect.

[Gnarf]

just my 2 cents but i run my big meat rigs with large flashers at the normal 2.5 orso SOG and did very well with them. I also ran them high in the water column and did great. Mid day or early morning they took hits.