T.H. Thumpers & Holy Rollers.

[Walleye Express]

No, this isn't a post about Southern Baptist habbits of rolling in the isles. Or some new religious sect or newly discovered Texas underground compound called the Thumpers. It's to show you guys a combination of both new and old school Tommy Harris blades I had order for this summers trolling season. The size #7 and #8 blades are what I call the thumpers. I've seen few other blades throw off more of a flash then these monsters. And along with the success I had running them last year, two other things happened that I witnessed and never experienced before when running them walleye trolling that stands out in my mind. Firstly, with how clear the water column has become on the Saginaw Bay, these things throw off a flash that can be seen over 30 feet away and several feet down in the water column. And I mean the whole surrounding area in back of the boat is flashing when a hooked fish is getting near, and I'm standing at the back ready (net in hand) looking down and waiting for a charter client to bring the fish up behind the boat.

On one of these occasions I saw another walleye chasing and striking at the blade while his buddy was being keel-hauled in at the end of the harness. I know all of you have seen this before and it is quit common with bass, pike and a few other type fish species, but this was my first time seeing it with walleyes. Then on another occasion we had a double on fishing in 23 FOW. I could tell one of the walleyes was a bigger fish so we landed the smaller fish first. I removed the smaller one, threw him into the cooler, straightened the Gulp nightcrawler back onto the harness and lowered it just a few feet back into the water behind the boat, so it would not swing around and get tangled while we netted the bigger fish. This rig was no more then 6 feet down and maybe 15 feet behind the boat, and remember we were in 23 FOW. As I got ready to net the bigger fish the rod I just laid down bent and started overboard. I thought because of it's short distence out, it had gotten tangled in the trollling motors prop. But about an 18 incher had come up and slammed this rig virtually in the prop wash. I jumped on the rod before it went over, but that to was a first for me in that deep of water.

As for the blades Tommy calls Holy Rollers, the smaller ones with the holes in them, I cannot vouch for their effectiveness. I've seen them before, mainly much bigger blades like them tied in on Lake Trout Cow Bells, but have never used them with harness rigs. The hole is supposed to throw the rotation of the blade off slightly and even create some cavitation bubbles occasionally when rotating, adding both more sound and a visual effect to the rig. That makes sense to me, and having something new to try always appeals to me.

[Priority1]

Those colors should be deadly on the bay.

[Walleye Express]

I finished off the blades last night using solid colors instead of mixing them. I think they look even better. What do you guys think?

[Adam Bomb]

Boy Tommy does some awesome work. Harnesesses look good Dan. That spotted, goby pattern im guessing, reminds me of a blade i use from Fishlander. The Fishlander blade is use is called Gold muffin. I like to run it on a rootbeer bead string off a bottom bouncer. That thing is killer.

The pic doesnt do it any justice, but it has a bit more of a copper schene than a gold one.

http://http://www.franksgreatoutdoors.com/item.asp?id=259316

I bought some of those blades with the holes in them years ago. Infact, they are the exact same holographic color scheme, without the scale pattern in them. I wonder if Tommy's bringing that blade back from when the company was Viper Blades?....Anyhow, i havent personally noticed any difference in the catch ratio one way or another with them.

[Walleye Express]

Thanks Adam. Tommy mentioned to me that the Holy Rollers were an old style of his and enjoyed some poularity for a while. Not sure if he did these special for me to try or dug them out of the archives and sent them along. They do have gold backs which I like and a color very popular with the walleyes last summer. But the smaller #4 size isn't my favorite. I think the bigger blades excite the walleyes a lot more and give more life to the Gulp crawlers I'm using on them.

[bigkahuna51]

nice' blades' walleye' express' i' was' just' wonder' what' size' beads' you' use' and' where' can' you' get' those' beads' tom' makes' blades' for' me' also' why' do' you' rn' a' trebel' hok' onthe' bottom' what' sze' hooks' do' you' run' how' does' the' walleye' fshng' look' ' your way' ' frank:confused:

[Priority1]

I haven't been out yet. I missed my window Tuesday. We been getting strong E winds here. Some guys are ducking the wind in Tawas bay and picking up some Browns, Lakers, and a few walleye. Of course the Lakers get farmed. AuGres should be fantastic again this year. There will be some walleye action their the next week or so but AuGres will soon take a back seat to the inner bay until the water temps come up a bit. I start fishing AuGres almost every day from late May until early July.

[Walleye Express]

nice' blades' walleye' express' i' was' just' wonder' what' size' beads' you' use' and' where' can' you' get' those' beads' tom' makes' blades' for' me' also' why' do' you' rn' a' trebel' hok' onthe' bottom' what' sze' hooks' do' you' run' how' does' the' walleye' fshng' look' ' your way' ' frank:confused:

Frank.

The size beads are 4mm. They are designer beads out of the Stamina catalog. I used to be a 6 and 8mm facited bead man for the longest time, but really like the action on the harnesses better with these big thumper blades and lighter/smaller round beads. They just seem to float and flip around in the water column better too me. I also noticed that my (fish in the boat) ratio went up when using the trebles at the back, especially since I went to a 2 hook harness versus a 3. And having 2 hooks also seems to bring the harness to life better with the real crawler or Gulp Nightcrawlers tail flipping around more at the back end of the harness.

The front single hook is a 2X strong #2 Mustad 92141. The back trebles are also bought out of Stamnia Catalog. They are #4's VMC bronze 865GBZ. As far as the walleye fishing outlook on the Saghinaw Bay, things could not look better. We're in our 4th record year of natural reprodution of (YOY) young of the year fish. And if the last 2 years of ice fishing success is a measure, we're headed for another banner year of summer trolling on the bay.

[Adam Bomb]

Thanks Adam. Tommy mentioned to me that the Holy Rollers were an old style of his and enjoyed some poularity for a while. Not sure if he did these special for me to try or dug them out of the archives and sent them along. They do have gold backs which I like and a color very popular with the walleyes last summer. But the smaller #4 size isn't my favorite. I think the bigger blades excite the walleyes a lot more and give more life to the Gulp crawlers I'm using on them.

Hey Dan,

I took a look in my blade box today and my "Holy Rollers" are size 4 as well. Must be something to it. I noticed he spiced yours up a bit with those silver diamond shaped eyes. Not sure itd make much difference, but it looks cool.

Frank,

I also like the single/treble combo on harnesses. That combo really seems to hook and hold fish well for whatever reason. On my harnesses i run a #2 Mustad Big Red Beak bait hook and on the rear i run a #8 Mustad Triple Grip. By only having two hooks and hooking the lead hook laterally through the nose of the crawler allows it to run strait(not spin) and allows the crawler to have a natural fluid swimming motion.

As far as the outlook, Dan's spot on about that. If the winter was any indicator at all about how this summers fishery will shape up, its gonna be a barn burner. Things will get underway here shortly in tight with stick baits...Thats if the wind ever quits blowing!

[Walleye Express]

Hey Dan,

I took a look in my blade box today and my "Holy Rollers" are size 4 as well. Must be something to it. I noticed he spiced yours up a bit with those silver diamond shaped eyes. Not sure itd make much difference, but it looks cool.

Ya Adam.

I talked to Tommy last night and asked about the plastic glue on eyes. I told him to stick to his spider pattern. All I need is something else that observant clients notice different about one rig over the other. I started adding a small piece of nightcrawler on the front hooks of some of my more stable running cranks 2 summers ago, with noticeably better success. But some cranks don't accept even that small added weight and work right. So every time I'd reel in one of those types I'd get the "Wheres the Beef" question.