Walleye Rig Construction

Just wondering if any of you guys that make your own single hook, live bait/bladed rigs use fluorocarbon instead of mono when making your rigs? If so, have you noticed any difference in having more or less bite offs when pike get involved?

Just came back from LOTW and while I was trying this on my own, I don’t know that I got a fair assessment in my results. I had, and “we” as a group had less bite offs this year but I can safely say that we tangled with less northerns this year too. Without an exact count, I’d say about 50% less. So I’m curious to know if anyone else out there is using fluorocarbon for their rigs and does it really make a difference?

All I tied up till this year was flouro. 14# vanish. It is stiffer and I think the bait might not get the full effect if you want to call it, but how much it matters IDK. Never had problems not catching fish when it came to others in the boat using mono. I made all my new rigs this year with 12# xt to compare so like yourself will have to see.
I like the idea if I can save at least a few fish (even northerns) from a hook biteoff in their gullet causing them harm with using flouro then I will continue to do it. No sense in dangering fish just bc I want to finesse it. Now if I can only get my butt off the river this year to somewhere I can actually rig it up!!

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All I tied up till this year was flouro. 14# vanish. It is stiffer and I think the bait might not get the full effect if you want to call it, but how much it matters IDK. Never had problems not catching fish when it came to others in the boat using mono. I made all my new rigs this year with 12# xt to compare so like yourself will have to see.
I like the idea if I can save at least a few fish (even northerns) from a hook biteoff in their gullet causing them harm with using flouro then I will continue to do it. No sense in dangering fish just bc I want to finesse it. Now if I can only get my butt off the river this year to somewhere I can actually rig it up!!

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I am gonna make an assumption here as well and say almost all walleye spinner rigs use flouro. That spinning of the clevis seems to require flouro for sure. Slow death is another unknown it will be my first year trying it and can’t wait. Got some tied up in both will get them in the water and see what I like. All this talk definitely is making me want a trip to my metro lake now.

In years past, I’ve always purchased pre-made rigs from “whoever” had a look I liked. To my knowledge, all were constructed on mono, about 12# test. I don’t recall any of them stating that they used the highest quality of fluoro in their product.

Last year’s LOTW trip, I bought a number of rigs from the resort shop. Their son made them and used the name “Windigo” on the package. Those were clearly made of mono. Again, about 12# test. I went with 15# Stren 100% Fluorocarbon. Personally, I got into 1 northern a day on the trip and did not….. repeat…… did not lose a single rig the whole week. Dad lost one to a pike and that’s it. My uncle and his wife didn’t lose a single one either. My nephew, however, lost 2 rigs to northerns and one came undone trying to free it from a muskie. Wait a minute, one of his losses was from a Windigo he bought last year, that I tied a stinger to. So, only 2 lost on fluoro from him.

Last year, I want to say I was closer to 3 northerns/day and I know that all of us went through at least one rig/day using “Windigos”. Again, it looks to be an improvement but the untargeted fish were less frequent this year.

I usually lose 3-5 rigs a day to northerns and it didn’t matter if I was using floro or mono. It would be a quick tug than nothing. since northerns hit the baits from the sides they usually aim for the blade first. If I’m lucky and bring one in, the lines are usually all chewed up. I’ll cut the hooks off and retie them past the chewed up line I never noticed a change in my catch rates with 6″ less line.

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I usually lose 3-5 rigs a day to northerns and it didn’t matter if I was using floro or mono. It would be a quick tug than nothing. since northerns hit the baits from the sides they usually aim for the blade first. If I’m lucky and bring one in, the lines are usually all chewed up. I’ll cut the hooks off and retie them past the chewed up line I never noticed a change in my catch rates with 6″ less line.

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When you use mono, are you using any old line or some “extra tough”? Just curious……

Ive found in the past that 10lb XT worked fine, I know tie all mine with floro in 14lb Sufix

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When you use mono, are you using any old line or some “extra tough”? Just curious……

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I was using 12lb trilene XL and 12lb stren original the whole reason I switched to floro was it seems to last longer before getting brittle and rotting (I always give my line a quick pull before putting it in the water just in case). another reason was floro doesen’t seem to get as much memory when wrapped on a rig holded for extended amount of time. I use 12lb p-line halo floro line now.

Thanks for the input guys! Appreciate it!

I use 12# Flourocarbon and have no problems with it. It works great.