My brother bought an auto fisherman but can’t decide what line to use if he wants to rig it for walleye. I’ve never used one but would think a no stretch ice braid maybe 14# with 8# leader. What do you rig yours with?
I had all mine set with 8# mono. The Cajun Red isn’t too bad with stretch and the hook sets were pretty good.
I would strongly suggest staying away from braid on autos. The whole idea behind automatic fisherman is that the fish can take the bait without feeling any resistance before the hook is set. In order to achieve that, the line has to “pull” smoothly and braid simply does not. It also has a lot more problems with freezing than mono or copolys do. The only time I have used braid on autos is for fishing very deep water for lakers and even then, I wasnt pleased with how it performed. IMO your best line for autos is some type of co-polymer. Personally, I like Pline, but Im sure you’ll get ten different opinions from ten different guys on that. I have used autos since they came out and I will tell you that they require some tweaking for different types of fish. I think they work best on trout, northerns and other fish that “inhale” baits, but they can be set to work quite well on walleyes too. I use 6lb pline for mainline, then some split shot, a two way swivel and then 6lb flouro leader to a #6 gamakatsu octopus hook. Skin hooking large fatheads or small shiner seems to work better than large minnows as I think the eyes can take smaller minnows in one gulp vs biting it, running off and then repostioning the bait before eating it. Also, give them lots of slack on your counter balance so that the fish has the bait all the way in its mouth before the auto trips. Hope that helps. I will say that if you just want to put eyes on the ice, I feel that a smooth turning tip up will out perform an auto, but I prefer to fight fish on a rod and reel and dont like the mortality rate on tip ups, so thats why i run autos for almost everything. BTW did I hear they legalized autos in MN now? Never understood why they werent to begin with…..
Thanks for the tips. He mostly bought it for pike but is so excited about trying it he want rods setup for all fish. I wouldn’t have guessed using a circle hook for quick snap hook sets. I converted him from a tip-up fisher to catching fish using rods and reels after he saw how much fun I was having on pike with a rod & reel. Now he’s trying to one-up me with the auto.
On my auto fisherman I’ve found longer rods are better, it’ll work with shorter rods but I think longer ones take up more line when released and have a better hooking percentage….
Databoy- I did not mean circle hooks. Octopus hooks by gamakatsu are just a very versatile hook that ive found to work well. They are not circle hooks. They might have a bit more bend than other hooks but they work good on snap hooksets. I think its just the sharpness and offset design that make them stick so good. I also agree with the long- rod statement, but you can get too long, where the rod is too long for the base and doesnt trip easily. Best rods ive found are medium action glass rods in that 30-36″ range.
Jumped on the gamakatsu website and now I see where the confusion probably came from. They make both a regular octupus hook as well as an Octopus circle hook. I never really use circle hooks, so wasnt even aware they existed. Either way, you get the idea. DONT USE CIRCLE HOOKS on automatic fisherman. I like those walleye wide gaps as well. Very similar. Good luck and feel free to PM me down the road if you’re have any more questions.
I haven’t heard that they have been legalized in MN, Eyecatchum. Anyone else know anything about the legalization of the autofisherman in MN? I have several of them, but live in MN. I use them in WI and SD. I’d love to be able to use them here in MN.
Thanks,
Al
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