Have been fishing pool 4 for a few weeks now and
starting to do well. Have caught and released some
very nice walleyes. I noticed you guys are beginning
to use 3 ways and cranks and wondered if you would
tell me how to rig them and fish them properly. I
appreciate your website and fishing reports and your
willingness to share info.
Sure. I’ll toss out an illustration to get you started.
Typically we’re pulling stickbaits like original floating raps, thundersticks, little rippers, etc. on leaders in the 4′ – 6′ lengths. Dropper lengths to the sinker vary depending on how deep the selected crankbait will dive on the chosen leader length. Ideally, you want your crank running just above bottom.
We simply slow-troll this rig into the current using our little T-8 kicker motors. Sinker weights less than 4 ounces are rarely used in my boat when pulling plugs. Livebait is a different story.
Hope this gets you started in the right direction.
I do the 3 ways and cranks year round but I have a question for ya James. Do you use that heavy weight more for keeping as verticle as possible or because of too much current? I realize the choices are nearly the same but in some situations there is a difference.
hey james, great illustration. did you draw that your self?? 
anyway, i was at a seminar this winter at the rochester sports show and listend to some guy on how to fish rivers for walleye. one of his biggest points was never, never, never, never fish anything upstream. do anything and everything in your power to make your presentation move down stream. all the walleye are looking upstream for food to come down to them and they will never chase anything that hits them in the butt. was this guy handing me a bunch of bunk?? 
is it even possible to troll with the current and get your bait down to the bottom at a reasonable speed?? i’ve never been able to.
as for never trolling upstream…..
when it comes to the term NEVER.. and FISHING… there are few things that you should NEVER do….
and trolling upstream is a mainstay at this time of year… you move slowly, just enough to crawl upstream… and you weave back and forth… you crank dances right in front of their face.. they dont have to chase.. they just have to CHOMP….. there are days that fish like you to troll downstream…. but right now you would be moving pretty fast… but who knows? maybe it would work even now…. but I think upstream would be better…..
I like the heavier weights because I have better control with less line out behind the boat.
No upstream trolling? Big loads of bunk in my opinion! Almost ALL of the trolling I do is into the current… upstream. Occassionally I’ll run with the current and have some success but that situation is pretty isolated.
I’m a three way freak!! (I’m talkin’ fishing guys.) When it comes to rivers, three ways are my go-to selection spring, summer and fall for numbers of fish and its been a rare occasion that I catch fish pulling them down-stream. Also, like james I use alot of weight to keep the lure close to the boat, but I take this a step further by using wire line. Here’s why: 1. I can control the lure more precisely. 2. I can feel what is going on with the lure, especially when pulling plugs. They tend to foul with whatever is floating in the river. 3. Positive hook set, wire doesn’t stretch. 4. Wire transmits bottom content. You can feel when the bottom is gravel, sand, muck, clams ect.
Three ways also allow you to cover water more efficiently, which helps you find the active “biters”. Jon
95% of the time that I am using 3 ways, I am pulling up stream. If I want to keep a line in at all times, what I will do is troll up and slip drift down.
Thanks to all for the tips. I appreciate your responses.
James does it make a difference if you use 2- 2 ounce sinkers to make a 4-ounce sinker or any combination of sinkers to make the weight you want versus just using 1- sinker.Also I to was wondering like Jake about trolling down stream with a threeway, last time I was out the current was moving along pretty good so I just let my line out and drifted with the current pulling a 3- way and crank along without using the motor at all it seemed like I was moving along plenty fast enough to make that rapala do it’s job but I didn’t catch any fish. Has anybody else tried fishing this way?
you have to move faster (or slower!) than the current is moving you or the crank bait has no action, it just drifts along dead….. the problem at THIS time of year is as you see the current is moving pretty fast… and the fish are not…. plus the water while not really dirty is probably not giving the fish a very big sight window.. .their reaction time is very small and they are probably not going to react in time… at this time your better off letting it dangle in front of them….. rather than flashing by
James:
With heavy bell sinkers, what are you using for a rod? Also, why not lead core?
Thanks for the tips. I am new to the area and esp. river fishing.
Big jig,
Don’t rule out pulling cranks down stream. Once the temps get up a little higher you will find a real good bite pulling down stream especially in the fall. I always pull up once and down once. Less line is needed to be let out pulling down. I have found that some of the bigger fish I have caught came from pulling a crank down stream. It usually produces a reaction strike.
I have to agree with Jared here! I have caught lots of fish going down as well. I would try it once and see, never hurts! I have trolled up and caught fish and then turned around and came back down, caught fish both ways. Just have to keep a little closer eye on the rod!
fantastic topic here guys….here is my related question, is there specific speeds recomended (or does that depend on current?) and what do you look for, depth, bottom contour, etc to determine where to start trolling? In other words…to a guy who just statrted fishing the river…how do you know what to look for?
What kind of rod and reel setup you using for your wire lining? I’ve got an old Spoonplugger rod with a 109MF Penn spooled with wire. The rod is just to short for my liking anymore.
Where is a good place to get those bigger weights and what styles are you guys using. I picked up some 1.5oz pencil weights from everts and really liked them but I do need some bigger ones.
well Thor… what to look for…
now thats a question that depends a bit on body of water and time of year and a few other factors tossed in….
I find the Croix for instance to be much different then the Miss…. and the individual pools have some similarities and some differences… but dont despair!.. you have something going for you!! your on this board!!… so dont try and drink the ocean with one gulp is my advice! (there is just to much to know and you will get confused)… just focus on your next trip… check the board for whats going on in the body of water your heading for… if there is a trolling bite going people will be talking about what to look for… like rocky points in the wind in 8-12 foot of water trolling 3-4mph heading upriver… things like that.. when you get that focus, then go for it… target exactly what they say is going good…. if there is not a trolling bite going then use what works..
dont fight the bite! (hmmm sounds like a good slogan! I should follow my OWN advice there!.. I went vertical jiggin on the croix on the opener even though I knew the bite would be trolling!! go figure…)…..
anyway after a while you will develop your own feel for what to try where and when and you can throw that into the mix…..
but lets face it.. most of us are looking for hot tips all the time!
Jarrad
I know you guys use floaters when 3-waying do you also use suspending cranks also? Thanks for sharing your tips.
I do agree that longline trolling plugs downstream can be effective… I was referring to pulling the 3-ways and plugs. I’ve not personally had much success going with the current using that technique but a shad rap in the summer going with the current has worked many a time! Thanks for pointing that out Jarrad.
Quote:
Big jig,
Don’t rule out pulling cranks down stream. Once the temps get up a little higher you will find a real good bite pulling down stream especially in the fall. I always pull up once and down once. Less line is needed to be let out pulling down. I have found that some of the bigger fish I have caught came from pulling a crank down stream. It usually produces a reaction strike.
I’ve posted this before, but hopefully it will help. JH’s picture will make it a lot clearer. 
THREE WAY CRANKS
THREE WAY CRANKS For those of you not familiar with this technique, I will try to explain it. First it is a very accurate form of trolling. By that I mean a person can very easily position their lure in the walleye-sauger strike zone, again and again. Heres how you do it. First the equipment I most often use with this technique: A bait casting or trolling rod and an Abu Garcia 6500 C3 reel, Trilene 10# XT, and 1-5 oz bell,or pencil sinker, Rapala Original floaters, or husky jerks. Attach one eye of the threeway swivel to the line coming from you rod. Then to one eye of the three way tie about a 24(about 18 inches after tieing and cutting) inch piece of line to a snap swivel and put the sinker on it. This seems to be the universal drop length. (18inches) I’ll explain why later. Then to the third and last eye of the threeway swivel attach about 45 inches of line(40 inches when tied and cut). then attach another snap swivel to this 40 inches of line and place your crank bait on it. Now drop your rig into the water with your boat going the speed you intend to be moving and in the depth you intend to use as your goal,(more about speed and depth latter). Let the line free spool backward until you see the line (sinker) hit bottom. NOW COMES THE SECRET TO BEING RIGHT WHERE YOU WANT TO BE!!!!!! AFTER THE SINKER touched the bottom it almost immediately is lifted off the bottom by hydraulics and forward momentum. You must continue letting more line out again and again until you can drop the tip of your pole backwards three times and see the sinker put slack in the line all three times.(consecutively..in a row-WITH THE BAIL CLOSED). Trust me two times is not enough. Now if you put your rod in the rod holder or hold it in your hand when you come over little bumps or over shallower depths you will see the sinker bumping the bottom. There are several reasons why I say that a 18″ drop and 40″ leader are the universal depth and lenghth. With thousands of hours using this technique I have found that the 18 inch drop and 40inch length puts the bait where the walleye will see it and it will still snag less often than a lesser drop does. My snag up over the same area on the same day seems to almost double when I drop to 12 inches or less(the distance from the threeway swivel to the sinker),even when I adjust the leader lenghth, and the 12 -16 inch lenghth seems to snag more also. Remember we have two things that can snag here. The crankbait and the sinker. Now I know somebody out there is saying why not use a bottom bouncer to avoid snags. I have found that the bulk of the bottom bouncer and it’s design snag almost as much and collect weeds,many times faster, on rivers.. One thing I should point out right now is that with a three way you actually have direct connection to the lure(bait). With a bottom bouncer you don’t. This becomes very evident when the rod is held in your hand while trolling or the second you lift the Bottom bouncer out of the water with a fish on. With regards to speed (slooooow), and depth 11-20 ft. I try to barely make any progress upstream. A football field on most days would take me 45 minutes. Although a lot of people speed up as the weather warms I don’t. Even on lakes and flowages with little current. The rare ocassion is when I’ve lost track of the herd for a while and speed up till I find the fish back. Even then I rarely move much faster than 3/4 miles per hour. When Tony and I won the Mississippi North Regional Championship on Pepin in JUNE we STILL MOVED SLOWLY. When we wanted to move faster we went to Leadcore or longlining cranks. Depth is a deep subject LOL. When I was a young squirt I remember being told that the first major drop from shore holds the most Eyes on the river. Darn it seems like it is almost always 12-18 feet. In our second place finish At the 1999 National Championship on the Rainey River,(Lake of the Woods), we rarely left the 16 -18 foot range. If we moved up off that break it was all No. Pike, and if we when out to the next drop it was all sturgeon. Sinkers are the last item I should cover here. Any day anything from 2-5 ounces will catch fish. In general the shallower you are the lighter you go. Also I usually rig the poles straight out the back of the boat one ounce lighter to get it back a little farther, from the motor. To start I would suggest you just buy 2 0z and 3 0z bell sinkers. They are my most often used weights and a bell sinker forces you to set the depth right. Until you get used to a pencil sinker you may be dragging it on its side rather that just bouncing it on it’s tip, like you need to. Yes that 3-4 inches makes a difference. Now here’s where a lot of people are gonna say WHAAAT??? Forget trying to achieve a 45 degree line angle from your rod tip to the water. It never seems to make a bit of difference with this technique or as far as I have ever been able to figure out with any technique. Still use it as a guide if you like, but don’t drive yourself buggy trying to maintain it.
Great post Mountain man! 
This will help alot of fisherman out there who have never done it before. Or have been doing it wrong and it wasn’t working for them. Thats what is so great about this site, is sharing different ways to fish, types of lures-bait to use and some of the funny things that happen out there. 
Thanks Lawerence
Lifes to short to fish with dead minnows! Jim
AMEN its blowin it rainin not what you call even bad day to try fishin. SO F.T.R and do some learnin for the next time out.
Great post!! Thanks for the help. A couple questions that maybe someone can help me to undersand…..
At 3/4 MPH, do you get any action from your crankbait??
Secondly, do you achieve this slow of speed via your electric trolling motor only? Or, are you fortunate enough to achieve this with your gas motor? Is this speed from a GPS measurement os froman “accu-troll” device?
Thank you.
The current provides most of the action. This type of trolling is usually done with a kicker motor. Most larger gas outboards won’t troll anywhere near slow enough and trying to use the electric in any kind of current is a frustrating effort.
On the river, a small 2 or 4 stroke kicker motor is worth its weight in gold. Golden walleyes that is!
Dr. Hook
I use some inexpensive planer board rods to carry the weight of the sinkers. No need to drop $300 of rods for this application, trust me!
Why not lead core? Well, lead core is usually used to pull small(er) deep diving plugs at a very precise depth and speed. Speeds typically are much faster than what I’ll run when pulling stickbaits behind 3 – ways. In the late spring – summer, lead core runners will usually pull shad raps and other various plugs at higher speeds. 1.5+ MPH usually. Generally speaking, 3 – ways and plugs and lead core serve different purposes at different times of the year. I cannot imagine pulling a small #7 floating rap behind lead core and running deep divers behind 3 ways isn’t going to work well either. Anglers typically make this descision to use one or the other to match the activity level of the fish at a given time of year. Small, subtle action stick baits work very well in the cooler months and more agressive deep divers turn the trick when things warm.
Make any sense at all?!
If not, holler at us and we’ll take another crack at the question. 
Quote:
James:
With heavy bell sinkers, what are you using for a rod? Also, why not lead core?
Thanks for the tips. I am new to the area and esp. river fishing.
Thanks James. Apppreciate the insight Have the equipment you mention, now just some time on the water next weekend to go after it. I am going to try further North than Lake City next weekend, as it appears the fish have not moved down as far South in great numbers.
One piece of interesting info….back home in SD we do, on occassion, pull even #5 floating raps with leadcore. We use the “5ft. of depth per line color @ 3 mph” equasion”. It can be very effective on those prairie lakes. Use this for what it is worth….if anything at all!
Thanks Again,
Jeff
I had some good action on Monday with the deep diving shad raps long lining. Im going to try some snap wieghts tommarow if I can. Just need about 5 more feet of depth to be on them more consistently. I lost a real pig while fighting waves and setting up the other reel. Hopefully the weather will hold. The three way and leach bite was great untill all that rain,just take a look at the Cannon river, what a soupy mess. I also was getting smaller fish on the flats on monday, Went to some deeper water and wala. There they were. A good mix of males and nicer sized females, they love those shad raps.
I’ve dropped a 3 way out when I’ve been jigging and had good luck. Use a plug so when the fish hits it, it’s hooked.
Also put your rod in a rod holder so you don’t lose your rod. Good luck Whatsa
One thing that will help on your down-river pulls is to quarter the current if you can. Make long zig-zags ubtil you get to your turn around point.
Tuck
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