Leaders on 3-way rigs

I have limited experience with Walleyes having been an avid bass fisherman for most of my life. I own a weekend home on Pool 24 (way south of U-All) and have dunced upon some pretty good Walleyes and now, I’m hooked. My question is;

Should I shorten the leader on my 3-way rig if the fish seem to be less agressive. Generally I fish a 48″ leader but when bass fishing a Carolina Rig we always shorten our leader for the less agressive bite. Naturally, I seem to slip into my bass habits and my success is dwindling. So if anyone can suggest a good leader lenth for cold water Walleyes it is appreciated. I have had good success on 6A bombers and wiggle warts recently, any other suggested baits and colors are appreciated.

As far as your leader length goes,your right on what I use. As to baits,Dont be afraid to try other things.Raps are what I pull most of the time, but 3 waying plastics have put fish in the boat when nothing else works. Good luck ,John

The water flow so far this winter has been well above average for winter here on pool 14, and I would guess that continues on down the river. I have found recently that when in higher current areas a shorter leader does work better, as well as a slower presentation. The last fish I caught on the river were on a 3-way rig and floating jig head. The drop I ran on the weight was only 4″, and the jig line was 18″. Fish were sluggish and sticking right on the bottom, did not want to come up for the bait more than a few inches. Try experimenting with shorter and shorter leads in areas you know are holding fish, and you’ll find what they want. Also slow your speed if they are there and not taking, or are coming up short. I like jointed rapalas, original rap, shad raps, and Smithwick Rattlin Rogues, Storm Thundersticks also.

I agree, when I pull floaters in the spring, I use 1 foot leaders, and heavy weight….

Tuck

Ya Hey-Crew, good discussion go’n. All excellent commentary. The lead is all about “control”, current and snaggy bottom short (12-18″), pressured and slow biters need more lead to get the bait away from the thump’n weight on the bottom (20-45″). You’re using some good cranks, you might add to your repertoire some Wally Divers and Reef Runners. The key is akin to your Bass cranks, you want some with a wide wiggle (warm water) and some with a tight wiggle (cold water). Gofish

Kensyl Reading EFN ProSTaff

Ol’ Miss Guide Service

Thanks to all that replied to my question I appreciate your counsel and will give it a good try this weekend. As I side-note, I have shortened my drop to about 6″ current has been moderate for pool 24 but the fish seem to be a little finicky. This weekend we’re expecting 50 degrees with some cloud cover so conditions will be comfortable to fish in. Ya-All come down sometime and try our MIssouri Walleyes & Sauger. Again, thanks you Yankees are class acts!

Ya Hey Der-Crew, and I thought my pooIs (13-18) where the Southern most pools, since the majority that use this our site here are up Nort guys on the single digit pools. Crimeny Guy Cripes, Good to have ya aboard !!! But don’t expect any NASCAR stuff here !!!!

Gofish

Kreading,

You made a good point as far as we are more popular up North. It is good to see guys from a different spectrum posting on the board. There is a bunch of guys behind the scenes that just read and do not post because they do not see information on the part of the river that they spend their time on. One thing I noticed is a soon as Kensyl started posting information on the pools he spends most of his time on guys started coming out of the wood work, then you have the Falling Rock Bar on pool 10 that is doing fishing reports for FTR now and people are excited to see info about this particular part of the river. This is what FTR needs to have not just the upper part of the ol Miss we need to get the same result on the southern pools. There is no reason FTR can not have reporters up and down the river to the Gulf of Mexico! We just need people to crawl out of their shells and share information on their part of the river. Once someone commits to posting info on the part of the river they spend most of their time on it will create a chain effect and entice other visitors to say, hey I fish their I have some thing to share!

There is no reason to be shy about posting on FTR. We as a group should help, and entice other visitors to make information available to the rest of us. There is a diverse array of anglers that visit this forum, no question is to big or to small. Almost everyone is glad to help out and share their experiences with the rest of us. This is what we need up and down the Mississippi all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. In order to make this happen we need to continue the trickle down effect to pool after pool on the river. If their is one word of advice I have learned in the retail business is that word of mouth is the best advertisement for any occasion. This occasion happens to be EFN. Spread the word!!

I agree with you Dustin, it is great to see more involvement from the southern pools. I have been hooked on this sight for over a year, and until Kreading started his pool reports, I saw virtually no one from this area on here. (Except Herb from pool 16 or 17). It still seems most of the fisherman around here think they have to keep their successful tactics and info top secret. I don’t understand it, but hopefully people will turn around over time. I share what I learn here with my fishing friends, and strangers alike. I try to get more people from pool 13 and 14 involved in this sight, but not much luck so far. I’ll keep plugging away though! I have learned more here in a year than I would have learned in 5 years of trial and error, or more! Hey Kreading, when’s your class start for ‘eyes?

40 inch leader today, tommorrow and next week. It is hard to beat a perch Rapala up this way, and a red floater for live bait. Drop weight now thats a longer story. I’d love to get together with you down that way yet this winter . Give me an e-mail at [email protected] Lawrence

Hey Lawrence

whats this red floater stuff about no one uses those things up hear I think you were working to hard this winter.

Talk to you later

Nate Cadwell

P.S.

your little stump isn’t there anymore

or should I say our sweet Carp hole.

Nate,

Only the guy who buy’s out Gander before anyone else can buy any would know that. How are those new 3-ways from the seminar working? TGIF

Hey Brian tried them once and love them I will never go back

to bad you forgot the check book ha ha

no seriosly you have to get some brett will be at the March meeting giving a seminar on them and said he will have plenty to sell so make sure you are there. how are you doing Ice fishin?

talk to you later

Nate Cadwell