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So, You Want To Try Handlining, Eh! If you are
thinking about adding handlining to your arsenal of fish catching, you'll definately want to read through John Sparkman's article below. John has
been catching walleyes in the fast current of the Detroit River for many, many
years. The only reason he hasn't written the book on "handlining"
yet is that he didn't want to take time out from his fishing to do so. At
least, not up until now! Here's his first installment!
The first thing I want to talk about is controlling your presentation to maintain proper contact with the bottom. You have to learn how to manage all of the variables; boat speed, boat direction, sinker weight, water depth and speed of the current, so that the bottom tip of the sinker is just ticking along the bottom, as shown in the diagram below. When you've put it all together, your line will form an angle with the bottom of 300 to 450 and a very short lift and drop of only three to four inches will keep you in touch perfectly. Those more dramatic actions I often see used out on the river (pumping the wire a foot or more in a constant motion) only serves to disrupt the action of your lure and tire you out. Maybe that erratic action triggers more strikes once in awhile, but I don't need to do it, and I get my share. If you are moving too slow, or using too much weight for the depth and the current speed you're fishing in, your line will be too vertical and your presentation will suffer. If you are going too fast, or using too light a sinker, you'll end up dragging your rig along the bottom until you snag it and maybe break it off. Pay attention to all the variables and make adjustments until you have it dialed in. You can usually tell when you have it right by the tugging you feel on your line.
You don't have to take a calculator with you to get things right, but you should understand the basics of what is happening in your presentation. You may know the distance between the clevis's on your shanks exactly, but you need to remember that those distances (length's) will not equal the height your leads are running above bottom unless your line is absolutely vertical. Keep this in mind when you are working to control the angle your line forms with the bottom.
When the Angle = 450, the Height = 70% of the length. When the Angle = 300, the Height = 50% of the length.
Again, this is not a precise formula, so leave your tape measures and calculators at home. Just be sure you have a vision in your own mind about what your rig is doing on the river bottom and what's likely to happen as you make small adjustments to your presentation. Hopefully, you'll see something close to the diagram below.
Boat Control Is Critical: When you are looking for active fish, you have to be moving. Your best bet is to sawtooth back and forth across the current as shown in the diagram below. Adjust your boat speed and your heading to ensure you are making progress upstream without screwing up your line angle. When you get on a pod of biting fish, you can slip back and forth over them by making small adjustments in your heading and speed, if necessary. This takes a little practice, but is critical to effective handlining. You also have to learn to make adjustments for the wind and current conditions in the different areas you are fishing. Don't get stuck in the habit of not doing this. If you're going to catch lots of Detroit River walleyes, you're going to have to learn to be very attentive to small details and make many, many small adjustments every time you go out.
Basic Rigging: I have developed a rule of thumb for lead lengths that is just about as simple as it is effective. I measure the distance between the sinker snap on my shanks and the clevis I'm going to use (Actually, I make my own shanks, so I know what these measurements are, but you get the idea). I then make up my leads to be one foot long for every one inch I measured up the shank. Simple, huh? If you start with this rule, but find yourself getting snagged up a lot, just shorten the leads by about a foot at a time until that stops. What could be easier? Some guys have much more scientific methods for determining lead lengths, but I believe in keeping it simple, and I know this works!
As for what baits to use when, and what spots to fish, that is probably a whole different article. But if you read the fishing reports on this site, you'll pretty much know exactly what I'm using and where I'm catching fish all year long. Or. if you see me out there, stop by and ask me what's up; I'll tell you. And when you're tearing them up, I hope you'll be willing to share what you are doing as well. All of us together can't expect to hurt the fantastic population of walleyes we have been blessed with here, so share what you know and help someone else enjoy the fishing out there too. TIGHT LINES, AND GOOD LUCK! Note: There are several other good
handlining articles on the site. Click on the links below to go to them.
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It's
Not As Hard As It Looks!: You just have to pay attention to
a few important details, and you'll be catching lots of limits in no time.
