Are u serious? U can put them in a rod holder? Really? will that work for LOW? might be a nice break and change of pace -- Would I use just regular rods or the rappin rods?

When bottom bouncing I usually leave them in the rod holders. I seem to have beter luck hooking them that way. When ever I hold in hand I either set the hook too soon or let the rod tip go back thinking that will give the fish more time to inhale and it always seems to backfire. In the rod holder it is consistent so the fish sees no change and continues to hit/ swallow whatever. This is just what seems to work best for me. Others may disagree. This and that fact that the rod is quite heavy with all that weight on and it gets tiring. (whine)

I remember the first time I used one of these things. "You got to be kidding me! I'm never going to catch a fish on this gob of lead or wire." I was never so wrong about a piece of fishing equipment.

I rarely put them in a holder. But it can be effective especially if you pulling them in that 2 mph range. I push the speed windows with spinners on bouncers and pull them from .6-2.5+ mph. Although most of my time is .9-1.5 mph. A lot of people do not think a spinner will rotate at those slower speeds but using the correct spinner rigged certain ways they'll spin down to .5 mph. As far as feel goes you can defintely tell fish from other stuff. Walleye hits are usually a tap followed by a pulsing pull. Drop tip keeping light pressure on the fish for a foot or two and set the hook usually results in a very good hooking percentage. If you're missing a lot of fish it's usually a sign to switch to lindy rigging.

Bottom bouncers are for more than fishing snaggy areas. I used them on sand all the time. Benefits are keeping the spinner in the strike zone. Simple hang on technique for inexperienced fisher people. Plus you get a camming action with the bouncer as it bounces and drags along the bottom that causes the spinner to jerk, pause, rise and fall for great triggering action that you don't get with other sinkers.

Good Luck!

awesome information guys -- thanks

If Im over a ounce they go in the rod holder. The fish set the hook themselves no need to have the rods in your hand.
I just got 2 new Diawa Mega Force reels with the twitchen bar and man are they the shiznit for live bait rigging and bottom bouncing!

The only walleye over 30" I ever got out of Mille Lacs came on a bottom bouncer in a rod holder over the gravel.

The fish bit and hooked itself. My wife put down her book and her beer, grabbed the rod out of the rod holder, drove the hook home, and reeled it in

I knew she wouldn't be holding the rod much that day, and we were over snaggy structure a lot, so I rigged her line with a heavy bottom bouncer with a 24" leader to a small flicker blade and a leech. No snags, lots of action, easy for the fish to hook themselves. Happy wife. Don't argue with results.

I pull crankbaits, spinners, plain snells, chubs anything I want down there behind a BB. I have an assortment of sizes. I dont like using them with spinning rods but some guys do. I prefer 6' medium for smaller sizes and MH for heavier sizes.

I used a bottom bouncer last night for the 1st time ever. Within 20 minutes, I CPR'd a 26" eye. That fish absolutely CRUSHED my spinner rig w/ a leech. I had a hard time getting the rod out of the rod holder. I was backtrolling about .8 to 1.2 mph and staying in the 17-20' depth range with a 2oz bouncer. I was using a GM Advantage Planer Board rod/line counter reel combo 8', 37' of line out per the line counter, and it seemed to work good. I'm anxious to use this technique more. Does this seem to mainly be a big fish system or do the "eaters" like it too?

Brian

All fish eat spinners.

I notice many fisherman new to bottom bouncing using rigs that are not substantial enough for the job. I see guys trying a 3 ounce bottom bouncer on a 6 foot light action rod and spinning reel spooled with 6 pound test, they then complain about loss of feel and hindered fight or stetched and twisted line.

I like a seven foot medium heavy trigger stick with 17 pound mono. The wire on the bottom bouncer amplifies the ticks and strikes so feel is never a problem and the 17 pound test doesn't over stretch.

I catch many eater sized walleyes on this rig on Vermillion and I like the extra bulk when the inevitable big pike or musky hits the spinner. It doen't hurt my enjoyment of realing in the dinkers one bit.

As stated by many above, I also like to stay vertical and like to use a reel with a flipping switch to walk a bait down an incline with one hand still on the tiller. Hans

Heres my bottom bouncing rigs. 2 7' bass pro PK series bottom bouncer combos for 2oz and less. Anything over 2Oz goes on a 8-8.5' telescoping rod in a med to med heavy with a line counter reel or other good baitcaster and 12-14# mono or power pro. Gander Mt telescoping board rods work great for this.
I never set the hook when using spinners because the speed and weight of the bouncer will do it as well as you picking up the rod out of the holder. Lift up on the rod then out of the holder not vise versa. My rods are in holders almost always. If Im going slower or not using spinners I go to a lindy rig and spinning set up.

It's interesting reading the techniques for bottom bouncing that have been posted here. I grew up in ND where bottom bouncers were a staple in walleye fishing, but when I hear people in MN say "spinners" I immediately think they are talking bottom bouncers but that isn't always the case as it was in ND where spinners meant bottom bouncers, period. We never used BB's more than 1 ounce and trolled, or long lined, them more than it appears that MN's do from what I've been reading. Obviously with lighter weights longer line length was needed to "bounce" the bottom, but we were typically using them in a trolling manner further behind the boat. I still use the ND method today and it can have great results. The bite on a bouncer rig is about as fun as it gets and making home made spinners is just as fun.

Man I have enjoyed this thread. GREAT information and I am excited to try the "BB"

Question though -- when in the rod holders -- do they usually set themselves -- like running raps or do we set the hook after we see it bounce?

Speed -- sounds like a big variety? - -.75 to 1.5 mph?

I plan on using my baitcaster rapin rods with line counters -- sounds like a variety of length on the snells as well?

I am pretty pumped to try this - -any other thoughts?

One interesting tidbit of info. I just found on the net was this. It applies to anytime you'd be using a line counter and something I didn't think of.
If you're using more than one rod/line counter combo, when you're at home hook up the lines to something and walk out 100' of line to make sure both combos are set the same. I'd guess there might be quite a bit of difference between combo's.
I know last night trolling cranks w/ my daughter, I was catching fish w/ 86' of line out. She was using a different line counter set at 86' and she didn't have nearly the action that I did. I have to check them to see if they're close or not.
The guy who wrote the article said make sure your set ups are exactly the same so it's easier to replicate a pattern with another rod if one starts out producing the others.

Brian

Hit, Try running a 7 foot snell with a regular floating rapala behind a bottom bouncer and put your rod in the holder and relax. I have used this method quite a bit on LOW. You can also try a three way rig with a leech or crawler up there.