Crawler harness question Crawler harness question Crawler harness question Crawler harness question
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  1. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Findlay/Turtle Creek
    Posts
    135

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    Onestout sent u pm

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    NW Ohio
    Posts
    502

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    I dug this picture out from 2003. This setup won a national walleye tourney in Wisc. that year. They are size 5 deep cup blades. Most of the willow blade rigs are double blade for trolling and I use single blade for drifting. Singles work fine with a slower drift as with the Smile E blade rigs I use also for drifting. All my casting rigs are single blade with size 3 and 4 blades. This picture came from a Walleye InSider magazine which a friend of mine for 25 yrCrawler harness question-3-hook-harnness-jpg placed well in.
    Capt. Greg Hoyt
    419-890-2555 cell #
    Anchors Away Marina
    [email protected]

  3. #13

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    As always Wakina makes great points. I started fishing harnesses in the West basin seriously a few years back, and decided to begin with #5 Colorados and only use bead chain 1&2oz in line weights. I used an easily repeatable program in order to "learn" for myself where my baits were running and how they performed. There is a Ton of info available on the web to get you in the right depth range for what you are pulling , but a good VHF radio can be just as valuable. What happened was my confidence in those blades went thru the roof and my willingness to expand the inventory grew. I use the Colorados when pulling .9-1.5 is mph. They tend to blow out (for me anyways) any faster than that. Then I'll switch to hatchet or tandem willows which can be pulled much faster. I rarely go faster than 1.8-2.0, but do pull willows on dipseys deeper later in the summer out east at those speeds. I use Tommy Harris blades (just a personal preference), 6-7' 20# floro leaders, enough 6mm beads to be sure the blade clears the 1st hook( and beads between blades when running tandem) and a quality quick change clevis. You will lose blades with the quick clevis if you swap a bunch, but it is much easier when searching for the right blade color, just be aware. Everyone has a "Goto recipe" but purples,greens and pinks work well for me trolling, and golds/orange reds work well for me casting. Tip of the iceberg here, and I would suggest sharing a seat with guys on here to get a better feel when the harness bite picks up.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    WI
    Posts
    8

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    Lots of good info, thanks. Last year I was trying to keep it in the 1.2-1.4 speed range and it worked out well for us. With my boat though I have to go with the wind, does me no good to try and fight, that just seems to make more work of it and risk tangling lines (my boat is like a kite on the water, large profile and light). We averaged 4-8 fish per hour last year and with your tips I hope to be able to fine tune things to try and pick a few up during the slow times, man is it tough when the water is flat out there. I'm going to try some willows and some hatchet blades as well. I also saw someone that instead of beads used colored pipe cleaners wrapped around a cocktail straw for a colored spacer, I need to get to the craft store and try to make a few. Thanks again, a lot of good info.

    Michael

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Fostoria, Ohio
    Posts
    1,805

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    I want to say that the following post is only my opinion and is based upon my experience and experimentation with worm harnesses!

    If you are having trouble with size 5 and 6 Colorado Blades blowing out at less than 2 mph(SOG/GPS) move up at least one size in the clevis department. Apply the same theory to the hatchet blades if problems occur at higher speeds. The blade must be able to clear the line if using a metal clevis or the body that goes over the line if using a plastic quick change clevis. If the tip of the blade closest to the line/clevis comes in contact with the line or plastic clevis when lifting the blade into a horizontal position(right angle) from the hole in the blade to the line or plastic clevis it will interfere with the rotation of the blade and that creates about 75% of the twisted leaders caused by the ensuing blowout.

    Always check the plastic clevis to blade mating point when re-baiting and especially after landing a fish. Your landing net is the worst enemy of your blade quick change clevis setup.

    Once the season has moved into the mid June time frame and the temps have moderated to warmer you should speed up your presentation some to 1.6 to 2.0. If you want or need to troll at a faster speed then it is time to switch to all Hatchet/Tomahawk blades, willow leaf blades or spoons. You can run both the Colorado and the Hatchet/Tomahawks at the same time with no tackle issues so long as you stay away from speeds greater than 2.0 mph with Colorados. I have ran hatchets as fast as 2.4 with out issues but the clevis must be large enough to facilitate unrestricted spin.
    Depending on the day of course, I most often run both Hatchet Blade Harnesses and spoons in the same spread with about equal results from both type lures.
    Last edited by wakina; 03-18-2015 at 02:24 PM.
    Wakina
    23 foot Pro Line
    HDS 5X Sonar
    HDS 5M GPS
    Navonics chip, model #DMSD/649P+
    Platinum Plus Lake Erie and Lake St Clair Marine.
    Raymarine Dragonfly7 Sonar-Downvision-GPS combo with chirp technology.
    Navonics Hotmaps Premium East chip

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    point place
    Posts
    216

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    I always have my wife pick the beads for me when I make up casting harnesses. If nothing else at least the fish gets to see something pretty cruise on by holding a big juicy night crawler. So 9 out of 10 harnesses I tie contain pink and purple beads. Lol
    I'm gonna miss her.... ....Maybe not so much, now that she left


    2016 Tracker Targa V18 w/t
    150 Mercury 4 stroke
    9.9 Mercury 4 stroke kicker

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    point place
    Posts
    216

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    Not sure if everyone knows this but go to the Hobby Lobby and they have hundreds of different shapes and sizes and colors of beads for making jewelry. You get about 100 for .99-1.99. There is a whole aisle that is just beads. You can make some very unique harnesses up needless to say.
    I'm gonna miss her.... ....Maybe not so much, now that she left


    2016 Tracker Targa V18 w/t
    150 Mercury 4 stroke
    9.9 Mercury 4 stroke kicker

  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by MasterKraft View Post
    I always have my wife pick the beads for me when I make up casting harnesses. If nothing else at least the fish gets to see something pretty cruise on by holding a big juicy night crawler. So 9 out of 10 harnesses I tie contain pink and purple beads. Lol
    My wife, father and I sat down at the table in the motor home last 4th of July weekend to tie up some harnesses. I just put all the stuff I had on the table and told them to pick a pattern and I'd tie them. The next day Dad and I hit the water. We caught a 2 man limit of eyes in about 2-3 hours, 9 of those fish coming on my wife's color scheme. It would've been even quicker if I hadn't spent all my time getting the barnyard animals off of all the baits that he and I tied!

    When I was looking at blades in Field and Stream and she said "Those are pretty", every pack they had was in the cart!

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Warren, OH
    Posts
    460

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    I have been tying my own harnesses for many years. I found 45 lb plastic coated braided wire line at a store that has since closed and this line is far superior to anything you can find. Spinning clevises will not cut thru it keeping lure loss to a minimum. I prefer double willow blades, two No. 4 red Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp single hooks on the main body and the hook that catches most of my fish, a red 3X Eagle Claw No. 6 treble stinger evenly spaced behind the other two. Most of the walleye taken on my boat are hooked with the stinger. I use reflective tape and eyes and florescent paint on many of my lures so you won't find them at your favorite bait and tackle shop.

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    warren, mi
    Posts
    574

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    For me, I will state that over the years making short wire and coated twisted wire harnesses. When catching larger fish, they end up bending the wire/twisted cable during the heavy head shakes. I have not able to get the harness to ever run straight again and have to remake the harness. This is why after years of trying the wire/cable, I make my harnesses using #17 mono. I know others on here prefer the wire or cable. But for me it turns into a PIA and for me is much easier to re-make a mono harness than a wire or cable harness.
    I can only hope I have earned the freedom that has been given me.


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