Making / rebuilding worn harness'

[Eyezcrazy]

Thanks very much for posting the pics! I have never seen anything like that, do you tip them with a crawler and how do the pull? I'm guessing they pull true since you said they do better than just the spoon. I love trying new things, so I have to make some!

[ebijack]

I put a crawler on em just like a harness, run them with about a 4 ft leader to an inline. I run these just like a harness, .8 to 1.8 mph. So far .9 to 1.2 seems best. Crawler harnesses on one side of the boat, these on the other side. Usually the first 9 to 10 fish come on the spoon harness and I'll end up leaving one harness out on a bouncer and everything else is spoon harness. I've tried a lot of other spoon harness combinations over the years and never had success like this. A friend who passed is the one who told me about putting the beads between the two the hooks and keeping the crawler close as possible to the spoon. I believe the crimps are plastic .043 or .046, I'd have to go look, I use #17 test mono. I've used coated cable in place of the mono but prefer the mono as the cable can get kinked. Just snell your hooks as you would for a crawler harness and crimp it to the spoon snap ring. I must have 40 or 50 set up. They store nicely, don't wear out like a regular harness from the blade spinning against the beads, best of all the walleye seem to love em. Oh and notice I have these in 3 sizes of spoons and they all work.

[Domers98]

I am beginning start building some harnesses...do I have to snell that first hook? Or can it be attached with a crimp or sleeve? Also is there an advantage over using wire or heavier mono?

Thanks,

Ben

[ebijack]

You can use a crimp instead of snelling, you can use #30 coated cable if you prefer, the #30 coated cable I used was the same dia as the #17 mono. I got tired of the cable getting kinked after multiple fish so switched to the #17 mono.
I've gotten quite a few responses on running these, RUN THESE from .8mph to 1.4mph with .9 to 1.2 being the best. The guys doing that are having great results, the guys running them at 1.9 and above have not, if you want to run that fast leave the meat off. I run these along with regular harnesses and the walleye will let you know what they prefer.

[Hoytman86]

Has anyone ever used fleurocarbon on any of their harnesses? I was using 17lb Trilene XT when we were up a few weeks ago and I went through about 15 harnesses per day. I'd like to try the fleurocarbon because it's supposed to be more abrasion resistant, but have no experience with it. I just want to know how hard it is to work with when snelling because it's apparently got higher memory than mono, and I don't want to switch from line wearing out to knots coming undone, just would like the harnesses to last a little longer so I don't end up rigging lines the whole time in between netting all the damn fish my old man is reeling in.

The walleye weren't damaging the line as much as the trash fish. Those damn white bass can have the same effect on mono as a chainsaw!

Also, Ebijack, thanks for all the advice on the spoon harnesses. I used several of them while we were there. They were picking up a lot of fish, but due to the line issues I didn't get much use out of them. I'm going to get some crimps before the trip later this month and hopefully that will make it easier to re-rig them on the water. Most of the fish I caught on them were on the first hook, so I can also see the value in getting that first hook as close as possible to the spoon.

[ebijack]

A lot of guys like the flouro, I've tried at least 3 different brands and leader material. PIA for me. I have not experienced the problem your having with the #17 test mono.

[Hoytman86]

Anyone ever try any circle hooks on their rigs? I'm thinking about trying a few of them to see if it helps on hookups. I was getting hooked up on nearly every fish that hit the lines off the boards, but the ones on the corners were only about 50% hookup rate and we lost a few fish after fighting them for a while.