Thread: Spider rigging with bobbers

I use jigs tipped with minnows spider rigging most of the time. I use 1/2 weight most of the time but fishing deeper than 12 ft go to 3/4. Use to use big slip floats on a set of poles I kept rigged just for rough days. Now I just keep a set of bigger styrofoam clip on floats in the boat. The kind that have a clip on each end. I just clip one end on at the depth I want to fish then put enough slack in the line that pole can't lift float out of the water when it bounces up. That way when fishing deep I can just reel in line and when float hits tip of pole you can wind line through that one clip until you can land fish. Then just reset when you put it back out.

Originally Posted by Cray

I use jigs tipped with minnows spider rigging most of the time. I use 1/2 weight most of the time but fishing deeper than 12 ft go to 3/4. Use to use big slip floats on a set of poles I kept rigged just for rough days. Now I just keep a set of bigger styrofoam clip on floats in the boat. The kind that have a clip on each end. I just clip one end on at the depth I want to fish then put enough slack in the line that pole can't lift float out of the water when it bounces up. That way when fishing deep I can just reel in line and when float hits tip of pole you can wind line through that one clip until you can land fish. Then just reset when you put it back out.

Do your baits float back closer to the boat since there is slack in the line? I'm assuming the baits don't stay right under the rod tips??

I do that all the time in high wave action. Ikeep mine baits almost right below the rod tips. Keep just enough line out that when you hit the peak of the wave, the cork doesn't come out of the water.

It's real easy to keep the float in the water if you're barely moving. At speed most if not all the slack will come out but I have found the float still rides the waves better than a pole without a float jumping up and down.

What size, type of float?

What's a bobber

Originally Posted by ToddB

I'm interested in learning more about spider rigging with a bobber in high wind conditions. What do you use for bait and how big of weight do you use??
Thanks in advance!!!!

I've been using bobbers for a looong time. I've shown it to lots of friends when the wind is blowing, but especially when the lake is rolling big swells. I've seen the wind blow hard and the lake wasn't rolling or bouncing. I only use them when the waves get big and jerk the baits up and down hard.

I use a float the right size for the weight I'm using so that it's barely buoyant in the swells. That lets the fish pull it down easy without feeling the float., and You can SEE it better when it goes down. If you use to big of a float, the fish tend to drag back on the line without pulling it down and since you're moving forward with the wind, you miss or lose lots of fish. You can't look at your rod tips when using a float, you must watch the floats.

I attach a float at the depth I want to fish, and let out enough line from the rod tip to the float as to drag the float and not let the rod tip pull it up and down in the water. I usually let out enough line to match the wave height plus just a little. The key is for the rod to Drag the float over the swells. It keeps the bait in the strike zone much longer. I use a clip on float and only clip it on the bottom hook of the float.

I've won several tourneys doing this and Rees Guide used this technique that I showed him awhile back to win a tourney on Enid this year when his trolling motor went out.

Fish any baits you want. All you're doing is keeping that bait in the strike zone longer with the bobber. It's more about the Right Size float for the weight size.


BRM

Works like a charm, know guys that do it on slick days

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