Spider Rig / Tight Lineing

[VietVet68]

I've had my newly Spider Rigged Pontoon out 5 times in the last couple of weeks. It seems I have had to deal with either "blue-bird" skies and/or 20-25 MPH winds on each occassion. I have no problem at all controlling the speed of the toon with the 70# Auto Pilot Minnkota. I can pretty much run any speed between .1 and 3 MPH (according to the GPS). Even with 20-25 MPH winds I can run .5 or less if I run into the wind.

I'm rigged with 12' and 14' BnM Pro Staff trolling rods, with 1/10 Power Pro spooled on Gander Mountain Guide Series Bait Casting Reels. I have the Power Pro tied directly to the Jig head with anywhere from 1/2 oz. to 1 oz. Egg Sinkers approx. 18" above the jig.

As I want to tight line, and NOT troll behind the boat, does anyone see a problem with this rig?

Secondly, even with 1 OZ of weight moving at .5 MPH or less, I still get a line angle of 35 deg. or more. My question would be, how much weight is too much? And wouldn't excessive weight spook the fish?

I know my Lowrance is putting me on fish as I have caught several dinks in areas where I have seen good conditions and marked a considerable amount of fish. I have my BnM's marked with tape so I can pretty much hit any depth on the money before the line angle comes into play.

The primary reason I don't want to deal with line angle is explained by this example:

I'm in 30' of water moving into the wind, I'm marking the top of brush at 22' with fish hold just above the tops. Using a 1 OZ sinker and having to calculate line angle and wind, I realize I must let out approx. 34' of line. If I do so and I hit a gust of wind that stops the boat in it's tracks, then I have Power Pro laying all over the bottom and will probably lose one or more rigs. I don't mind losing hardware I realize thats part of the game you have to play, but I hate losing rigs Kamikaze style.

I guess it comes down to a fairly basic question, how much weight is too much? And how should you rig for TRUE tight lineing Spider Rig style?

[TAE73]

Might check out this artical, I havent read it but it looks like alot of info. This pro is a local guy in missouri and I have seen him on the water fishing this way.

http://www.in-fisherman.com/magazine...f0403_Crappie/

[unknown 5]

VietVet, I am having the same trouble you are. I hope to solve my trouble by going to a PowerPro very thin line, I have bought some special "drop shot" 1/2 oz sinkers (from BassPro), and I will be trying to go as absolutely slow speeds, especially whem my fishfinder reads fish. I may even anchor over big schools. When I can get my rigs in to fish at the proper depth, I am have pretty good luck. But, I am often at the wrong depth for the fish I am reading because my line is angled.
One thing for both of us, The crappie will be in shallow the next couple of weeks and I plan to "daub" for them in the shallows. I plan to do a lot of experimenting with "drop shot" rigging after the crappie move out into the deep water again.
I don't know about you, but I think I read a lot of stripers attacking shad schools on my fish finders. It could be crappie but I read some big fish in the middle of shad schools. If I can find how to drop shot crappie well, I am going to try the same methods with heavier gear on stripers.

[Crapbie]

I use 3/4oz in good conditions, I keep lots of different sized split shots for weather changes and such. Maybe you should give some 6lb mono a try, maybe it cuts through the water better. Try slowing the boat more, the line is not going to be straight down even in perfect conditions, if your catching fish then you are doing ok so just keep it up. Good luck.

[lebruce]

VietVet68, I will use fire line it has a real thin dia.. On the weight end of the deal I will go heavier up to 3 ounces.I like my lines to stay tight and when you have big winds you have big waves.With a heavier weight your bait wont be going up and down so fast either.I like to use a weight called a pencil weight.I'll buy them in the 3 ounce size and use side cutters to make the weight the size I need.These weights seem to cut through the water real good it's only 3/8 " wide.They also seem to slide over rocks and brush with ease without hangups.Attached is a pic. of the weights.

[whiplash]

VietVet68, I will use fire line it has a real thin dia.. On the weight end of the deal I will go heavier up to 3 ounces.I like my lines to stay tight and when you have big winds you have big waves.With a heavier weight your bait wont be going up and down so fast either.I like to use a weight called a pencil weight.I'll buy them in the 3 ounce size and use side cutters to make the weight the size I need.These weights seem to cut through the water real good it's only 3/8 " wide.They also seem to slide over rocks and brush with ease without hangups.Attached is a pic. of the weights.

where do you buy the pencil weights ?

[VietVet68]

Thanks for all the input guys, you have me re-thinking my options.

I think I will try the drop shot rig, the only problem is I have never tied my Jig directly to the main line without it looking like crap from what I think would be a fish's perspective. I also dislike running leaders from my main line because they have a tendency to tangle. And it seems as if using much heavier line so they would stand out from the main is defeating the purpose of your 4#-6# test? Moose, it would seem to me between using weed guards and tieing the Jig directly to the main line, it would hinder the chance of a hook-up? But I think without a doubt I'm going to be forced to try it.

Thanks again for the suggestions

[stumpjumper]

VET 68
After reading you post about tieing the jig to the main line. You may want to think about trying straight hooks not lead head jigs. If thats the type jig your talking about. I use #4 hook with a barb to hold my minnows i use a 2-hook rig with my weight at the bottom if the wind is bad i tie a swivel at the top about the first hook just to help with twisting. I use that palimar knot(sp) to tie my hook straight to main line.

[unknown 5]

I have been using 1/2 oz bell sinkers with 2 snap swivels about 2' above the sinker and another 2' above that one. I have been buying Eagle Claw #2 gold aberdeen pre-snelled hooks and attaching the leader to the snap swivels. I haven't had much problems with tangling. I just got some 1/2 oz drop shot sinkers from BassPro (they look like the pensil sinkers), and I plan to switch my line to a very narrow PowerPro line. I figure either the hooks will bend or the leader will break if I get snagged but I haven't had a lot of snagging problems. I have been fishing i 14 to 17 feet of water along cove mouths and have been catching some nice crappie. I think it with improve with the new set up. But, the crappie are getting ready to spawn, so I will be fishing shallow with jigs for a couple of weeks. I might add that sometimes I use roadrunners on a heavy leader line instead of minnows off of the snap swivils or use 1 minnow and 1 roadrunner on each drop line. The lake I fish on only allows 2 poles, so I don't consider it spider-rigging, it is drop shotting. LOL