Lindy Rig Specifics

I’ve done quite a bit of rigging and have a good rod and reel. I’ve done very well at times, even my PB walleye came on an old school Lindy Rig with about a 3 ft leader and a pink float in front on a leech.

Now these days I understand the longer leaders are preferred and interchangeable style weights.

I fish Mille Lacs a lot. For example I will often drop down to the bottom and then maybe let out a little more line creating an approximate 45 degree angle in the water. I run about a six or seven foot leader. I do well at times, but some times I feel I am dragging the bottom too much. This has happened on the mud, which is why I started to prefer spinners with bottom bouncers out there to ensure I am up out of the mud

Back to the basic Lindy Rig set up… Any ideas of what I should try to make sure I am not dragging bottom too much? Reel in some line? Add a float? If I do add a float I would prefer something small and haven’t been able to find what I’m looking for. I’ve even thought about I injecting air into the leech like you could a crawler, but I don’t want to change the natural presentation too much. Thoughts?

I dont like to drag the bottom at all. I make contact with the bottom by raising and lowering my rod tip. I switched to using pencil style bottom bouncers which really helps avoid snags. In canada on LOW we use short snells because a lengthy snell and the hook gets snagged in rocks all the time.

If it is not a float style, like Captain said I will pop it with the rod tip once in a while

I don’t do much lindy rigging anymore. When I used to do it, we treated rocks like we were almost jigging because the weight and/or the hook/bait would get hung up a lot. Just find where the bottom is by feel, and raise up a hair.

Years ago when the water was murkier, I dragged my weight right in the mud. Didn’t cause an issue at all. With the water being clearer, I could see that making a difference.

Make sure your leader line is mono and not floro. I do a lot of lindy rigging still. Also switch to a lighter weight. ALSO, make sure you’re not using too big and heavy of a hook. Especially if rigging leeches. I like a #6 personally. I’m usually keeping the weight off bottom but dropping back and bouncing it off the sand/rock/mud and then holding it up.

Once I’m dragging those big redtails around, they go where they want. So I just keep them off bottom and let the minnow do the work.

What’s funny about this, everyone sees walleye as bottom fish. Sunday evening, I was out checking some spots on a lake I haven’t been on but once this year and spotted something weird. I dropped active target and looked, and sure enough there was a bunch of fish sitting 10ft down in 22ft of water. I casted my jig and shiner to them and I watched 4 come over and look at my shiner. Ended up catching 4 out of this school that were suspended over half way up. Being a foot or 2 off bottom with a lindy rig doesn’t hurt anything. In these clear lakes, it’s better to be off bottom a little bit then on bottom dragging weeds or stirring up the mud/sand. Lets be honest, reeling up every minute to clear your line is dumb anyway!

Is your weight or hook dragging bottom?
If it’s your hook, make sure you’re using a leader line that floats. No flourocarbon for this guy. I use standard mono most of the time, but I’ve been experimenting with P-lines co-polymer line also as that floats really well.
I generally drop down to bottom and then hold my weight about 12-18″ off the bottom. Then periodically drop the rod back to make sure im still in that zone.
I’ve all but given up on Lindy rigs though as they’re extremely boring for me, and I’ve found many times were I was fishing under fish too. They may be close to bottom but many times ive seen them react completely different to Lindy rig in their face vs holding the bait 3-5ft above the fish. I’ve now developed other options that are more effective and have less issues with snagging, dragging bottom etc.

With a good rod and fire line, you can feel when your on bottom. Then just reel up alittle and catch fish you can not keep. LOL

It just seems to me if I hit bottom and then reel up 18” or so I will be fishing right under the boat. That’s why in the past I’ve preferred to let out more line, to get away from the boat. But maybe I’ll have to rethink that.

lindyrig79 wrote:

It just seems to me if I hit bottom and then reel up 18” or so I will be fishing right under the boat. That’s why in the past I’ve preferred to let out more line, to get away from the boat. But maybe I’ll have to rethink that.

Most times I am long lining like you to keep it away from the boat otherwise I might as well drag a jig in my opinion. The weight is designed to stay on the bottom and the leader will slowly move around behind it. Me and a buddy do this probably most when fishing eyes. I know some guys that run a single split shot a few feet ahead of a plain hook and drag or troll that.

lindyrig79 wrote:

It just seems to me if I hit bottom and then reel up 18” or so I will be fishing right under the boat. That’s why in the past I’ve preferred to let out more line, to get away from the boat. But maybe I’ll have to rethink that.

What size sinker are you using in your Lindy rig? A lighter sinker will need more line let out to reach bottom. This will get you out from under the boat.

All good info here, but I dont think a standard set up will work under all
scenarios. One key for me, if the fish are suspended 2-3’ off the bottom, leader gets 6-10’ long. Tight to the bottom, 18”
or so

Huntindave wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>lindyrig79 wrote:</div>
It just seems to me if I hit bottom and then reel up 18” or so I will be fishing right under the boat. That’s why in the past I’ve preferred to let out more line, to get away from the boat. But maybe I’ll have to rethink that.

What size sinker are you using in your Lindy rig? A lighter sinker will need more line let out to reach bottom. This will get you out from under the boat.

Usually 3/8 oz in about 20-25 ft of water. Sometimes 1/4 oz. Will adjust depending on speed and waves.

This is the style weight I typically use. I have a small black plastic clip in front of the swivel so I can change weight size on the fly.

Attachments:

1. 

   43A25A16-8375-48A2-B0B4-15D7B0491C31.jpeg
   

lindyrig79 wrote:

This is the style weight I typically use. I have a small black plastic clip in front of the swivel so I can change weight size on the fly.

That’s the exact one I used too when I Lindy rigged often in the past. I also used a speed clip above the snell to change weights more easily.

That particular style weight did get hung up in rocks regularly though.

I have a bunch of premade snells specifically for walleye, but I guess I’m not 100% sure anymore if they are mono or flouro. Maybe I’ll put them in a tub of water and see if they sink or float.

I mostly run floro because that is what most of the pre made rigs have on them I thought. I guess I never thought much about the line sinking because your moving when using it, but I guess that might make a difference slightly.