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| Fall is right around the corner.. I was wondering what the difference between dead sticking a sucker and using a sucker on a bobber..... I have always soaked suckers without a bobber... Whats the advantages and disadvantages to both set ups... Thanks Guys!!!
--Ryan |
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Posts: 968
Location: N.FIB | I don`t use a bobber,but I know that using a bobber will get the sucker farther away from the boat like using planner boards for trolling. |
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| Svt,It's pretty simple if you see guys soaking suckers with Bobbers,they seriously are a buch of tools! The reason most guys use bobbers is because they are lazy and really don't know the first thing about Boat Control! We have a group of guys that sucker fish with us and they are known as Beat1,beat2,abd Beat3! |
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Posts: 1106
Location: Muskegon Michigan | The most fun way to use a sucker is to get follows to bite. We just hang one over the side on a real short line so we can see the sucker. We bring our figure eights towards the sucker and many times following fish break off the atrificial lure and hammer the sucker. Its a hoot and we dont have to worry about getting weeded up and such. Using a Bobber is nice for letting one out behind the boat as you are working an edge or moving very slowly. Using bobbers requires very slow boat movement. I dont like to nose hook them anyway so Over the side or under a bobber work for us. That way I can put one big treble on its back or a medium treble on each side of the Sucker and it just hangs perfectly. Best quick setting set up I have ever used. Kingfisher |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | A bobber is a tool at your disposal just like any other. There is a time and place for it, especially in areas that are otherwise unfishable. If you want to run a spread of suckers you aren't going to get far putting 4 to 6 of them out freeswimming on the side of the boat on short lines unless you enjoy unbraiding lines and untangling the motors. A bobber somewhat controls depth while getting the bait away from the others. There is a lot of skill that goes into sucker fishing if you are going to do it efficiently and it takes a while to learn it. Dropping a sucker over the side of the boat and drifting can work but using motors/oars and bobbers and planer boards is often better.
For example, we fished a flowage in northern WI. where the river channel split and ran close to land. The water was 30 to 40 feet deep with stumps and other crap on the bottom. I ran one sucker weighted straight down and another one shallow over the side while my friend ran one down and one on a bobber, back. It took us 2+ hours to work a 200 yard stretch, trying to hit both sides of the river channels and all the little turns and points and humps in that area. In that time we lost four rigs to snags on the down rigs, had no hits on the shallow set over the side and caught two and missed one on the bobber set at 6 feet above the sucker and back about 40 feet from the boat. That bobber bait was swimming around quit nicely attracting fish from that deep water whereas the short line next to the boat was nothing but getting in the way. There is one example of how bobbers are good to have. Of course there are just as many days where you catch the fish on the down rigs. The more you know how to do the better off you are. Bobbers aren't the "only" way to fish suckers but I always have some along for situations that call for them.
I prefer running the suckers just on a straight line with the bare minimum of weight and holding the rod. Some suckers need a ton of weight to get them down, others will swim down on their own. The neat thing about sucker fishing is listening to what the sucker is telling you. After you have had a bait on for a while you get to know the pattern of swimming motions and lunges it makes so you can tell when something changes. When I get those changed signals I stay in that area an extra long time figuring that it was an interaction with another fish which just might be the musky I'm after. You sure can't do that with artificials or rods stuck in holders. |
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| I was lucky enough to learn how to sucker fish from one of the greatest sucker fisherman alive...Steve Herbeck. He had a knack for knowing exactly how to run tight to the bottom, along the weed-edge, and he actually used a bobber...not the conventional bobber, but a planer board. We caught a lot of big fish over the years running a sucker 3-4' down along the edge of a drop off, on a board, right tight to shore. He'd then have one sucker long lined back a number of feet, and then two tight to the bottom. The other fishermen in the boat would be casting. Although we were allowed 3 rods each in Wisconsin, he was very, VERY good at running those 4 suckers, and kept us in contact with fish ALL THE TIME.
He took this same ability and mastered it while in Canada. The downside in Canada, is you are only allowed one rod. SO, he always had a rod in his hand running tight to the bottom. He is an awesome sucker fisherman, and I feel I have learned alot.
Bobbers are used by many....it sometimes is about being lazy, but on some lakes in Wisconsin & Canada, the fish are still feeding up on top of the weeds. I've always used a board to run over the tops of these weeds, but it can be a way to fish these gin clear waters while keeping the muskie unaware of your presence.
I have fished 200 yard stretches in 2+ hours...I've also run them in less than 30 minutes. I think water temp is all about how fast you need to be moving. When the water temp is between 56 and 45, I tend to run a tailgunner...shiny on sunny days, orange or chartreuse on dark days. When it goes below 45, I like to go with a clean rig. I run all quickset rigs...rubberband in the nose, and hook safety pinned to the side.
Just my 1.2 cents worth....
Donnie  |
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Posts: 25
| Coldfront,
I also use either method when using suckers, bobbers and straight line, depeding on the situation. I dont know why using a bobber would make you a tool? I have caught fish both ways, where sometimes bobbers are the way to go. For instance, while fishing a river I figured out a good system of when I needed to use a bobber. I would have the bobber about 20 yards back while going uptream and simultaneously casting to the area where I knew the fish were holding. multiple times when after casting the area with no luck, i would position the boat on the upsteam side of the "hole" then let the boat drift through, but the bobber was actually leading the way. because the current was fast, I kept the front of the boat into the current and used my electric motor to slow my drift to a crawl and place the sucker right where they sat - that takes boat control. |
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Posts: 221
Location: Detroint Lakes, MN |
The sucker fishing in our area requires fishing in shallow, weedy water.
Often times we are in less than 6 feet of water.
You need to get the suckers away from the boat and spread out to be effective.
Not sure why bobber fishing equates to being lazy, you're constantly cleaning weeds off your rigs and resetting.
If having 4-8 fish days on a fairly regular basis in late Oct. makes me a tool than I guess being a tool isn't so bad.
JS
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Posts: 19
| CFK,
You've obviously never fished Vieux Desert in the fall when you absolutley have to use a bobber to drop suckers into a week pocket or opening. Like the other guys are saying, that takes some real boat control. Put me down for Tool of the Week cuz I love bobber fishing with suckers!!!!
Out. |
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Posts: 2068
Location: Appleton,WI | Ive used suckers both clear and stained water,i like clean suckers on clear water lakes and adding a tail gunner in bright colors in the stained water.also try twister worms on the front to irritate the suckers eyes and make him shake his head. |
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Posts: 2754
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | MuskieE- You are one sick individual, i.e., PETA would consider that as sucker abuse. Irritate their eye's indeed!
Al
"I'm not saying your're stupid, but I'm thinking it!"
Edited by ESOX Maniac 9/5/2008 4:18 PM
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Posts: 8834
| Like impaling them, hanging them over the side of a boat, and waiting for a muskie to come by and bite them so hard they go *PUH!* and wind up with their guts hanging out ain't abuse enough... |
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Posts: 395
Location: NW WI | Honest to God I've always used a float because that was the way I was taught 25 yrs ago. I've read about people having the sucker next to the boat, but assumed they had a float on.
I'll have to try flatlining one this year if the situation looks good for it. I've never been good at rigging quick strike rigs...they always seem to be too big with lots of lose wiring hanging around.
Edited by Ifishskis 9/5/2008 9:29 PM
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| I use bobbers all the time while sucker fishing---sometimes(weedy or snag infested areas) It's the only way to effectively fish the sucker. Put me down as Lazy if you like but my boat has caught many fish over the years with the bobber method. |
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| Mr. Mike Gumiela,I was fishing Lac Vieu Desert while you were still learning how to walk! Did you ever catch a fish on a sucker on a float on LVD????? I didn't think so kid!! |
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| I have sucker fished both with a bobber and with out. I prefer with out but thats just me |
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Posts: 999
| Mike Gumilia, i've been sucker fishing LVD for 13 years and have put many fish caught on suckers into my net and I did not use a bobber for any of them! So you do not "absolutely have too". Both ways work, you just have to figure out what works best for you there's is no set rules in sucker fishing.
Mr Musky |
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Posts: 667
Location: Roscoe IL | Why is using a float lazy? I think it's a total blast!
Watching a float skimming across the water after a fish hits the sucker is awesome. Everytime it reminds me of the movie jaws when they put the yellow barrels on the shark. "He can't go down with 3 barrels on him chief, not 3"
Either way works & has worked for me in the past. Next to the boat with Led Zepplin cranked last year & the fish still hit the sucker. Music didn't scare him one bit!
Fun stuff when the clicker starts to go off, you never know how big it is until you set the hook & feel the weight. I love it! |
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| I utilize both ways....at the same time at times...
For me, I like to use Okuma Convector 20 series line counters to precisely put the bait at whatever depth you want..no guessing where it is running...and at times we will float one way out the back up high on a bobber, say 25 ft behind the boat for some fish that might spook off and find that one back there...I've had plenty of success with the down rods and the sucker on the bobber to know you can use both ways and both will work...
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| I guess its just the troller in me but I am a big fan of covering water, as much as possible. That's why you will almost always see a pair under floats and a pair of downrods on my boat. Any more gets a little cumbersome IMHO, even four suckers can cause plenty of trouble if they are in the mood too.
As to floats; on my boat that means a small balloon inflated to match the size of the sucker. Tie it directly to the line.
The planner boards sound interesting too. Does the hookup ratio suffer any when you do that? |
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Posts: 2515
Location: Waukesha & Land O Lakes, WI | The three "F's" are a must in my boat in fall
Floats
Flourocarbon
Fat suckers
If folks don't want to use floats, so-be-it. That won't stop my lazy keester. |
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Posts: 50
| If using floats while using suckers makes somebody a tool...Consider me the biggest tool in Northern Wisconsin.... |
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| I read through all of these posts once again because I want to give sucker fishing a try yet again this year. I am a newbie to this style of fishing and I apologize if my questions seem pretty basic. I fish in MN where we can only use 1 line and so I have always been accustomed to casting. I did try suckers the other day for the first time and I was questioning how deep I should have my sucker set at. If I'm fishing in 16 feet, should my sucker be set at about 8 feet? I had my sucker set at about 5-8 feet down fishing any where from 12-20 feet of water. I also have some other questions.
I noticed that my sucker would often swim upward and sometimes reaching the surface. How much weight do you guys generally use? Is it bad to have your sucker swimming up to the surface at times?
The one day I tried sucker fishing it became quite windy and so the boat was moving pretty fast on a drift. It seemed to be too fast for this style of fishing. Do you guys find this style of fishing unproductive if the boat is moving too fast? I almost pulled up my sucker and just started casting again because it was getting boring. Definitely need to be patient when fishing this way.
I was using the basic bucher style quick strike rig. The trebles seem awfully small for a 16" sucker. What size trebles are you guys using?
Also, if you get a fish to hit, are you setting the hook within a couple of seconds? From talking to a couple people, I was told you are suppose to wait until the fish swims away from you? I am leaning towards setting the hook within a couple seconds.
Thanks |
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | john skarie - 9/5/2008 10:45 AM
Not sure why bobber fishing equates to being lazy, you're constantly cleaning weeds off your rigs and resetting.
I'm not sure either. My Dad is 66 with major back problems. This is the only way he can still fish ski's. As always, it seems "kids" speak first and think second. |
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