# Trolling Lake Erie with worm harness



## jackod (Aug 30, 2017)

If you use worm harnesses for trolling Lake Erie, would you mind giving me a quick rundown on what I need and any other information you think I could use? I am assuming I can buy the worm harnesses at my local bait shop but is there something I should be looking for? I would probably be using them with dipsey divers or jets. My guess is that I would use about a 6 foot leader with swivels on both ends, no weights. Should I leave some of the worm to drag behind the harness? Speed? Everything I can find in a search just shows me how to tie a worm harness but I need some information on how exactly to use them or I will spend the whole time wondering if I am trolling with them correctly. Thanks, you guys have helped me a lot to get better results than I am used to.


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## bowhunter1487 (Aug 13, 2014)

This is one of those ask 10 guys get 10 answers, but this is our program.

Harnesses we tie our own but they are modeled off the northland harnesses. Size 4 & 6 single blades. Nothing crazy with colors. Some silver, gold, copper, firetiger/charteuse/antifreeze, orange, and purples covers you. 15 lb fluoro leaders, small hooks (I believe sz 2 front and 4 back). 6 or 8 beads to match blade color. Thread 1/2 to 3/4 of a worm on so it runs straight. Make sure that front hook is threaded thru the nose, no globbing that worm, that part is key! 

We use snap weights with about 25 - 50 foot leads. They work better with inline boards. Jets work if you pull big boards. I've never been a fan of planing multiple divers (dipseys) but some people prefer them. They are tangle magnets for me.

1 oz lead if fish are high (top 10-15 feet)
2 oz middle (10 - 30ish)
3 or 4 oz for probing the depths
Couple bottom bouncers off the back corners in shallower water, divers out the back or downriggers in deeper.

Speed typically .75 - 1.75 mph GPS, maybe a tick lower or higher. I've rarely done well on harnesses approaching 2 mph or faster. S turns or mooching are typically very impactful with harnesses, suspended walleyes seem to prefer a rising/falling action to a straight flat 2 dimensional troll.


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## jackod (Aug 30, 2017)

This is exactly what I am looking for. I was going to purchase a trolling bag tomorrow and will pick up some snap weights and a few bottom bouncers too. I will start with the northland harnesses and see how it goes. I really appreciate your help.


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## joekacz (Sep 11, 2013)

Don’t know where you live but if Bowhunter’s suggestion doesn’t work for you and your near Sheffield you can stop by at ErieOutfitters and Craig has a bunch already tied up and he also carries all the components to make your own.Either way it should work out for you,good luck.


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## Outasync (Mar 5, 2016)

Try using tadpole divers. Work great on inline boards and on s turns raise and drop nicely.


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## jackod (Aug 30, 2017)

I was going to Erie Outfitters tomorrow for a trolling bag. I will ask Craig about his and see if he has some tadpole divers. I have some old smaller planer boards I was going to ask about as well. Thanks.


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## K gonefishin (May 4, 2004)

This time of year double willow spinners work very well. Erie Outfitters should have the blades and maybe some spinners tied up. You can run them off whatever you want or even with snap weights. They have a inline profile and work at nearly any speed. I catch fish on them side by side with cranks, 1.7-.2.6 is a good speed with 1.9.-2.4 being the sweet spot. I will often run a crank program off boards then the double willows off dipseys so I can keep a close eye on them for junk, small eyes, etc. I prefer 8 ft leaders off the divers.


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## jackod (Aug 30, 2017)

I went to Erie Outfitter and picked up some trolling bags, worm harnesses and 3 sizes of tadpole divers. They were out of Offshore Planer Boards and it seems so is everyone else. I will be going back and will try some double willow spinners. We plan on going out tomorrow.Thanks for your help. I'll let you know how we did!


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## joekacz (Sep 11, 2013)

jackod said:


> I went to Erie Outfitter and picked up some trolling bags, worm harnesses and 3 sizes of tadpole divers. They were out of Offshore Planer Boards and it seems so is everyone else. I will be going back and will try some double willow spinners. We plan on going out tomorrow.Thanks for your help. I'll let you know how we did!


Glad you got most of what you needed and I’m not telling you what kind of water to fish in but I would look at tomorrow’s north winds may be a bit bumpy. Don’t know what kind of stuff you like to fish in. Good luck.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

joekacz said:


> Glad you got most of what you needed and* I’m not telling you what kind of water to fish in but I would look at tomorrow’s north winds may be a bit bumpy*. Don’t know what kind of stuff you like to fish in. Good luck.


With 17 mph down to 12mph North winds predicted with the higher wind speeds the first half of the day...sure does look like it'll be real bumpy tomorrow.
Stay safe...


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## 0utwest (Mar 21, 2017)

jackod said:


> I went to Erie Outfitter and picked up some trolling bags, worm harnesses and 3 sizes of tadpole divers. They were out of Offshore Planer Boards and it seems so is everyone else. I will be going back and will try some double willow spinners. We plan on going out tomorrow.Thanks for your help. I'll let you know how we did!


I have some extra offshore boards if your in a bind , Also have some church walleye boards and have you looked at the Dreamweaver ninja boards ? I bought some of these to try hopefully this weekend they look like they should work real well and they had more on the shelf . Send me a PM if i can help and i live in Geneva .


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## jackod (Aug 30, 2017)

I live by the lake and the wind is blowing pretty hard. We will see about tomorow but the forecast I saw doesn't look too good. Outwest, thank you for your offer, very nice of you. My son placed an order for offshore boards he found somewhere. The dreamweaver boards seem to be getting great reviews so we may make a change .We live nearby in Fairport Harbor and will see how it goes.


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## jackod (Aug 30, 2017)

I wanted to follow-up and let you know how we did with the advice you gave us. We haven't been able to get out till yesterday due to the wind. We left Fairport and trolled west into the waves in about 42 fow at about 2 to 2.5 mph. We had two dipseys out on a 3 setting with smaller gold and purple spoons. I don't think we were letting enough line out (we were changing from 90 to 105 feet) but we did get three short walleyes and the biggest sheephead I ever saw. We used double blade worm harnesses on two rods with a Size 3 tadpole on one and a 40 jet diver on the other. We picked up another 6 with 3 decent sized keepers but lost the biggest one at the boat. It was a bit rough so we didn't use our boards or bags due to the waves. We had a great time and were happy with our results as we caught fish on all 4 rods. We really appreciate the help and will be back at it as soon as we can.


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