fishing the river fly rig by Randy it is good

One day a friend and I were fishing off a dock on the Wolf River in New London. We watched some Hmong fisherman standing on the bank across the river and they were catching walleye after walleye. I was fascinated. As we watched we could tell they were not using a minnow, or plastic, and they could cast, what ever it was they were using, a very long way. Latter we found one of their rigs stuck in a dock on our side of the river and we got a good look at there set up. It looked like a modified Wolf River rig. It included a fly with out much hair, a long leader, and a heavy sinker.

My buddy and I tried to figure out how to use this unconventional fishing technique and after experimenting with several retrieves, leader lengths, lines types, fly numbers per line, and weights we started catching walleyes. It’s an aggressive way to catch walleyes/white bass and other types of fish and at times it really works better than anything else I know.
This method will entice the same amount of strikes as the other more common methods of fishing such as jigging, casting, and long lining. But the advantage comes in two ways first the long cast enables you to cover an enormous amount of water and second you get an extremely high percentage of hookups to bites. I believe the high hook up percentage happens because; the hook is on a long unencumbered drifting line (not a restrictive lead jig head). Also there is nothing but a bit of hair on the hook so the fish easily and naturally engulfs the hook. Also with many other fishing techniques fisherman do not detect subtle bites but, because of the fast cadence of the retrieve, fish biting this fly are often automatically hooked. In fact fish are hooked so well I usually, unless the fish is over about 20 inches, swing the hooked wiggling prize into the boat without the use of a net and almost never lose a fish.
When fishing with this system. The most common use of this rig for me is to cast across the current and slightly upstream. When you feel the sinker hit the bottom immediately engage the reel and quickly rip the tip of the pole back about two or three feet. Allow a second or two for the sinker to hit the bottom again (as you drop the pole and wind up the slack). Now rip your pole tip back about two or three feet again. Try to get into a cadence, and make sure you feel the bottom after the pause every time. This feeling the bottom becomes more difficult as the rig approaches the boat and then it requires more concentration. I noticed when guiding this feeling the bottom every time is difficult for many fisherman. However it is important to feel the bottom every time and will make detecting strikes easier and also keep your rig from snagging up on the bottom.
The equipment to use is simple. .
A spinning rod at least 7-½ ft long because of the long leader.
Use 10-pound braid for the main line. The long cast can create a big bow in your line, which will decrease the feel of your sinker touching the bottom, but the fine diameter of the braided line cuts through the water easily. This improves diagnosing the subtle contact of the bottom. I like crystal Fireline because you can sometimes see and most importantly (as stressed before) feel the bottom. If you were using monofilament on your main line, on a long cast, you would not be able to have this control. The mono stretches like a rubber band and feeling the bottom becomes difficult.


A ¾ ounce bell sinker is a good all around weight to start with. The weight you use depends on the water depth, current, and the aggressiveness of the fish. Keep a plastic jar with several different weights. I like a snap above the sinker so the weight can be changed to match the conditions in seconds.
Versital uses. This system will work from shore, drifting in a boat down stream, and anchoring. Clean river bottoms, holes, or clam beds are very good places to try. I have even anchored and casted straight down river into deep holes on occasion but there is usually an under current edge meeting the main current when this is most effective. After using this rig I was told that several people have been trolling a rig like this in places like the Winneconne Bridge. They use a heavy sinker and lift the flies up and down when forward trolling. Once when guiding on a pontoon boat in lake Poygan I pulled this rig right behind the boat. This trick of pulling the flies while trolling picked up extra white bass when the crank baits on the boards were picking up walleyes.
It amazes me how many fish this system catches. Once, while standing on a dock, with boats all around it took only 45minutes to catch a limit of big females walleyes. In the middle of this summer a huge school of smaller sized SM bass moved in on a flat and we had doubles (two fish on the same line) on those scrappy fish 4 times. While guiding this fall there was a stretch where 8 times in a row we were able to catch a limit of walleyes. Several of these clients had no fishing experience. This also included a few incidents where we caught doubles on walleyes on the same line. When the white bass move in the fun really begins. As shown in the package I'll use the rig with three flies on the line. Getting doubles and even triples is not uncommon. I once found an extremely aggressive school of white bass and caught 11 white bass on 4 casts. The trick to getting doubles and triples on white bass is to let the first fish you hook swim around a bit, that will drag the remaining flees close to other aggressive fish in the school.
I have experienced a few draw backs from this fly technique. At least for me the rig is not as effective when the water temp is around 45 degrees or below. This can be a bit cumbersome to cast because of the extremely long leader. If it is windy there can be some awful tangles with three flies so then I might limit the rig to one fly.

It is tricky to explain how to use this rig, however about ½ hour in the boat with someone that has experience can shorten up the learning curve.
I was hesitating sending this info to you at this time of year because I do not want the excitement of a new technique to wear off before you get a chance to try it.
I am retired and do not need any advertising as I am cutting way back on my taxidermy and guiding business. However, I have watched your show and really believe you are a class guy. We meet once at a booth at the Sunny view Expo center. I was working with the No Excuses Outdoors crew at a booth close to yours. We had both read that book Outdoor Follies and talked a bit about it.
If you are interested in giving this fly thing a try let me know and I will give you a call when the bite is on.

Randy Williams
920-982-2771
williams2055@yahoo.com