Fishing the Sonic BaitFish with a Bottom Bouncer

By Captain Pete Rosko

Over the years, the Sonic BaitFish has proven its versatility, for numbers and varieties of fish species, in both fresh and salt water. Its design enables it to be cast, jigged, or trolled.

On many fishing trips, I will use all three techniques to keep me catching fish. The main determining factors, in what technique I use, are usually dependent on weather and water current. 

Over five years ago, I had an opportunity to fish for walleyes in the shallower, rock-strewn western basin of Lake Erie. It usually is mid-October, when Lake Erie starts getting unpredictable with its autumn weather patterns. The boat I would be fishing on was skippered by Capt. John Tibbels, a special lifelong fishing buddy, operates out of Marblehead Ohio. (About 9 years ago, it was Capt. John’s son, Will, caught a “modern-day” 14 lb. walleye through Lake Erie ice. Will was jigging a 3/4 oz Sonic BaitFish, attached to the top of the back.)

One of my passions is casting to rocky structures, then finesse-jigging small Sonic BaitFish through that structure. Compared to lead head jigs, where snagging the bottom can be a serious problem, the Sonic BaitFish lure flutters and glides through the snaggy structure. Western Erie has plenty of that kind of bottom structure that walleyes are attracted to. 

The morning began with a light chop, perfect for drift-jigging. It did not take long for that to change. Before a productive drift pattern could be established, increasing winds out of the northwest were spelling trouble! Uncontrolled drifting, in 20-knot winds, killed any chance of my favorite way of fishing. The 1/6 and 1/4 oz Sonic BaitFish were perfect when we first started fishing in 22 to 30 feet of water. In the wind, these Sonic BaitFish could not reach the bottom. Without knowing what the lure was doing, I was dependent on blind luck, and that rarely ends well. After about two hours of uncontrolled drifting, we never touched a fish and neither did all the boats around us. It was time to “head for the shack”.  

Or was it?  For whatever reason in that moment, I had a flashback to the late 1940s when my uncle Leo, in Cleveland Ohio, began fishing inside the city’s breakwater next to Lakefront Stadium.

It was in 1948 when, and where, the baseball Cleveland Indians last won a World Series. Uncle Leo was discharged from the army at the end of World War II in 1945. Upon his return to Cleveland, he began fishing for his beloved walleyes along the lakefront and pioneered trolling in Lake Erie with homemade bottom bouncers.

He made them out of metal coat hangers, shaped in a #7 configuration. He added a weight halfway down on the long leg of that “7 “. On the short end of the “7”, was attached a leader and the lure. The lure was either a June Bug spinner or a Helin Company Flatfish. At the bend, between the long and short “7s” was a loop to which the mainline was attached.

My uncle Leo was crazy-good with that set-up and became my walleye fishing hero. He was my second hero. My first hero was my hard-working mill worker dad who always made time to take my brother Bob, and me, fishing. 

Captain John was getting ready to call it a day when I asked him if he had any bottom bouncers on board. He indeed did, one with a 2oz weight! I quickly attached almost two feet of 15 lb. fluorocarbon leader to John’s bottom bouncer. On its terminal end was a nose-attached 1/4oz Sonic BaitFish. I lowered the rig to the bottom in about 30 feet of water. Once it hit bottom, I gave the reel a few cranks to get the mainline, attached to the bottom bouncer, set at about a 45-degree angle to the rod tip.

(This angle is important to maintain bottom contact and to prevent snags. Please access the internet to learn more about fishing with the bottom bouncer.)

I then leaned the rod against the boat’s gunwale before sitting down to rest my legs during the choppy drift. Since this was a new experience for me, I was unprepared for what happened next because I never had a chance to sit. My rod was almost immediately slammed by a 24-inch walleye.

In less than 30 minutes, I caught a legal limit of six walleyes between 22 to 24 inches. Since then, I have used the bottom bouncer in different fresh and saltwater conditions with consistent success. I will use the bottom bouncer for two primary reasons. First, is to attach a smaller, or lighter-weight, lure to reach the bottom.  The second is to keep my lure just above the snag-infested bottom structure.  The beauty of the bottom bouncer is that a large variety of different lures can be attached to it to increase its effectiveness.  

The Mack's Lure Company does not manufacture bottom bouncers.  Instead, it prefers to take that time to create more lures that can be attached to a bottom bouncer. Bottom bouncers are readily available in different weights in most retail tackle stores and online. The bottom bouncer is very effective when drifting, but it is most proficient as a trolling aid to reach greater depths because speed, and proximity to bottom, are controlled by motor power and not erratic windy drift conditions.

Parting tips

1. Tail spinner blades: The Sonic BaitFish is a very effective trolling lure because of its vibrating and darting actions. To make it even better, I add a spinner blade to the tail. My choice is an Indiana blade. Its blade shape is between a Colorado (most vibration) and willow leaf (less vibration) blades.  The Indiana blade creates flashes and harmonics (the sound of the blade striking the hook shank). During the early 1980s, I dedicated over two years of experimenting with hook placement, and tail spinner blades, on my original metal jig, the Crippled Herring. That’s when I was fishing fresh, or salt, water almost every day. Here is what I learned…a) Hook placement:  99% of all fish caught while jigging was on the TAIL HOOK, and not the nose hook.

(This is not the only reason why I prefer jigs with a single tail hook versus nose “assist hooks”. A single tail hook acts as a “rudder” that redirects the water when trolling. This gives the lure a unique erratic darting action that triggers strikes.  Nose assist hooks do not give you this advantage when trolling or casting. This also adds to the versatility of the Sonic BaitFish.)

Trolling: A tail blade on the metal jig consistently outfished the jig without a blade.

 2. Adding bait: The only time I have ever tipped my metal jigs was when jigging for walleyes and Florida grouper & snapper when the bite was tough. I prefer to fish my jigs without adding anything to them that would interfere with their actions.  I see no problem with adding scent.

That’s about it for this month’s issue.  Until our next time together, please take a kid fishing and practice safety on the water.  Life preservers were meant to be worn and not stashed away. Like I always like to say, “The joy in fishing is the anticipation of the next strike!”

Thank you for allowing me to share some of the things I’ve been fortunate enough to learn as we all share life.... Capt. Pete