When I was young I spent most of my summers fishing on rivers up in Wisconsin. Rivers as we all know are more difficult to fish while using bobbers due to the current always taking them down stream. You either have the option of constantly reeling in your line and re-casting, or using a heavy weight to slow it down. Or you could use a rig known as The Wolf River Rig. Since I didn’t really do much crappie fishing back in those days I didn’t really realize what I was doing every time I tied up one of these rigs. But, what I was making turned out to be the best method known to catch crappies in the south.
The Wolf River Rig was a setup used to control your bait on a river at a specific depth, and keep it from floating down the river. It worked great for just about any sport fish that I used to fish for up north. I have caught everything from Sunfish to Northern Pike on these rigs. All you need to do is make slight adjustments depending on the size of fish you are after.
To make one, all you need to do is tie a heavy sinker to the end of your line. Then you would tie off a snelled hook above the sinker. Just tie it off of whatever depth your want your bait to stay.
Looking at those example you will say that it’s just a crappie rig, and of course you would be correct. The crappie rig that you can purchase at most any store these days is designed similar to the rig that I used as a boy. The one exception to the design is that these modern crappie rigs have built in arms to keep the hooks away from your main line allowing you to use them easier in lakes and ponds with little to no current.
Most people have heard of the crappie rig. Unless you grew up in Wisconsin and learned to fish from one of the old timers up there you probably never heard of the term Wold River rig. But regardless what you call this rig or where you use it, it should be an essential weapon in your arsenal fro catching crappies.
Crappies almost always are in large schools at different relative depths. This rig allows you lure them in at these different levels. Although most people use them with minnows, you can also use them with any other live bait or jig. If you are a river fisherman, it is the one most important setups that you can have for any type of fish. All you need to do is adjust the weight in conjunction with the water current.
