It probably began with a catfisherman fishing from the bank, tossing out a piece of cutbait and a heavy sinker, plunking it down to the bottom in moderately heavy current, then waiting for a bite. That’s one way to three-way—although there’s more than one way to skin said cat.

Walleyewise, three-way sit-and-soak tactics likely originate back to the walleye run on the Wolf River, Wisconsin, where hordes of anglers gather every spring to intercept spawning migrations of walleyes and white bass. Hence the regional name Wolf River Rig, designed to be fished at anchor and soak a lip-hooked minnow, floating jighead and minnow, or even a streamer fly. Later, it was further adapted to use a minnow-imitating crankbait, either fished in place (wobbling) in current or slowly trolled upstream while lifting the sinker on and off bottom. Mississippi River anglers fishing along the Iowa border switched the sinker to a jig (locally nicknamed the Dubuque Rig) to simultaneously fish two depths while doubling their chances at triggering bites and hooking fish.

The effectiveness of three-ways is not limited to rivers, however. The ability to use a heavy sinker allows quick presentations in lakes and reservoirs, too. First, the weight—2, 3, even 4 ounces and more, generally a bell or pencil sinker—keeps spinner rigs and crankbaits down at trolling speeds. Second, tying the dropper at a desired length enables you to place your lure or rig at a specific distance off bottom—perfect for fish suspended from perhaps 2 to 10 feet above bottom.

Three-ways may not be the most snag-free rigs. But if you use a slightly lighter line on the dropper than the main line and do snag, just pull hard and break off the sinker without losing the rest of the setup. Retie new lead and get back in the action.

The knock against three-ways has always been that they’re heavy and tend to spook light-biting fish like walleyes, but they’re more finesse-oriented than most folks believe. Just look at the mechanics of the triangular design. If a fish takes your bait and you drop the rod tip down to feed a bit of line, the entire rig collapses back toward the fish, providing at least momentary slack. Perfect for semi-finesse bites—plus quicker coverage in deep water or current than heavier weight allows.

The key to this versatile system is the tiny three-way swivel at the heart of the rigging. Three attachment points join different lines extending to your reel, lure or bait, and sinker. Admittedly, it requires a whole lot of knot tying—five or more—but it’s worth the effort.

Several ounces of weight is more than adequate to troll spinner-nightcrawler harnesses, minnow-imitating crankbaits, or flutterspoons anywhere from 1 to 3 or 4 mph, covering a wide speed spectrum of fish-triggering capabilities. Hand-hold a long-handled medium-action casting rod, and lift-drop the rig across the bottom as you move across rocks and boulders, tapping but not dragging. Or, for walleyes suspended across basins, simply lower the rig to the bottom and, once it makes contact, reel up again until it’s at the fish’s depth. Then place the rods in holders and troll across the basin, fine-tuning line length with a line-counter reel, which equates to precision depth control. An effective way to cover large basin areas, then ply the edges of deep structure by popping the rod out of the holder and hand-holding it as you troll around the perimeter.

The easily adjustable nature of three-way rigs makes them perhaps the most versatile of all livebait systems; simply changing the lengths of leaders and droppers and varying components achieve different looks and triggering capabilities with the same basic rigging. Short (12- to 15-inch) droppers and leaders position baits near bottom and minimize snags in river current. Average length (2- to 4-foot) setbacks and droppers present lures and baits a bit off bottom. Lengths of 6 to 10 feet add finesse to riggings and position the bait well off bottom—a perfect adjustment if your electronics indicate suspended fish significantly above the basin.

Don’t worry about netting fish with a long dropper, either. When you reel up and the fish is ready to be netted, just take a swipe at the fish and leave the sinker hanging in the water; after all, you don’t have to net the sinker, do you? Land the fish first, then grab the line by hand and lift in the weight.

Three Amigos

Reservoirs—Jim Muzynoski, touring walleye pro from Montana, frequently uses a modified three-way rig on Fort Peck Reservoir. “I like to use a 1/2-ounce jig as my dropper, and I add a stinger hook and minnow. About two feet above the jig, I tie in my three-way swivel and add a 6-foot leader to a #2 hook, stinger hook, and minnow. Adding stingers allows me to move as quickly as possible (while still maintaining a near-vertical presentation) and be able to set the hook at the slightest hint of a strike.

“In Montana, you can use two hooks per line, and this setup not only doubles your chances of catching fish, but covers two different depths. Fish it like a jig, lifting up and down, on and off bottom. Most of the time, the jig catches the most fish. But at times, 80 percent of the fish come on the upper snell. Switch the hook to a floating jighead and minnow if you need more attraction and flotation. Also, we have some big crappies in Fort Peck, and they like to hit the suspended minnow rather than the big jig.

“Three-ways even have an ice fishing application. We have some fair current in the western arm of Fort Peck, and if you simply use a split shot to weight your minnow rig when fishing tip-ups, the current can sweep it up off bottom, out of the kill zone. But if you put a heavier sinker at the bottom and the minnow up above, it hangs vertically below the tip-up, and you’re on target.”

Lakes—Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota has long been a hotbed of three-way rigging spinner-crawler combos, typically incorporating long (8- to 10-foot) snells of light (6-pound-test) line, and tiny #3 or smaller silver Colorado blades. Even bead color comes into play, with a penchant for green reflecting off the shiny blade to imitate yellow perch forage. Does this degree of fine-tuning make a difference? You bet. In his thirty years on the big lake, legendary Mille Lacs guide Joe Fellegy designed and refined the very same combos for his clients. Today, similar finesse rigs are marketed by Gopher Fishing Tackle.

Mille Lacs’ unique midlake mudflat structures require special adaptations, since sinkers set down into or dragged across the soft bottom penetrate the oozy organic base—something akin to peat moss—and the bait is lost amidst a cloud of disturbed “mud.” Hence, guides like Fellegy would set their lines to suspend spinner rigs just above the soft bottom, place the many rods of their launch customers in holders, and either drift or troll (depending on wind conditions), gliding the spinner combos at or just above the fish’s level as the baits passed over and around the flats and across the adjacent basins. In doing so, if the sinker struck and penetrated the soft bottom, the high-riding spinner was still visible above the mud, due to the length of the dropper line. The result was a deadly system, today applied elsewhere to fish across expansive basins with similar effectiveness.

Rivers With An Attitude—If three-way rigging is at least semi-finesseful, then polelining—it’s hulking mutant offspring—would seem to be all brawn and no brain. Don’t be fooled. There’s a dose of beauty beneath its thick skin.

Polelining is an evolution of tactics, basically a cross between three-way rigging and the handlining technique applied by Detroit River anglers. For those who haven’t experienced it, handlining incorporates a handheld wire cable, spooled on a gunwale-mounted automatic retractable reel. Down at the business end, a 1- to 11⁄4-pound weight thumps the bottom as you lift-drop along, proceeding slowly upcurrent into the strong flow. A few feet up from the incredibly hulking weight, a series of several long 25- to 60-pound-test monofilament leaders attach to a prefab plastic-coated wire “shank” joining the cable to the weight. The shank features several attachment points, one above the other, to attach leaders, spaced to avoid snags. Leaders extend from as little as 4 to 5 feet to as much as 30 feet behind the shank and cable, each trailing a wobbling crankbait in the current.

The entire concept seems spawned in some cruel nightmare—especially when you consider that you must fight big walleyes hand-over-hand to within netting distance. But the fact is, it’s incredibly effective in swift, muddy water that shuts off a jig bite, but where walleyes still fall prey to wobbling baits presented slowly and precisely, creeping upstream along current breaks.

Basically, polelining is a hybrid version, incorporating a stiff rod and casting reel of muskielike proportions, 30- to 80-pound-test superbraid or heavy monofilament, and perhaps a 6- or 8-ounce sinker (heavier for swift current). To attach multiple leaders to the main line, anglers have the option of either a prefab wireshank available at Detroit area tackle shops or two three-way swivels rather than just one tied into the main line, one a few feet above the other. From these attachment points, two leaders—the top one typically two to three times longer than the bottom one—extend back to wobbling minnow-imitating crankbaits. The difference in leader length permits two lures to be spaced far enough apart to avoid tangling, with the rear lure pretty much following the path of the lead lure.

In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail pro Bill Ortiz is one of several touring walleye pros who has adopted the polelining technique for use elsewhere. The tactic has been a factor in several tournaments, such as muddy water conditions on the Mississippi, tailrace fishing on the Missouri, and elsewhere. “Polelining’s main advantage is it’s ability to cover water to locate and trigger walleyes and sauger in dirty water conditions where fish don’t want to respond to traditional tactics like finesse jigging,” Ortiz says. “But surprisingly, you can whack fish pretty good by inching several crankbaits along, stopping in key areas to let them wiggle in the current and dance in the fish’s faces. The tackle’s a bit on the brutish side due to the heavy sinker, but it works just fine for fighting walleyes. At times, it works better than anything else. We’ve caught fish in muddy water where you’d swear nothing was biting. Well, even if they’re not biting, they’re still triggerable, which is just as good.”

Three-ways and their many variations are perhaps the most underused and underappreciated riggings among the angling masses, but an increasingly popular and versatile option among walleye touring pros. Something initially appearing as simple as hook, line, and sinker isn’t. As the general public catches on to the widespread effectiveness of three-way rigs, they’ll start catching more fish as well—especially walleyes.