Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD
Challenger lures sent me some of their new, copper backed – Three D Worm Harnesses. The front of the spinner blades – either willow leaf or Colorado are available in more than a rainbow assortment of walleye-popping colors, including glows, and UVs, but the reverse side is copper plated. They looked good so I wanted to give them a swim.
Most guys using worm harnesses on Lake Erie and other locations pull them along at slow speeds when trolling or while drifting at even slower speeds. I’ll go with what-ever-it-takes to get fish on the line, but our spread was doing just fine with a variety of crankbaits trolled at 2.5 to 3 MPH, so pulling out the bottom bouncers and backing down to half that speed didn’t seem like a winning plan.
Rather than slowing down and totally switching to a worm and harness plan, I decided to pin the harnesses to my downriggers and Dipsey Divers to get them into the same zone the cranks were getting bites, then “whizzing” them right along with the hard-body baits. Would that work?
I learned a secret. The walleye didn’t care if the rig was going 1.2 or 2.8. The rods with the harnesses did their fair share of damage to the Lake Erie walleye population, right along with the other lures.
We alternated colors and blade shape each day and though none of them failed to score, we did better with the Colorado blade models and the patterns heavy with blue/purple/pink seemed to have an edge over the ones with the green/orange/chartreuse paint schemes.
All were well made, had plenty of beads, sharp hooks and strong enough leaders to hold up to numerous fish. Check out the Three D Harnesses at http://www.challengerlures.com
FISHING TOYS 