Miller Rigs for Mississippi River Walleye and Sauger

Today Scott joined me in the boat for a fun December morning on the Mississippi RIver. We started out using Dubuque Rigs and then switched over to the Miller Rig. We were able to pick up a few fish on a relatively slow morning of fishing and Scott did a nice breakdown of the Miller Rig.

[@ryanmiller3682]

You wait until I can’t fish with you to unveil the Miller Rig?!? Dirty, Krasin. Great job explaining the Miller Rig Scott! Looking forward to trying it out!

[@scottperau4095]

I should have mentioned that the jigs are 1/16 oz 1/0 style jigs. The stick weight keeps the rig on the bottom and the jigs hover right over the bottom.

[@positivelyfishing1810]

I was too scared to use it with you for the first time. Ryan Miller plus the Miller Rig would be an unstoppable combination! It’s a fun technique and is very adjustable for different situations!

[@trefflek]

Used miller rigs Thursday and Friday on the river and they worked amazing. Thursday 80% of fish caught on minnow and Friday 80% on plastics. Love this Minnesota weather!!

[@positivelyfishing1810]

We're out right now! Almost all of our fish have come on plastics.

[@trefflek]

@@positivelyfishing1810 hopefully it’s been a good day.

[@positivelyfishing1810]

It turned out to be a really nice day on the river!

[@danaandrews1637]

Nice work guys!

[@positivelyfishing1810]

Thanks!

[@heatherlandskron]

great video and great fishing!! have a good day and weekend and week!

[@positivelyfishing1810]

Thanks for watching!!

[@heatherlandskron]

@@positivelyfishing1810 your welcome

[@toryjohnson5061]

I've used a Miller rig a lot this fall. Catches fish pretty consistently. I live up in Hudson so my fishing down in pool 4 is limited. If you ever need an extra in your boat let me know. Keep up the good videos. Really enjoy them!

[@positivelyfishing1810]

Do you do anything differently than we did? I'm always interested in little adjustments that people come up with! I'm in River Falls, so we're not very far apart. Thanks for watching!

[@toryjohnson5061]

@@positivelyfishing1810 I run them farther apart than in this video. Usually over a foot to 18 inches. I caught some good fish at the dam this fall. Deeper water was key for me. 25 to 30 ft.

[@positivelyfishing1810]

Interesting. That was my first time using it. Scott said that he sometimes spaces them differently. I think he learned it from another guy. I think it would be interesting to run 2 rigs with different spacing and see what happens.

[@toryjohnson5061]

@@positivelyfishing1810 not sure it makes a huge difference. Always have to experiment a bit. Got some running 2 rapalas in line as well on a 3 way. That's going to take some tweaking. Lol

[@johnmiller5987]

Looks like it's adapted from a hand line rig. I would also like to add that as a Miller. Most of us pitch jigs and troll crankbaits. Lol. Our home waters are the fox chain in Illinois. But I do believe that there is a Miller family who guides up there.

[@bradbaker956]

I can't believe Ryan didn't already show you the rig named after him!

[@positivelyfishing1810]

Ryan doesn’t actually know very much about fishing…

[@trefflek]

I’ve wondered what those rigs were called, now I know. I saw people fishing with them last fall, so I stopped fishing for a while to figure out what they had going. Once I figured it out I tied one up and tore the fish up compared to Dubuque rigs that day. I easily caught 5 fish to 1 of my fishing partner.

[@positivelyfishing1810]

They definitely have a time and place! We are actually taking about doing a video about when we would use each of those rigs and why.

[@galaxys7650]

I always have better luck going with the current when im using dubuque rig, thats why i ask how far back you're letting those rigs go behind your boat when you fishing into the current? Are you always moving? Are you spot locked?

[@positivelyfishing1810]

Interesting! I have always gone upstream at about .5 mph.

[@mattricci3694]

Just so you know, if we do a ice fishing video this winter, I will refuse to say, "We're going to get back at it.... Stay tuned!" 🤣

[@positivelyfishing1810]

You'll be BEGGING to say that!

[@galaxys7650]

How far behind the boat are you letting that Dubuque rig go?

[@positivelyfishing1810]

Depends on weight, depth, and current. I let out line until the weight is dragging on the bottom.

[@jutnjenrasmussen8637]

So with the Miller rig working so well, I guess the rumor I’ve heard about sticking to the bottom for sauger isn’t completely true? That setup would put the top jig a few feet off the bottom

[@positivelyfishing1810]

We were on the bottom. We were running 1.5 oz weights on the bottom of the rig. The weight drags on the bottom and the 2 jigs are just above.

[@jutnjenrasmussen8637]

@@positivelyfishing1810 yeah but aren’t they a foot or two up above the weight?

[@positivelyfishing1810]

Yeah that's true! It kind of depends on the angle of your line. The more vertical, the higher up the baits. The more line you have you, the lower the baits will be.

[@scottperau4095]

@@jutnjenrasmussen8637 yes, it is all about how much line you have out and the angle of your rod tip. Also has to do with how high up you tie jigs in relation to your sinker.

[@justinmckinney4650]

What kinda rods do you prefer

[@positivelyfishing1810]

We were just using our walleye trolling rods.

[@danward2490]

I’ve never heard of a miller rig

[@positivelyfishing1810]

It’s not as popular as some of the other rigs, but it definitely has a place. Especially if you want to pull plastics in current and you don’t want to use huge jigs.

[@danward2490]

@@positivelyfishing1810 not surprised that I hadn’t heard of it in Alabama or Tennessee. Hell most fishermen here don’t know what a sauger or walleye is🤣🤣🤣🤣🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@positivelyfishing1810]

@danward2490 good point!

[@jeffwiebenga393]

For packer kinds we call it a " DORK" rig also they have been called pencil sinkers for the last 60 years