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| Looking at trolling a little this year and was hoping you fellow slimer catchers can help me out. What are some basic things to keep in mind just starting out trolling? Any rod holder, rod, reel, etc... preferance? Can I effectively troll without rod holders? Thanks everyone.
"Let em go, Let em Grow" | |
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| Kid,
Go back and search "trolling" in the archives, lots of good information.
Just starting out it is important to pay attention to detail. Many think that trolling is some haphazard thing that by putting on enough miles good things just happen. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are reasons you catch fish trolling where you do, its no differnet
than casting, the key is figuring out why that fish was there. This is true of both structure trolling and open water trolling. In any body of water even the open water will have sections that are more consistant producers than others, and there are reasons for it. Pay attention to your
underwater surroundings and you will find them.
I try to use gear that gets done what I need without paying any more than I have to. Over the years the Penn 209 has been a good, inexpensive reel to use, no line counter, but with enough experience you won't need one for most applications. In rods look for something over 7 foot. I
still like mine stiffer than most, but you can get away with a pretty soft tip if your using the new braided lines because of the "no stretch" factor. For multi-line sets it helps to have rods of different lengths, short to the inside and long to the outside, but its not the end of the world if they are all the same.
You can troll without rod holders, I did it for years. But to run multi-line setups you will need them. And it makes for a much easier day on the fisherman if you have them. Holding a rod with a deep diving crank on it all day can wear you out. I run Scotty rod holders and they have treated me well.
If you have any specific questions drop me an e-mail, no sense in making some of the same mistakes that I have.
Trolling is just one more weapon to put into the arsenal. You will be doing yourself a favor to learn to do it well, it just may catch you your biggest fish ever. [;)]
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| I'm only going into my second year, but I did well my first year doing things cheaply. I used no rod holder at first, just held the rod with my hand. I use abu reels with the same rods I use for casting. If you do get rod holders I can surely tell you, do not get berkley's, I have one and it is very cheap plastic and the whole rod holder almost falls out when you snag a little weed. I just bought the scotty powerlocks and they seem to be pretty good. Theres a lot out there, and they all work different. Whether you get a line counter or not...if you use rod holders a clicker is important. I dragged a fish around a little cause I didn't know it was on once. Didn't hurt it, but may have if i pulled it around the whole lake. | |
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| Kid- I will be a first time troller too. I got interested in it after spending some time with Jim Murphy on Leech deep trolling Walker Bay.
I went to Fleet/Farm this winter and got an Okuma Magda line counter reel for $40, an 8'6" South Bend med/heavy trolling rod for $30. Stopped at Cabela's and got a Scotty rod holder, $17. Can't decide on using #50 Big Game mono, #40 Spiderwire, or # 80 Fireline, all of which I got on sale.
My point in mentioning the money is that I feel I've made myself more versatile and haven't spent an awful lot of $$. I plan to do quite a bit of open water, deep weed edge, and V-slot creek channel trolling on a couple lakes, including Leech. I'm excited about this!
All the best,
Don
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| Do any of you guys run a mast/planer board system? I was thinking of investing in one this year. | |
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| I have switched to using down rigger rods with Penn 209 reels. These level wind reels have very loud clicker good spool capacity and simple tough drags. Long down rigger rods work great for mono and super lines and they are cheap around $28 a piece. Penn 209's are $44 a peice.
Together you get a great tolling rod a low expense. You can also use them for Salmon on the big pond too.
[;)] [:bigsmile:] | |
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First Time Troller