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Posts: 1636
| I was wondering what kind of line you hardcore trollers prefer and why. I have a couple reels I need to spool up. Thanks! |
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Posts: 16
Location: Green Bay, WI | 30 or 40 lb. Berkley Big Game. Been using it for years with no problems. |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | I use a bunch of different lines depending on what I'm looking to do. If I'm looking to get baits deeper, or fish them on shorter lines, I'll use braid or wire (wire is new for me, so looking to have fun with it this year). I'll use that primarilly when using shortlines too.
I use 20# P-line for smaller cranks, when I don't need to get deep as fast. That is nice as the added stretch helps keep the hooks from straitening out on smaller baits and helps you soften up on the fish a bit as well.
My rods pull double duty for salmon fishing as well so the lines work for both application. If you're not going to be doing a ton of trolling, you should be fine with braid, but mono like described above would be sufficient as well. I guess it depends on how you're looking to troll. |
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| single strand wire is one I would not go without...It can really put fish in the boat with the others are not working... |
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| Depending on the baits and how much time you'll be trolling, your casting outfits might be all you need, just add longer leaders in some cases. Nothing wrong with trolling a Jake, Beleiver, Depthraider or something with a 7'6 casting rod and reel. Caught lots of fish trolling using my casting rods. Boards, wire and that kind of stuff is a little more gear-specific. For general purpose trolling with standard baits, your casting gear will be fine. Reels with a clicker are good, most have one. If you're looking at trolling as something to really get into and learn, new rods and reels (counters etc) might be in the cards. You will catch fish trolling, good luck reelwise. |
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Posts: 1636
| In the past all I have used were my casting rods and reels and caught fish, but I bought some line counter reels to get into it a little more and troll at more, acurate depths. What kind of leaders do you guys use? I know some guys use leaders up to 36" long, while some only use snaps. Thanks for all the replies!
Edited by Reelwise 3/27/2008 10:49 AM
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| I use a split ring for all my connections, Stringease snaps also work well for buddies of mine. Most of my trolling leaders are 48 to 60 inches long, either stranded wire or fluorocarbon. For heavy duty banging rocks, I use no crimps or snaps, wire twist to the swivel on the rod end and a wire twist to the split ring and the lure. With 100# braid or 40# wire, you'll get a $60 trolling bait back after bending off a hook or sometimes opening a ring with a heavy leather mitt and some straight pressure. I've never lost a trolling bait with wire line and have added two 25# cast iron anchors with rope to the shed. I'm thinking of trying 50# Big Game for baits like 10" Jakes, Outkasts etc high in the water this summer with more speed, it sure works on the Great Lakes. |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | If you're adding line counters to the mix, you might want to go with mono on those. Then you still have your casting rods with braid on them. Then you can get used to running mono and where you're running your baits with those set ups.
From a leader perspective, I'm right there with D&D. I usually use 48-60" floro leaders. I don't run wire very often as I don't have too many opportunities to troll where I have to watch the rocks and such so I'm not too worried about the floro getting nicked up.
Can't wait to have the wire ready to gets me some anchors. lol Nice work Dacron. I got a good laugh out of that. |
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| We thought the baits in both cases (Plow and 10" Hooker) were gonners. We worked on them using the big motor for over 25 minutes each before getting them back. In both cases, guys had snagged up their anchors in deep rocks and cut the rope (lodge boats, ha ha). It was the rope we snagged on both occasions. Not only did the wire deadlift 25 pounds from 30 feet down, but we also unsnagged the actual snagged anchor. The hooks on the Plow were bent just about straight. I basically wrapped the wire around my forearm (jacket) and leather glove and pulled until something broke after twenty mins of different angles and any other tricks we could come up with. Just dead, straight pressure did it and the connections held. One time with a big deep Slammer, I stuck a shoal going with the wind and my drag seized in the rod holder. I basically clamped the spool down, pointed the rod at the lure and waited for something to break, no way we could turn the boat in time with the clutch and freespool frozen. The wire stopped a 17' Lund and 90 Yamaha dead, got that lure back too. You won't put any more pressure on freshwater gear than that, wire's pretty tough stuff. If at all possible I'd like to enter both anchors in the M1st Bish Fish Log, Weight Division. |
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Posts: 1636
| Why go with MONO vs Braid? Whats the advantage? Hookups? |
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Posts: 1636
| Anyone? Thanks! |
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| Mono's bulkier which can be good in some situations (is: baits further back but still running higher) and it has lots of stretch for fish close to the boat. Lots of Great Lakes guys like it. Braid gets my baits deeper with less line out which can be helpful, it'll tell you faster when a lure's fouled and the strength can save baits stuck on bottom. I could definitely see an advantage with mono close to the boat at higher speeds or even behind a board to help keep the tension on a fish. I probably wouldn't want to send a Plow down on mono but I can totally see it being good with baits a bit smaller and shallower. Lord knows the guys on LSC have no trouble fishing with mono, some of the guys I talk to do really well using it. For heavy pressure or clear water, there might be a case some guys could make for non-opaque lines too. What kind of trolling are you gonna try reelwise? One might turn out to be more advantageous than the other for you. |
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| You should use flouro if you are going to use longer leaders. Wire really cuts into the fish when they roll in the longer leaders. Also if you are going to be trolling in and around weeds short lined single strand wire for the main line is hard to beat. It also sings similar to downrigger wire and the fish tend to like it. Also if you want to run larger baits higher in the water column 60lb Dacron is nice, it is wider diameter allows for the bait to run higher. Lots of line choices, just a matter what presentation you are using. I was lucky enough to spend 8 years on the east coast and those guys really have it dialed in...Ben |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | Ben that's sweet you got to see that out east. I'm just getting into wire this year so it should be a sweet learning experience. I'm used to trolling braid and mono, but I have some big plans for wire this year. I can hear the humming of it now. I may have to start a wire post if I remember.
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| Joel, feel free to shoot me a PM if you need any additional info on single strand wire trolling...Ben |
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