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Posts: 908
Location: South-Central PA | Hey guys,
I tried doing a search, but I didn't really find what I was looking for. I've never trolled but I'll looking at getting into it a bit. I'll be using crankbaits from 5" shad baits up to some big stuff in the 12" range. What reels do you guys recommend? What length / power rods do you prefer? I'll be building my own rods, I'm just looking for an idea of what to use.
thanks,
jeremy |
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Posts: 774
Location: South East Wisconsin | I ran 7'0" H last season for down rods. 8'0" H for the board rods. Might try some MH 6'6" rods for down rods this season. For reels I run Okuma line counters. Hope this helps. |
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Posts: 906
Location: Canada | Esox-Hunter - 3/16/2013 3:13 PM
I ran 7'0" H last season for down rods. 8'0" H for the board rods. Might try some MH 6'6" rods for down rods this season. For reels I run Okuma line counters. Hope this helps.
Pretty close to what I've been using, 8' H glass/graphite rods and Okuma Convector 30's for line counters. |
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Posts: 114
Location: Kingston, Ontario | Shimano TDR rods are pretty decent for trolling baits. H for bigger, MH for smaller seems to work well. They are $30 or so usually per rod so nice and cheap.
Like Tekota line counter reels personally. The drags get a bit beat up after a couple seasons of use but are really easy to replace with carbontex when needed. |
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| Do yourself a favor and buy good gear from the get go, spend your money wisely and don't buy junk. I've trolled for 20 years, and I can tell you I've had my share of junk.
Buy a rod that loads up, and I mean loads up has to have a slow tip so there's a solid bend down the hole rod. Custom X and Migizi have this area cover very well, ask anyone that trolls hard core these are the trolling rods to buy.
Reels, if your just planing on trolling in the fall very slow ANY reel can handle big baits, but if your trolling in the summer at faster speeds with hard pulling baits like franky baits, hookers, legend plows, Blue water baits, ect... you will destroy reels like crazy, trust me you will destroy reels that guys have mentioned, buy a minimum Shimano Tekota 600LC in size, these reels are unreal, and can handle ANY bait built buy ANY bait maker ANY. If you want to try other reels go ahead you'll end up buying a Tekota in the end.
Jason |
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Posts: 2097
| How many rods you plan on running? Outrod the longest then go down. I use rail mount rod holders so I can adjust hlw far my rods are out. Build the rods where the fish will keep a.bend in the rod to maximize hook up %. |
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Posts: 908
Location: South-Central PA | With two of us in the boat, we'll be running 4 rods.
jeremy |
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Posts: 2097
| You will be able to have a nice spread with 4 rods. You can do a 7' as the down rod and a 8' as the out rod. Or use all 8's or use a 9' as the out rod to have a little more spread. It will be personal preference, lenghts for a 4 rod setup is not that important imo. For how you build them I would not have them so stiff it will allow the fish to get off but a nice gradual bend in the rod. I use shimano tdr 8's h and ti trolling rods for my larger baits to give an idea.
Unless your a charter service trolling every day a middle grade okuma convector/stratamaster or diawa (not the sealines but the ones 60-70 $) will suffice.
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Posts: 42
Location: Pewaukee Lake | My recommendation for rods would be Cabela's Depthmaster Planer Board rods (8'6", MH) paired with Daiwa Sealine LC. Buy the reels and you get the rods for like 17 bucks. Iv'e ran them hard for the past two years and they are tough as nails. Also telescoping which works great for storage. Prior to this I ran Walleye Angler planer board rods and they were bulletproof. Just thought I would give the Cabela's rods a go since they are basically giving them away with the Sealines. Not disappointed at all with them. |
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Posts: 109
Location: Pewaukee, WI | Seeing your going to build the rods yourself I would recomend the blank that Thorne Bros. uses for there trolling rods. I comes 9'. For what you said your going to run, leave the tip as is and cut the butt end to the length you want. If your going to run the real hard pulling stuff, you could cut 3 or 4"s off the tip. It's a AWESOME trolling rod!
As far as reels, something with a loud clicker works best! |
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Posts: 682
Location: Sycamore, IL | I use the Shimano TDR's for most baits but have started to use an Okuma EVX 9'3" heavy action rod for bigger baits and as an out rod. It loads up real nice, is long to help my spread and telescopes down for storage...just another option. I still haven't broke down and bought linecounter reels but have had great luck using all of my old 6500/6600 abu reels. I put a little black mark on the line at 25 ft increments and can get my baits running fairly consistently. Good luck! |
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