Muskie Discussion Forums
| Moderators: Slamr | View previous thread :: View next thread |
| Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [30 messages per page] Muskie Fishing -> General Discussion -> Remembering depth on lures. |
Muskiecrazy |
| ||
| muskyman1122 |
| ||
| bryantukkah |
| ||
| cave run legend |
| ||
Posts: 2097 | |||
| Muskiecrazy |
| ||
| Dave F |
| ||
| Muskiecrazy |
| ||
| northern |
| ||
Posts: 75 | |||
| jerryb |
| ||
| MC, I personally would not engrave anything into the lip of a lure. By doing so it could alter its ability to be tuned. By all means once a lures running depth is learned, writing it down or putting it on a phone would be helpful. Once a specific lures running depth is established it will not change providing the lures manufacture mold does not change. You may have slight variations but if a lure is tuned correctly to run straight it should not vary by more than 12" from lure to lure, manufacture to manufacture. You will find there are good running durable lures and ones that are,,, lets call them "sensitive". Some are speed sensitive and will blow out while others are prone to leaks. Some are very difficult to keep in tune while others can take enormous abuse and keep on running. Learning a lures running depth is one of the most important controls a fishermen has in eliminating unproductive water. I once heard a guy say, "A lure out of position catches NO fish". This applies to lures being casted as well as being jigged or trolled. The best way I know to learn a lures running depth is by doing it myself. The books are great but very few fishermen have the exact same set up, width of spool, type of line and the amount of line on a spool can all play into the actual length of line out. For example I have one reel with a full spool that reads 3' but when the amount of line is measured its actually 46". Line counters are great but they are for reference only. Only by checking a lures running depth with "your gear" will you get an accurate running depth. When it comes to speed many fishermen have it down to the .01 mph but then you talk to the same guy and ask how deep was he trolling or more specifically how deep was his lure and you get, 40' or 60' back,,, really? Speeds and fish activity levels vary from day to day and possibly hour to hour and can easily be checked but depths and knowing a lures running depth is not something to be guessed at. I start by locating a hard bottom area at the depth I suspect the lure runs at, (you can get approximate depth by looking at the lip). You want an area that is too "hangy" or you may loose lures especially if you do not own a high quality lure retrieve, I know where you can get one ha ha. Either by counting the number of layers of line as you let line out or by using a line counter reel both will allow you to repeat the process easily. All crankbaits have their imitations (maximum depth with a given type of line). However most lures DO NOT run straight out of the box and must be tuned to do so. If a lure is not in tune not only will you not get an accurate depth reading but when running more than one rod the two may tangle. The longer the line the more important it is for a lure to run straight. All lures at first let out should be checked and throughout the day. If facing a lure and it runs to the left, by slightly bending the eye to the right will put a lure in tune, just like politics.  If you have developed a leak in a crankbait toss it to the side for now and fill it with Great Stuff over the winter, it will be as good as new or send it to me.  The type of line being used will greatly effect a lures running depth. Mono can be used in the shallows and down to about 20' in most cases with a reasonable amount of line, say 100'. Braid will take a lure deeper but will not get you as deep as stainless wire. For this reason I have 4 trolling rods, 2 mono and 2 wire, I don't need overlap in my ability to control the depth of lures. For example a 9" Ernie or a 7" JB1 Spoonplug (wbw are both good running lures) will run at 30' with about 85' of wire while the same Lures on mono with 85' will only run at 18'-20' of depth. The lighter or smaller the diameter of the line the more depth. The examples above are for 30lb lines. This may be more info than you wanted but maybe it will help someone else, good question! Best of luck. Edited by jerryb 12/3/2015 12:22 PM | |||
| ShutUpNFish |
| ||
 Posts: 1202 Location: Money, PA | I supply all of my customers with a business card and my card has a dive chart of each one of the models that I produce on the back. Attachments ----------------  FullSizeRender (1).jpg (128KB - 629 downloads) | ||
| Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [30 messages per page] |
| Search this forum Printer friendly version E-mail a link to this thread |
