Line Counter Calibration Line Counter Calibration Line Counter Calibration Line Counter Calibration
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  1. #1

    Default Line Counter Calibration

    I feel like a total moron tonight…. This is my first year in walleye and had some success trolling with some new gear…. At the beginning of the year I got a few okuma downrigger rods w/ Magda 20 reels. Seem to be decent reels and rods to start out with ( im a musky casting guy and have top of the line musky gear, I had little intention to buy really good walleye stuff when it doesn’t need to be bullet proof. It just can’t be junk). So the first question is- are these trash?

    Here’s when I become a moron… I didn’t realize that line counter reels needed to be calibrated…. By under filling a reel and cause a dramatic difference in what line is actually out, and what the line is counting… the reels count the revolutions of the spool, not line out… so all summer I have had to constantly add line, add line, add line to go deeper to catch my fish… I thought nothing of it and would routinely need to be at 210ft out to catch fish…. I was referencing many different dipsey charts only to be totally off.. which made me not trust the charts… so the last two trips out I have 100% committed to the chart numbers….

    Anyway, tonight I did a test to see what 50ft on a tape measure looked like compared to the number on my line counter reel… 85ft…… WOW.

    Yesterday I caught a nice 27” walleye 61ft of line out on a 3 dipsey… and my chart said I should have been 25ft down….. when in reality I measured my line counter’s 61ft, and it turned out to be 37ft of line… that means that my bait was actually 16ft down…. So I am ordering line now and will be adding quite a bit of line to my spools…. Or should I just toss these things and get something else and calibrate the reels accordingly?

    I thought I would share to help someone out because I feel lucky to have caught as many fish as I did this year, but also annoyed that I have been missing my depth by over 50% the entire year… no wonder I had such a hard time targeting 40ft fish…. I just couldn’t do it…. But when they were high, man I was smoking them! LOL…

    ….Sigh….

  2. #2

    Default Re: Line Counter Calibration

    Nothing wrong with the Okuma. Buy yourself some cheap 30lb test mono and use it as backing for your braid. Fill the spools about 3/4’s of the way to the outer edge of the spool and then attach your braid to the mono with a double uniknot. Finish filling the spool with braid. I have found that for both Okuma and Daiwa reels they are really close when the final wrap on the spool with braid gets to within 1/8” of the upper edge of the spool. I usually end up putting about 150 yards of braid on after the mono. If you try to fill the whole spool with braid, it will cost you a small fortune. I usually get within plus or minus 5’ when I measure out 100’. That is close enough for me. It also allows for some moderate line loss due to tangles while still being in the ballpark. It works for me and I am using a mixture of Daiwas and Okumas


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