need some help

I just started fishing crawler harnesses. I have no idea how much line out to get to different depths. Could someone please give me a general idea on depths with 1/2, 1, 2, 3, ounce weights. One of my friends told me that aprox 30 ft of line out with a 1 ounce weight weight will run aprox 12-15 feet. Then I looked at the trollers bible and it said you need 100 feet of line out with a 1 ounce weight to get to 15 feet. I usually troll between .08 and 1.5 miles mph. Is there a chart somewhere that can put you in the general ball park for trolling harnesses.

It is an imperfect science.

Your question has about 1000 answers and this is why..... The shape of the weight, the diameter and type of line, underwater current, surface conditions, type of rod and type of lure or spinner all effect the depth you want to reach.

In my experience, If I want to reach 15 ft down for steelhead with 1oz slender trolling weight going 3mph, I need 100 ft of line out.

Your scenario is .8-1.5 mph. 1 oz weight should be at 15 ft at 45-55 ft of line. I drop 1 ft per 3 ft of line let out at 1mph.

Use good line. I think braid is best to optimize depth. Use line counters and play a bit and once to start to catch fish, go back to that number.

Thank you for the help

I run 3 oz in lines with 10# mono and usually run about 1.5. I will let out 8' more line out than where I'm marking fish. Like spoon said, run each line counter out about 3' difference between them and when you start catching use that number.

If you use line counters here is a way to calculate how deep you are.

You have to keep your speed consistent in order to apply this to fish that are suspended though.

1. Keep boat at consistent speed.
2. For bottom bouncers or inline sinkers and bananas, keep line at 60 deg angle. Adjust your weight and spinners until you achieve this. In order to determine angle, start 0 at line hanging straight down to bottom. Measure 60 degrees from there to your line off the side of the boat.
3. Now let out twice and long a line as the depth you want to hit. This works well for depths up to 50 feet. At about 35' depth though, you have to account for a bit more length because of line drag.

If you do not have counters try it this way.

1. Follow steps 1 and 2 above. You will have to travel over an area with a constant bottom depth for this method in order to find your depth to handle turn ratio.
3. Now let out line until you reach bottom and can feel the bump every 10 seconds or so.
4. Mark your depth so you know what depth you have reached.
5. Reel your lure up until you reach the surface and count the number of handle turns.
6. Now you have a relationship between your depth and the number of turns on your reel. Lets say the depth is 45 feet and your reel turned 30 times. This means 1 turn equals 1.5 feet.
7. Now you can let line out by reeling backwards to get to your required depth, or let line out until you reach bottom and reel up until you get to your required depth.
8. This also works well for depths up to 50 feet. At about 35' depth though, you have to account for a bit more length because of line drag.

We've used this second method for years to troll for northerns in MI and walleye in Erie.

Good luck,
Rickerd

Thanks to all of you that replied. So If im fishing the 22-27 foot depths with a 2 ounce weight I would let out aprox 44 feet of line going 1 mph. I know there is no exact formula Im just trying to get an idea how to fish from 5 ft down to 30 ft and which weight to use.

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Originally Posted by walleye33

Thanks to all of you that replied. So If im fishing the 22-27 foot depths with a 2 ounce weight I would let out aprox 44 feet of line going 1 mph. I know there is no exact formula Im just trying to get an idea how to fish from 5 ft down to 30 ft and which weight to use.

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i use 1oz for every 10 ft you fish and let out the same amount of line as the depth i went to be down and the slower you go the more stight up and down it will be to we go just fast enough to make blades spinn i went on a charter that just kicked it in gear just enough to get planer boards to go out uses trolling buddy and only harnesses i was letting my line out 27ft in 38ft of water and i got my limit good luck and tight lines