What's everybody use for line counter reels??
Looking to upgrade, main problem with cheaper ones I use is counter sticking and button getting stuck, very hard with gloves/cold hands in cold weather
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What's everybody use for line counter reels??
Looking to upgrade, main problem with cheaper ones I use is counter sticking and button getting stuck, very hard with gloves/cold hands in cold weather
Okuma cold waters have been good to us the last few years.
We use the Diawa Sealine 47LC but the smaller 27LC works good also.Had good luck with them and they have held up well.
it also depends on what you fish for. i use 3 Daiwa sealine sg17lc3b reels on one side of my boat and Okuma Coldwater reels on the other side. they are both good reels but i haven't used the coldwater reel much as i bought them to replace the old sg17lca reels i was using. the main reason i use different reels is to keep from putting the wrong rod and diver on the wrong side. before doing the reel thing it happened a few times causing some bad tangles with the less experienced fisher people. we would have a few rods in the boat and one would get switched.,
both the sg17lc3b and the coldwater 203 are great for walleye but not big enough for salmon. Okuma Convector size 20 is also great for eyes. and I guess from what I've heard the Shimano Tekota is the top of the line as far as I know but they cost over 200.00 each. Daiwa does have more expensive reels but I know nothing about them. if you are wanting a cheaper starter reel you might look at the Accudepth plus 17lc reels. they were very good to me and were working great when I sold them. so far I love my coldwater 203 reels they have a smooth drag and a very smooth cranking reel and they come with a power handle on them.
My cheaper Okumas aren't that good. I mean at $60 they do the job for a weekender. But...as you say the counters stick and a couple if them spin backwards out of nowhere sometimes. I have 7 of them. Good for beginners and for cheap but I'd also recommend Diawa or Penn.
when I moved to the central basin of Erie from the west I started with the Okuma Magda pro reels but it didn't take long before I knew it was a mistake. soon after I upgraded to the Daiwa sea line sg17lca reels. now I use the sg17lc3b reels on one side and Okuma cold water 203 reels on the other side. the Magda pro reels work ok but for quality, they are lacking. I use lite bite slide divers and have never set the left rods out on the right side since I started using different reels. marking rods is another trick to prevent this.
Indeed. Mine are also the Magda Pros I should have said. As they fail more often I will definitely spend more for better reels. On 2 of them the handles will spin backwards out of nowhere in "free spool". I can deal with the occasional issue since they are cheap but it isn't as easy when I am hosting less experienced friends and family.
the Daiwa sealine sg lc3b reels have been great for me. the only problem I have encountered so far is the counters get stuck on the half count and doesn't count. but this doesn't happen often. just make sure the counter is zeroed out before letting the line out. I highly recommend them and I use the sg17lc3b for walleye fishing on Erie. I like to run 3 lite bite slide divers off each side to help new people from setting the wrong rod out on the wrong side of the boat. I just replaced the 3 sg17lca reels last year and I replaced them with the 203 cold water reels. I got 4 so I would have a spare. but when I started rigging them 1 wouldn't work at all. but I returned it with a copy of the receipt in an email and they repaired it at no cost except for shipping cost. these are very smooth reels with smooth drags. so far I like using these better than the Daiwa reels but i really haven't used them long enough to see how they stand up. but for now, I really like using the cold water reels very much. each of these reels cost a little over 100.00 each. if you need a better reel for less money the Daiwa accudepth plus or the Okuma convector reels have been good to me.
Thanks Sherman. I'm going to research all of those models. Hey, I posted another question but got a little long winded. How soon can we catch them on crankbaits? I'm sure early April. Perhaps even March if good weather? Thanks again for the info.
Thank you for all the info and replies! I use mostly diawa spinning reels and have been very happy might buy some of both diawa and cold water
the earliest I've fished on the western basin was the 1st week in May. we just trolled the deeper waters around the reefs. but I guess you might even catch them earlier. if I was going up that early I would plan on giving the reefs a try with heavy jigs and live minnows. then if I wasn't doing good after a while I would switch to cranks and troll them very slow maybe 1.5 or less depending on what they wanted. another thing about jigging you want to get a couple of bags to slow you down. but instead of getting drift bags I would get a set of good trolling bags that way you could also use them for trolling to get your speed down. trolling bags are made much better than drift bags and trolling bags have a place on the back end to tie it off to your boat which gives better boat control. without a kicker motor, it's almost impossible to get down slow enough to troll. but bags are a great alternative to a kicker if you don't have one.
Now is soon enough :). I worry a little to get the boat out of winterization too early being an I/O. We had 40 below wind chill for a while here in western NY. I'll be there in March will be my plan. Always willing to share info if any of you wish. Thanks again!
We have had great luck with Okuma Coldwaters
Right on. I'll be there in March! Hey I received my new lures and they look great. Fast shipping too, thanks.
It sure can't! I'll post what I do when I get out there. I'm still learning and appreciate what is posted here to help. It's about 5 hours away for me and I do a few 3 day trips per season. I get my fish but it takes quite a while sometimes. I think I need to better on quicker turns to get back on biting fish.and going all in with more rods once a lead is established that is working. I'm improving on bandit colors based on water clarity and cloud coverage. I haven't been very good at high fish in deeper water...like 25-30 fow. I assume they are schools of eyes between 6 and 12 feet down because they are big marks?? I may not be high enough. How high above the fish have you all had luck pulling the cranks? 1-3 feet or more? I've never caught crap above 12 feet down from the surface unless I was in shallower around H Can. I usually seem to de best between F and Green Island. Leads 55-100 feet back with bandits unassisted. Thank you for the feedback if someone doesn't mind!
sometimes in the western basin, I've found it's better to just pull lines make a run-up, and troll back through. at most times I have found the fish will bite much better going in one direction over going the other way. I went with a friend that invited me to go out. the waves were coming out of the north. so we ran up a bit and trolled south. we got 18 of our 2-man limit and they just quit. we made a turn north and trolled north but never got the 1st fish on the way back out. we made our turn back south and had our other 6 fish and 2 more on the lines before we got all the lines back out. it doesn't hurt to try turning around but if the fish don't bite try running back out and go in your original direction.
Wow, great info. I would never have considered that. Thank you!
Okuma Convectors are well worth the money. For the price, they are my go-to reel.
Okuma Magda Pros are junk and make people never want to own Okumas again... There is no comparison between the Magdas and the Convectors.
However... I was on a charter boat last year that had some new version of the Okuma Magdas and he really likes them... and he runs a lot of charters. He said that they are a totally new design and he tried them and liked them... They were a lot better than the old ones, but I don't know enough about them to recommend them.
While it is true that trolling in a particular direction catches better than other directions,we rarely pick up our gear and drive back to start again.We will more often make quicker turns if we need to troll a particular direction to catch better.The few times we picked up our gear was due to rough wave conditions.When the waves reach 3-4 ft trolling, downwind is much easier than into the wind or even crosswind.That is when we sometimes pick up our gear.
When it comes to targeting shallow fish, those shallow fish most often do not show up on your sonar.The reasons are, is that sonar cone is small the closer to the boat you scan.Another reason is the shallow fish move away from the boat as you move over them.Walleye do prefer to catch their food from below.They supposedly can target a lure from a couple feet up to 10ft above them, depending on the water clarity.Seams the few times we have caught shallow fish the conditions were calm and there was not much boat traffic around.We don't often run lures in the top 10ft of the water column.When we do is because my charter buddies will tip me off about that shallow bite if I'm fishing near them.Or if nothing else is catching and it's our last resort.When running our inline boards you have to run the longest leads on the outside.So if going to run shallow lures on your boards those are closest to the boat and most likely spooked by the boat.When we have tried to run some shallow cranks will just try on one side.So the outside board would be a 60 lead,the middle board at 40 and on inside board would be 20ft then a 2oz sinker then 20-40 more.That inside sinker will be running below those two outside boards when bringing them in.And if those shallow lures don't catch within 20-30 min,they are changed out to run deeper.We will also run those boards a little further from the boat.But it is really cool when you can catch them really shallow.Either trolling or casting.
Thanks for the post, I enjoy reading these post. It is better than reading a magazine article (I know nobody reads magazines any more lol)
I love it too, thank you. I want to learn all I can and the folks on here are a huge help. I have marked large pods if fish 6-12 feet down over 30 FOW many times. Like you said, I think next time I'll try a couple things. Run above them 1-3 feet and run one side of lines far away from the boat. If I don't get a walleye within 15-20 mins I'll just go back to the deeper fish. I just bought several more baits so that I have many of the same and similar to each other. I think I'm the past when I saw a definitive pattern I should have moved multiple lines to the exact same bait and depth? Last year on a 3 day trip I limited each day. But....every fish but like 2 we're 100 back on purple or 90 back on chartreuse. I rarely catch doubles so I think this year I will run more lines at same exact depth vs. all scattered at different depths? Also, I bought several new baits with white in them which I did not previously have. I picked up aa couple wonder bread (fruit dots) and more excitingly, I bought 3 variations from Slimshady. His baits look sweet. I see he says great for stained water. Will those baits also be ok in clearer water? I do have plenty of chromes and flashy stuff, I think I was weak for deeper running (over 20 feet down) and in murkier water. Thanks all :)
I also previously ran homemade big boards. I got all new offshore boards this winter. They seem way easier to fish. I am going to try and circle back much quicker onto fish. I would usually go a half mile away or more to make my loop to avoid tangles. They we're trucky with rougher water. It seemed often times that the fish had either moved or stopped biting as good by the time I got back to the spot? Or....trolling the other direction was not as effective. I'll try tighter circles to try and catch them faster. Does this make sense? I don't mind fishing long days as that is what I am out there for butkstnof my friends can't handle 8-10 hours on the water in the waves weather. Wimps LOL.
So I have both off shores and big boards. My plan for April is to scatter the baits until i find what leads are producing best then pull the offshores and carpet bomb a dozen baits at that lead with the big boards as I can run more lines with the big ones.
every year I try to do something new or different to keep learning. I do this with hunting and fishing. It has really made things exciting when I teach myself something new and it works. I don’t mind failing a few times, it forces me to learn. The key with any of this is to keep an open mind, listen to others and don’t be afraid to try different things.
Amen Coho. I can only run 6 rods with 2 guys usually so am thinking the same. Zone in on the exact same depth and colors with multiple lines as soon as I get 2 -3 fish as a pattern. I have often times had one side of the boat catch all the fish and the other side almost nothing. I was wasting time at 50-80 foot leads for example while 90-100 caught them all. I was marking fish higher but no takers. Or, my flashy lures were higher and I should have changed everything to green, purple. These Slimshady's with purple/pink/white and also purple/chartreuse/white all in one lure look killer. In theory,they should be effective in most any water clarity condition. Time will tell :)
I ran some of his lures last year. Pair-a-dice caught more fish that any other lure I had. Smokeshow shad landed my PB smallie and walleye NW of Kelly’s 10 minutes apart and fermenough produced as well. I picked up some of his chrome versions of these for the sunny days this year. Other notables in Bandits were old trustys black/chrome and blue/chrome, all of the purples and even catacomb had its moments but nothing like pair-a-dice.
Sounds great. I do have most of the trusted factory colors. Am excited to have picked up a couple of each pair-a-dice, fermi-nuff, blue chrome and glow wonderbread. I'll run the hell out of them. Thank you for sharing Sir! I'll certainly be out there early to mid March.
I run Daiwa 27 accudepth with no problems since they came out, I still use 4 with gold side plates. I have used the 47 sl but found them to be to big this is jm2c, I know a lot of people that run Okuma and have no complaints.
When it comes to matter of importance in catching fish depth is first,speed then lure color.So let's say I'm fishing late April through early May with my buddy John trolling Bandits with my inlines and 6 rods.I will start out trying to cover the water column where bandits usually have caught before.So those leads are 60-120 unassisted or with no weight.So one side will be 120 on the outside,90 then 70 on inside board.The other side will be 100 outside and 80 then 60.The colors will be my 6 favorite producers.So I always put a blue chrome out with a couple white based colors a humble bee to keep John happy and usually one purple, or what color has been the hot color from the posts I read.The sweet leads tend to be around 70 and 80 but the fish will tell you what depth is catching.But rarely do I run more than 3 lures at the same lead.You want to run one like 10 less and 10 more in case they change up.And the fish almost always change their depth you catch during the day.Ususlly the reason is as the sun rises and brighter it gets,
the bite goes deeper.Thats one reason you have other lures at different depths.So you want to be ready for that change of depth and change out those leads to get on em again.
When you make turns trolling don't make fast turns,that causes tangles.Im often telling our driver slow turns.A fast turn will stall out your inline boards and the line will drop down into the water and catch on the flag of another board.It is hard to see that line or how the boards run after that happens.But when you reel either one in the tangle happens.The same thing happens to your dipsies.The dipsies on the inside turn will drop like a sinker.That is when you can catch bottom with your dipsies.The other thing with dipsies,is I weigh them and scratch in that weight in the plastic.The heaviest ones go on the inside and lighter ones outside.The reason is the heavier ones drop faster when they slow down.
Good luck guys.Only a couple months away from the spring fishing.There are still plenty from that 2015 hatch and the females are reaching fish Ohio size. The other great hatches will bring in a mix of great eater sizes too.Should be a great season for walleye on Erie.
Great info, thanks Bob. Nice to hear that you have had success on baits with white on them. That's probably my biggest change for this coming year. I usually do the exact same thing as you are suggesting by staggering depths on both sides of the boat. Was just thinking maybe once I get a couple fish at the same depth and same lure.....I should try only that side of the boat pretty much the same. So for example, if I hit a few at 100 back I'll go to 95, 100 and 105 on that particular side for an hour or two. And use the same or similar colors. Maybe keep the other side 55, 75 and 90. Thought maybe I could pull few doubles on active fish before they move or the bite tapers off? I will try to do better getting out early. Some of my guests haven't wanted to be out at first light. I haven't minded as I have all day to fish. It has been really slow between 10 am and 4 pm many days. They almost always turn on hard in the last 2-3 hours. :). I assume the first couple hours are really good too?
I also have had to deal with the party people over the years who could not get up early enough to fish.Walleye prefer to feed in low light.So the first couple hour after sunrise and before sunset are good times to catch.Another factor that helps is the lack of boat traffic at first light.During the summer on calm cloudless days the fish will move deep and be in a negative mood to bite in the middle of the day.Tough to catch your limit in those conditions.
some of my best lures lately have been sun spot bandits as the best then chrome and metallic blue then a dark perch pattern. but bandits have so many colors that catch fish. i like a lot of galeforcetackle.com spoons and harness at lower prices than most other good spoons. and the paint is bullet proof. but jawbreaker dr death, nnd anything with some pink or purple has been good. salamander and a black with purple have also been good for us. but when buying lures i do tend to favor lures with some pink or purple. dreamweaver purple alewife has been out best spoon ever for eyes on Erie. but anything is worth a try if things are slow.
when we started trolling Erie back around 86 we caught so many walleye on the western basin by using the 2" hot n tots and wiggle warts using spinning gear. we just let out line until we thought would catch fish. one weekend we weren't doing worth a crap. so we started changing baits. someone put a tiny wart out and it started catching fish. we all started fishing these shallow-diving little cranks and caught our limits of good fish both days. we had just been fishing too deep for them. when we got back to the ramp and were carrying the cooler to our truck a friend up there stopped us mid-way across the lot and wanted to see our fish. when we opened our cooler we had about 25 to 30 guys around us looking at our fish. and they all said the fishing had been the worst they had ever seen. my point is don't be afraid to change things up a bit.
Good stuff! Come on March! Sunspot was my best producer all last year too 100 back. Chartreuse and blue chrome were also goid 55-75 back. I've certainly been missing out by not being out early. I'll change the rules on departure time this year. Would rather get out early and hopefully limit earlier so we can enjoy the day at the local restaurants and get to bed earlier. I frequently find myself not limiting out until an hour or two before dark after a mid morning launch time.
Thanks guys! I appreciate the business. Pair-a-dice, Fermi-Nuff, Chrome Fermi and Smokeshow Shad are 4 of my personal favorites. The other one that has been an absolute stud this fall is Gold Digger. On LSC, I would add Nuclear Perch and Chrome Perch to that list. Hard to beat perch patterns on LSC.
Cheers!
Hey Slim. What about your thoughts on and experience with gender reveal? They look awesome on the website and I see they are sold out.
Thanks! The Gender Reveal was good when I ran it this past summer in clear to light stained water and bright sun. I will be painting more of them this weekend. I am finishing up an order for Captain Juls right now, and those should be dipped and on the drying rack by tonight or tomorrow night.