New Member- trolling questions

Fist off I have to say how impressed with all of the willingness to help others I see in this forum.
I will be fishing Erie for my first time from S. Bass Island from 4/11-4/19 and have some trolling questions. At first I assumed we would be trolling RR 800s and DHJ-12s pretty much exclusively but I am starting to wonder about pulling spinners with crawlers.

1. When trolling cranks do guys prefer mono or braid?
2. When does the spinner/crawler bite tend to pick up?
3. When pulling spinners, in-line weights or snap weights. Formula to figure out depth for either method... (New technique for me, lots of questions)

Each morning when I wake up I check my count down time to make sure it says I are 1 day closer. If anyone is willing to set up a phone call I'd love to hash it over to help scratch the itch. PM me if interested. Thanks in advance.

We pretty much run exclusively spinners, but occasionally switch to spoons. We have never used divers, just use the Cabela's inline sinkers as they have always worked, they're cheaper than divers and it's one less thing we have to dial in. We run the 3 oz. sinkers on the outside lines (farthest from the boat) so that we don't have to let out as much line and there's less of a chance of losing a fish due to a longer time fighting. I run the 2 oz. sinkers off the lines straight off the back of the boat to get them to the depth that seems to be working that day but they're farther from the boat as I feel the boat does indeed spook the fish. If I do ever upgrade to divers, which I might do, I am definitely going with Tru Trips so that I'm not fighting the diver and the fish. The biggest benefit of the divers (Tru Trips and Jets at least) is that if they were to break off, they should float up to the surface along with your crank or spinner. If you're running divers and cranks, you've got about $20 tied onto the line, so it's something to think about.

Here's a link for the sinkers and a depth chart. The depth chart is based on 10 lb. mono diameter at 1.5 mph. If you speed up and/or use a thicker line, you will be shallower than it says. There's an app that allows you to input your exact setup including line diameter, bait and speed to give you an accurate depth, but it's pretty pricey so if this is a 1-2 times per year deal you may want to just try to figure out what works for you. I usually set an outside line (3 oz.) at 45 feet, another at 55 feet, one off the back (2 oz.) at 60 and one at 70. This covers roughly 10 feet of the water column and I adjust the rest accordingly depending on which ones are catching fish.

Just remember, if you're marking fish at 20 feet, you want to be slightly above them. I try to shoot for about a foot up, but dragging baits a foot or more below a fish with eyes on the top of its head is not going to be as successful as pulling them a little above them.

Sinkers
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabel...h-All+Products

Depth chart
http://rednekoutfitters.com/inline_t...ght_chart.html

I would plan on running Reefs and Husky's. That's really early for harnesses. A of of years were are running cranks into May.

First let me say there is nothing wrong with the inline wts system for catching fish! I used it for years with great results. It still works pretty much issue free in deep open water. Now with that being said there are some advantages to the Tru-trip divers and the jet divers. The most notable advantage is when you are fishing in shallow water over rocky bottom such as the reefs.

If running inline wts and you leave out enough line to target fish at the 15ft depth and the water is only 20 ft deep there is is a very good chance that the inside rods on a turn will slow down enough to allow the wt to sink and make contact with the rocky bottom often resulting in a snag. If you do snag and have to stop then you either have to hurry up and retrieve the rest of your lines before they can make contact with the bottom and possibly snagging another 1 or more of your lines or you have to keep going and try to break off the snagged line.

The Tru-trips and Jets will either become neutrally buoyant or actually start to float to the surface making a snag less likely. With a Tru-Trip 40 it takes roughly 23 to 24 ft of line back from the inline board to reach a depth of 14 ft. to get to the 20 to 22 ft depth you would have to leave out about 52 to 53 ft of line assuming you are using line in the 10lb Mono diameter.

I use only the Tru-Trip 40 divers and have replaced all of my Jet 40 divers with the Tru-Trip 40s. The trip mechanism is more reliable on the Tru-Trips than the jet 40 which turns over from the wt of the fish and planes to the surface with the fish in tow. I only use the TT40 divers because they get deeper faster without as much line out as the TT-30s and Jet 40s they also don't pull to hard for my inline boards like the TT-50s do.

I usually start harness fishing as soon as the water gets to the 40 degree mark. There have been several tournaments won by worm fishermen in the early spring even while the jig bite is still going strong. I fish mostly harnesses and spoons from the 40 degree water temp mark to the end of the season. I do catch some large fish but do not target them specifically. I like to say that I target walleyes and whatever bites and gets to the net goes into the cooler so long as it is of legal size.

There were still quite a few boats jigging around turtle while I was getting 2 man limits driftin/castin. It was definitely at the end of the jig bite though, early may. We each had a rod draggin bottom bouncers with homemade crawler/spinner harnesses and castin parrish peas and erie dearies. The old fashioned way, I know, but I don't have the boat to set up for trollin. We did pretty good in that area for a few weeks between turtle and harbor light. No fish ohios but we caught some nice fish. Not bad for being as west as west can be.

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Originally Posted by Meat Wagon

Fist off I have to say how impressed with all of the willingness to help others I see in this forum.
I will be fishing Erie for my first time from S. Bass Island from 4/11-4/19 and have some trolling questions. At first I assumed we would be trolling RR 800s and DHJ-12s pretty much exclusively but I am starting to wonder about pulling spinners with crawlers.

1. When trolling cranks do guys prefer mono or braid?
2. When does the spinner/crawler bite tend to pick up?
3. When pulling spinners, in-line weights or snap weights. Formula to figure out depth for either method... (New technique for me, lots of questions)

Each morning when I wake up I check my count down time to make sure it says I are 1 day closer. If anyone is willing to set up a phone call I'd love to hash it over to help scratch the itch. PM me if interested. Thanks in advance.

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reef runners and husky jerks will be the ticket.. I dont run anything else till the water temp is above 50 degrees. Give me a call and i will give you all the info you will need to fill your cooler in april. I will share with you the program, location where i will be fishing those days. 614.327.7144

I go by water temp, if it is 50 degrees or above I run both cranks on one side and harnesses on the other till the fish let me know which is a better selection for the day. But typically April is still going to be cranks due to water temp. And I start out at .8 MPH to a max of 1.4 MPH in the colder water. Slow "S" turns will help you dial in the correct speed. Around the Islands, 35, 55, 65 back with 1 oz inlines a 3 oz bottom bouncer off one corner ( no board) should cover the water column for you at that time of year as a starting point if your going to run inlines. 5 more foot of line out with a 1 oz inline is usually only a couple of feet deeper so while looking for biters keep it simple till you find at least a couple of biters, then you can adjust to dial the exact number in. When the sun get high the walleye typically rise up in the water column since the sun is warming that part of the column. So if you were getting bites at 55 back and the sun comes up high in the sky and bright, start shortening your line out numbers. I've taken plenty of walleye with only 8-10 ft of line out behind the board using 1 oz inlines in the spring. Even in 45 FOW. Typically the largest walleye of the day is on the high line. I run my deepest baits closer to the boat, shallowest the farthest away from the boat.

Do you gentleman have a color preference on the Tru Trips? I wouldn't mind giving them a go this year, zebras mussels are a pain.

I run all black. I even paint mine flat black, both dipsey's & divers. Some say it doesn.t matter I think it does. Just my opinion.

I think I have orange, red, smoked, and clear tru-trips. They All catch fish.

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Originally Posted by SPOONFEEDER

I think I have orange, red, smoked, and clear tru-trips. They All catch fish.

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Add purple and that assortment would be my assortment also. I agree they all catch fish. I like them unpainted so I can see if they are leaking. Have had jets leak before but so far not the TT divers.

I like black, on all my divers,& dypsey's. I go one step further paint them flat black. Just my opion

Thanks guys for all the input it will definitely come into play when we make our game plan.

Skipper9- I will definitely take you up on that. I may give you a ring here in a week or two just to make sure I have the basics covered- thank you.

One last question: MONO OR BRAID????

I run 30lb slick8 power pro braid.

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Originally Posted by SPOONFEEDER

I run 30lb slick8 power pro braid.

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I run the same line... great line

PowerPro 30 - HiVis Yellow.

I was talking today with some guys about line. I really like the Power Pro, but I'd love for someone to make a line that will hold color, even in the sunlight and water. The Hi-Vis colors are good for about 3-4 weeks and then they are all faded to white. With color technology the way it is today with clothing, I can't believe that no one can make a Hi-Vis color that will last for at least a single season.

I've tried yellow, blue and green. None of them have lasted.

I just got some suffix line in the mail from sportsmans guide in 10 lb test in neon orange. Havent spooled it up yet but it is definitely very neon orange. Curious to see what it looks like in water.

I run small boards. 30 lb. Power Pro. TT 40's. Reefrunners & Husky Jerks.

I stopped running braid on my trolling rods after using it for over 6 yrs. I don't like the wind blowing the line around the rod tips when changing lures, removing fish etc. I don't like how it pulls into snap rings etc, line getting caught between treble hooks.
For years one of my fishing partner on his boat has run #17 mono. No problems as stated above. Never really broke any line and we have caught plenty of fish, lots of bullets out near the line too. So I switched a few years ago to using #17XT. I would only go back to braid if I was going to run dipsies. Which I haven't needed to run for years, I don't even carry them on the boat anymore.
I paint most of my inline wts black as well as most of my jets. Black doesn't always matter but it can absolutely make the catch rate higher on a lot of days. I've proven that to myself and others quite often. Purple is almost as good as black. I don't want my diving system to be the attractor, I want my bait to be the attractor. That's the crank/blades/spoons job! That is why I'm using it. If flashers worked to draw in walleye I use those, but I have never found them to work for walleye. Only salmon. Now sound of a dipsie or jet can be an attractor but I still want the bait as what the fish is going after once it spots the bait. But that is my theory/experience.

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Originally Posted by Madd Matt

PowerPro 30 - HiVis Yellow.

I was talking today with some guys about line. I really like the Power Pro, but I'd love for someone to make a line that will hold color, even in the sunlight and water. The Hi-Vis colors are good for about 3-4 weeks and then they are all faded to white. With color technology the way it is today with clothing, I can't believe that no one can make a Hi-Vis color that will last for at least a single season.

I've tried yellow, blue and green. None of them have lasted.

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Power pro is known to fade it's color. I have run other brands and it took more than a couple years to fade. I still have braid on all my jigging rods, PP and fireline have always faded for me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Madd Matt

PowerPro 30 - HiVis Yellow.

I was talking today with some guys about line. I really like the Power Pro, but I'd love for someone to make a line that will hold color, even in the sunlight and water. The Hi-Vis colors are good for about 3-4 weeks and then they are all faded to white. With color technology the way it is today with clothing, I can't believe that no one can make a Hi-Vis color that will last for at least a single season.

I've tried yellow, blue and green. None of them have lasted.

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I want to first say that almost all of the super lines(braid) are about equal as far as quality goes and the different arguments about which is better is in my opinion a Ford VS Chevy deal, each individual has to make up there own mind which brand suits them. I believe Honeywell Corp. holds the patent on the spectra fibers that most of the popular braids are made from, and the differences are basically how it is braided together to make the finished line.

I am not a fan of Power Pro as I feel it is to flat which allows it to cut into the spooled line on the reel arbor, I have no experience with the Slick 8 Power Pro and so I do not know if I would like it better or not.

As far as color fading I have enclosed a picture of some Hi Vis Yellow Tuf-Line XP which is starting its 5th year this year. I take a small section off each spring and check it for strength by lifting wts until it breaks. This year it broke at 26 lbs and was rated at 30 when new. That is 8 lbs more than the maximum drag that is capable from either my Tekota 300's or my 153D Coldwater reels, so it is heading for another season on the lake. Next year I will turn it end for end and use for another (?)number of years.

When trolling cranks do you add a mono or fluorocarbon leader or do you take the braid straight to the lure?

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Originally Posted by Meat Wagon

When trolling cranks do you add a mono or fluorocarbon leader or do you take the braid straight to the lure?

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Stick baits behind divers I run a short leader made from Fireline crystal the same length and lb test as used for spoons and my super short crawler harnesses. The deep divers I run no leader just a simple snap with a rounded bottom. I know that goes against the conventional wisdom but it works for me. The inline boards act as shock absorbers on the initial strike and after the board is removed the drag if properly set prevents tear offs, at least that has been my experience. I don't feel that I/we have a larger percentage of losses due to the lack of mono or fluro leaders.

For early spring, I tie a 6' piece of fluorocarbon on to the braid with a double uni knot. Practice it and become familiar with it and it won't fail.