Trolling Question

[Capt Eric]

You can slow down but do not stop.We have even put in neutral and gliding forward for a few seconds when netting a bigger fish.Question for captain Eric.When we have our yearly fishing charter on PoohBear, Keith makes it a point to make sure we never stop reeling or even slow down when bringing in a bigger fish.When on our boat,if a bigger fish starts pulling hard,I will stop reeling till I feel the pressure letting off before reeling in again.I "play" the fish the same as I would if I were casting.Your thoughts and how do you do it on your boat.

My technique - it's all about pressure! Once that fish is hooked up and off the board line - we want to keep the pressure that we're putting on that fish very constant, combined with full 90 degree bend in the rod. With the braided line we use, there is no stretch, we all know that... so it's up to the rod to absorb the jerks and tugs from the fish. My rule of thumb on the rods: you take 45 degrees of bend out and you lose 90% of the effectiveness of the rod. Do we ever stop reeling? Not too much, but again, depends on the pressure. Walleye don't tend to make too many runs, they just seem to shake their heads every now and then when fighting. The whole key is to let the soft rod bend absorb those head shakes, while continuing to inch that fish towards the boat. The rod bend/constant pressure keeps any slack from forming between us and the fish also. There's a million different scenario's - fish could be swimming toward the boat, you'll need to reel faster... big fish just wants to wallow and shake his head, you'll probably be reeling slower. It's not race to get the fish to the boat - but you don't want to delay it any longer than necessary either! The longer he's in his element, and we're in ours - the greater chance of getting away.

Side note - or slightly off topic of your question maybe??? - Popping the lines off the release clips seems to be the hardest technique to really master... I've had guys want to jerk the rod like their carp fishing, others tap and tap and tap, never hard enough to release it but just enough to cause an earthquake on the tow-line! I personally use a one-handed whip with the rod, but that's the hardest of all to learn - so we try not to encourage customers to do it. We demonstrate the 'rod handle spank'....Here comes the critical part - the very instant that line comes off the clip you MUST take up that slack that was just created!!! Don't do it by reeling!!!!! Simply lift the rod quickly, straight up, and away from the fish, whichever side it's on.... you want to establish that pressure that's so important! Once you taken up that slack, and put some bend in the rod, let the fish center up between the other lines (if necessary...) and then start bringing it towards the boat - steadily!!! Steady pressure - my people hear me say that a million times!

Hope I've answered your question! By the way - people on my boat will also hear over and over "That's the most important fish of the day!" .....they usually figure out why I'm saying that by about the 28th fish or so......

[branhamautomotive]

X2 on the rod spank. After my first year of first mating, I would say of the fish lost, a super high percentage occurs between when the rods come out of the holder to getting the fish centered up. I watched customers take the rod from holder and quickly drop rod tip, after the spank off, 8nstantly drop rod tip. Any quick movements is bad......slow and steady. The biggest issue I saw with the spanking off was ppl being too soft it. It's not about how hard it's spanked as if is the speed generated by it. It seems to work best if as the rod come from holder, tip up tI'll at the back of the boat, slowly down with the tip....point the rod at the clip being released much like aiming a gun......I hold the rod with one hand in front of the reel, turn to I'm 90* to the rod, use my other hand to spank the rod handle while letting the rod pivot around the hand I'm holding it in...then quickly bring my pivot hand up to the rod to keep tension on the line as line come out of clip. If the rod doesn't pivot, the actions seems to become a hard pull. Like setting the hook while bass fishing.

Getting the line right in the clip really effects how it releases, to far back or deep makes it a lot harder to get off. When using rubber band in the clips seems if you stretch the band between your thumb and index finger as clipping thins the band out a little. Also for the outside clips, if they are in the water this also increases how hard it is to release. So take a few seconds and time your strike to when the clip is out of the water.

Another thing I see that causes lost fish is ppl turning the drags back up, especially on big fish. Seems ppl see they are cranking and not making much headway so the crank the drag and then pop the fish off.

Remember in the spring when speeds are much slowe than summer, the fish a lot of times won't really be hook up well, more like just riding on the hooks points. This is evidence when betting the fish, the moment the fish touches the net the hook is off. The exact same thing happens if any slack gets in the line.

[Capt Eric]

Now we've moved on to "how the line is in the clip".... Yes, very important! I wish I was at the boat today, I could give you a picture of my clips - set up to be "customer-proof"! Basically, we've started with the standard Pilgrim Clip... throw away the shower curtain ring. We've added a swivel, keyring, and caribiner. With the swivel, clips can't be put on the towline "upside down" or "twisted", this will cause you massive headaches every time! I also add a rubber band around the clip part, about 1/4 of the way on the pads. This tightens the clip, and provides a stop point for the line going in the clip. The caribiner makes it super easy to snap onto the towline with one hand. Not to mention, the caribiners slide down the towline way better than the shower curtain rings...

We've been doing it this way for years, seems to be catching on, we're selling a metric a$$ ton of our clip setups nowadays!

[wajski]

$$ for clips how to order them, size of swivel-keyring-caribiner. I have some Weldon I would like to convert
Walt

[Capt Eric]

$$ for clips how to order them, size of swivel-keyring-caribiner. I have some Weldon I would like to convert
Walt

I turned all of that over to DJ... www.djscustomeyeslures.com

[Capt Eric]

Just make sure you're getting good quality STAINLESS STEEL rings..... they are not cheap. If you are having trouble finding the right ones, give me a call - I'm going to be ordering another couple thousand pretty soon.....

[Capt Eric]

Hey!!! Look what I found in my pocket!!!



That's a 4/0 swivel.....

[Hoytman86]

Thanks! I can't seem to find bulk keyrings that are 1 1/4" or larger. I think that's what it'll take.

[branhamautomotive]

https://m.ebay.com/itm/100-LOT-SPLIT...cAAOSwDwtUmgZ0

Ebay had several other sizes,and quanities.

[Hoytman86]

https://m.ebay.com/itm/100-LOT-SPLIT...cAAOSwDwtUmgZ0

Ebay had several other sizes,and quanities.

I found some that were 1.4" on Amazon for $14.99 per 100. I tried a 1.25" ring that I had here and it would allow the clip to close but it put a little more pressure on the clip than I'd like. I appreciate everyone's advice on this, I have been looking for a better option than the shower curtain rings for a couple of years due to losing clips, I think this is the solution.