Low dollar trolling question

[sherman51]

as others have mentioned but i forgot to post about is boat speed. you really need some type of fish finder/gps. the gps will give your speed. early in the yr you'll need to run in the 1.5 range with cranks and raise speed as water temps rise. with spoons in warm weather you can run anywhere from 2 to 3 mph and catch fish. depending on where you fish will let you choose how you fish. you can start with cranks on boards or use snap weights on the cranks to get them deeper in the western basin. you wont need tt's for getting cranks down but will need them for spoons or harnesses.

my first piece of advice would be to fill a few open seats before hitting it on your own. but you can start with 2 boards and 2 cranks out each side. if you want more lines in the water you can add 2 cranks off each corner. or you can go to 4 boards 2 off each side and a crank off each side. as the water warms then you can think about spoons or harnesses. to get them down on the boards you can go with inline weights from rednekoutfitters.com they have a depth chart. also if you move east to deeper water you might want to think about a dipsy off each side with inline weights on your boards.

don't forget the open seats!!!

[dayze_awayze]

Everyone has their preferences and advice...no shortage of that.

Personally, I threw out every Cabela's DepthMaster I had last year. I had lots of problems with the counters on 4 of the 6 I was running. They were only 2 years old and I was extremely disappointed. I had 2 Penn Rival Levelwind Line Counter Reel RIV15LWLC 5.1:1 that I liked using, so I replaced all of the DepthMasters last year with these. It has an oversized handle that lets you really get some leverage on those hawgs (especially if you flat line a Smithwick at 280ft back...which I always do). You can get them for about $60-$70 each. You will never want to use another reel once you get used to them.

For a decent, inexpensive rod, I have run Wilderness rods for years with zero issues. I have 2 heavier rods for dipseys, but honestly don't run them that often anymore. You can get a Wilderness for about $20

Another option is look on CL. Guys are always selling their old trolling stuff and upgrading. I have gotten some good deals in the past.

I run mostly snap weights and inline boards. You can run the weights on anything you throw out. I do occasionally run the TT-20s also.

To save on your budget to start (until you can afford the Amish Trolling Bags), drill some 1/2 inch holes in 5 gallon buckets. I haven't done this in many years, but it always worked on my smaller boats.

Tight Lines!

[branhamautomotive]

(especially if you flat line a Smithwick at 280ft back...which I always do).

Just curious how far down does this put a p10????? That's a lot of cranking for sure

[dayze_awayze]

(especially if you flat line a Smithwick at 280ft back...which I always do).

Just curious how far down does this put a p10????? That's a lot of cranking for sure

I am guessing it is running between 7 and 9 feet with all of the line drag (running the Berkley 10# XT on that pole). For some reason, when the boat passes over those fish, they swim back behind the boat after we pass, and right into that P10. The biggest fish I caught over the past 3 years trolling, have generally come on that P10 280 back. It was so good last year, that my 20 year old son refused to fish with me if I put that line out. He was exhausted pulling in the 10+ lb fish that far back.

We generally run the Pink Squirrel or Floyd on the flat line. I have tried others at different times of the year, but those two generally produce best.

[branhamautomotive]

Interesting idea, and being that far back there would be little chance of it getting tangled with other more traditional line depths, even when they come around behind the boat they should slide right under that line