New to trolling

[adean11]

Would like some tips on equipment for setting trolling. Would rather not use side planers.
Islands Area, 26' Glassport

Have numerous 7' St.Croixs and Penn reels. Also have rod holders ready for use.

Jet divers and stick baits?

Ideally run 4 rods.

Suggestions?

[ttinman23]

Would like some tips on equipment for setting trolling. Would rather not use side planers.
Islands Area, 26' Glassport

Have numerous 7' St.Croixs and Penn reels. Also have rod holders ready for use.

Jet divers and stick baits?

Ideally run 4 rods.

Suggestions?

Well I’m no expert. Our first year Trolling cranks...Here’s what we did and What we learned. we didn’t want to Use planer boards Either so we fished with rods that had line counters and long lined the two back rods and used snap weights on the side rods. We used bandits smithwicks and thunder sticks... we caught fish but not as quickly as the people using planer boards.... more advantages to planer boards.... we had a training day with planer boards last week and caught most our fish on the boards away from the boat. They really are not that hard to learn... YouTube is your best friend to get some good knowledge on this.... GL and be safe out there.

[adean11]

Thank you! We will give it a go!!

[Hoytman86]

If you decide to go with divers behind in line planers, and assuming you are fishing the western basin, consider tadpoles or Tru Trip 30s. You can pull 40s behind in lines but they just don't run well. And if you are only going to get a couple of boards consider getting 2 for the same side in place of one per side. Having 2 boards next to each other make it a lot easier to read them.

As for baits, Bandit Walleye Deep are the hot thing right now for good reason. They don't need to be tuned like a lot of other cranks, they work at speeds from 0.8-3+ mph and they have great action and loud rattles. Spoons are just as effective as harnesses 90% of the time and in the western basin you can get away with Jet/TT30, tadpoles or even in line sinkers that are really cheap.

Lastly, if you are planning to run in line boards, you should use mono (always had good luck with 17lb Trilene). Braid is a pain because it does not hold well in the clips. When running divers make sure your leader is lighter than your main line (10lb fluorocarbon works well) so that if you break anything off it will only be the bait and not your diver and swivel as well.

Good luck!