Line Counters

[ebijack]

For those that can't afford LC reels, there is another method that works quite well ( as long as you can remember which rod had what length out). With your lure in the water and your rod pointed towards the rear of the boat. With your thumb lightly on the spool or finger if using spinning. Swing the rod towards the front of the boat using a full arm swing. typically that is 20 ft. Do it again your at 40ft. etc etc. Split the swing in half etc etc. There used to be a guy who fished the PWT that did not use linecounters, this was his method.
I don't bother calibrating my LC reels like quite a few folks do. I fill them all the same. And over the season one or two will loose some line but the big thing is if you look at the precision trolling book most baits only dive 1 to 2 ft deeper with 20 more foot of line out. And with all the directional currents out on Erie you really never know exactly where your baits are running as sometimes your going with or cross wise or against those currents. Even running inline weights, they are sooo speed and current sensitive your only guessing on what your average depths are unless each time you first run one out and touch bottom to see for that day what dpeths your getting. IMHO

[pap]

Cabela's has all their line counters on sale for $39.00 they tell you what line # to how many yards they hold, I been useing these reels for 5 years now and I never had a problem with them, know I don't fish every day, but I do put some time on the water each year and I'm a hard core troller. They even offer combo's which you can almost get the pole for free, I have their poles also, never a problem, if you are like me I don't have $60.00 for 6 reels!! when you could almost buy your whole set up for that, and not to bragg I cought my fair share of 30#-40# salmon with these outfits, I spool 20# mono on for a backing and then fill the spool with Power Pro braid 30# test at 8# diameter, I put around 150 yards on of the braided line, that way I can spool 2 reels with one 300 yard box, if you have 4 poles then buy 2 300 yard spools. I run 4 poles with jets and two off the downriggers, hope this helps you. PAP from pa. (what I'm trying to say is that not all lower cost reels are junk)

[ebijack]

If your going to buy the cabela's reels, don't buy the smaller walleye version ones, get the 30's. Out of 20 i've had/re-bought, 16 had been replaced and now they won't replace them. That goes with okuma's also, buy the med sized one's. The first Cabela's reels from many years ago were better than my sealines, they just didn't last.

[pap]

You are 110% correct on don't buy the DM20 models or the DM15 models,I forgot to mention that, thanks for that piece of info I left out. I have 4 DM30 2 DM45;s

[skipper9]

http://www.northwoodsoutlet.com/ before you buy check out this place for prices on counter reels. Cheapest i have found.

[fish/n/chics]

Every time I head north I stop off at northwoods. Was there last Sunday,its the best place I know of for bigger ticket.. fishing gear.I still support the local shops as often as possible

[OneEyedWilly]

Wakina,
For your information I sent the guy a private message on where to get the best price on reels. I just did not post that bc they are not sponsors of the site. I am just trying to help the guy. I was not trying to be abrasive. My opinion is that if you want to troll on erie you are going to burn some fuel. So budget your trips and go one or two less times and that can cover the majority or all the cost of the reels. I have bought many things that I find that I wasted money on after a few years when if I would have just spent a little more money upfront, it would have cost less. Example, cheap trolling bags for 60 bucks. Then spending 100 more on amish bags a few years later which have lasted 6 times as long as my cheap bags. So 160 total or 100 upfront. Just saying its expensive why not make your purchase worth while??