trolling/diver help

[Madd Matt]

Quick Response:

Line Counters - Great! if they are built in. Otherwise, mark your line every 25 feet with good nail polish or paint for now.

Divers - Fantastic idea... however many of us that use divers also run in line weights (ie.. 2oz inline) on worm harnesses anyway so in-line weights are fine too for worm harnesses. You can google in-line weight depth charts and get depths based on weight and speed and line length... If you do use divers, i recommend 40 Tru Trips. Most reports you hear on the radio will be for 40 Tru Trips, or will be for something that you can easily convert to work with 40 Tru Trips. Dipsy Divers are a good alternative if you only have 2 guys and are running 4 rods as they are directional and you can set them to run away from the boat, and 2 to run straight behind, or slightly offset.

If you are going to use offshore boards, you will have to get advise from someone who uses them. I went from your situation of drifting and being gone for a couple years, straight to the big outrigger boards. I love them!

I'd recommend that you go out with Skipper9 (Eye Hunter Charters) for a trip. He has spots open for a walk-on every once in a while. Tell him that you only want to go with him to learn how to troll. He will give you more knowledge than you can absorb in a trip and give it freely. Well... for the price of the charter. He won't hold anything back, and he will even give you a couple good baits that he or his first mate have custom made and painted... (Now watch, I'll get an invoice for 2 lures) lol I don't have any connection with Skipper9 other than I leach information from him whenever I can. He hasn't stopped taking my calls yet.

[870 ExpressMag]

Thanks for the info, as of right now only one of my rods has braid on it, i just put it on due to loving it on the rod i used on the charter. the rest of them still have mono, but may be switching more over to braid because i love the feel. so if i use a trutrip 40 and a board, this will help keep me from tangling up all the lines as opposed to just using divers? we have two pole holders, one out each side, and 3 spaced acrossed the back of the boat, a lot of time we troll 4 rods as 5 can sometimes get the lines pretty close especially when weaving between drifting boats, so probably boards is my best bet for keeping things un-tangled? i have never run a board before and am not familiar. My plan is to get out on skipper9 boat sometime, only reason i went on the other charter was one of the manufacturers we sell for took a bunch of dealers out so i didnt get to pick, but it was a free trip! are trolling rods really a necessity right now? i have been trolling 6ft med action fast tip rods, and a 7' med ugly stik and havnt had any problems yet, but dont know what will happen with the new hardware pulling behind em

[Madd Matt]

Thanks for the info, as of right now only one of my rods has braid on it, i just put it on due to loving it on the rod i used on the charter. the rest of them still have mono, but may be switching more over to braid because i love the feel. so if i use a trutrip 40 and a board, this will help keep me from tangling up all the lines as opposed to just using divers? we have two pole holders, one out each side, and 3 spaced acrossed the back of the boat, a lot of time we troll 4 rods as 5 can sometimes get the lines pretty close especially when weaving between drifting boats, so probably boards is my best bet for keeping things un-tangled? i have never run a board before and am not familiar. My plan is to get out on skipper9 boat sometime, only reason i went on the other charter was one of the manufacturers we sell for took a bunch of dealers out so i didnt get to pick, but it was a free trip! are trolling rods really a necessity right now? i have been trolling 6ft med action fast tip rods, and a 7' med ugly stik and havnt had any problems yet, but dont know what will happen with the new hardware pulling behind em

There are people far better than I to address your questions, but no one has answered yet, so I'll give you my 2 cents.

If you are comfortable currently trolling 5 rods, you may not "need" boards. Dippy divers will get your side rods away from the boat, and you can use a setting (0,1,2,3) on them. If you set them on "0" they go straight back... Theoretically. If you set them on "3" they will swim offset a great deal. So in short, if you ran dipseies off the side on a 3 setting, the 2 corner rods off the back at a 1.5 setting, and the middle rod at a "0" setting, then you would have a nice fanned out spread.

Sounds good.. However, you now have 3 rods directly out the back of the boat (or close to it). There are a lot of fisherman who swear that one of the best reasons for using boards is to get out away from the boat because the lines behind the boat are being trolled through water that fish just swam away from because of the fact that your boat and engine just went through it. If fish are swimming away from the noise of your boat, they are going to swim left or right and when they do, all of your lines are 8' - 100' away (using big boards).

I troll 95% of the time. I use MH 6'6" or 7' ugly stix. I catch a lot of fish. There are far more expensive, and even better rods... I've just never spent the money and I catch plenty of fish.

Keep in mind, Dipsey divers are lead based weight diver and sink when not moving. Jet divers are a "fin" based diving system and when they stop moving they float... Regardless of hitting the bottom if you stop, you will need to decide what happens to your lines when you stop. Your setup will determine what the best system to use is. For example, you may want to run Dipsey divers out the side and jets out the back, one maybe 1 jet straight out the back... When you stop with jets and they get slack in the line, because they float, they float at all directions and if you lines are extremely close together then they could possibly tangle.

Boards will help you get your lines away from the boat so you can catch all those fish that hear a boat and run for cover, supposedly... I joke about that, while I am one who strongly believes that this is a true fact, I also am proven wrong all the time when we catch as many or more fish on the lines closest to the boat, or in our wake behind the boat as we do the lines 100' out. And all the ones in between.

-Matt

[870 ExpressMag]

thanks for all the good info guys, i am kinda on information overload! Anyways, couple more questions before i start accumulating some gear little by little....

spinning reels with add on counters, or line counter reels preferred?
if line counting reels, are they switchable side to side as most i see are right hand crank and i crank left hand.

on the tru-trip 40's, what color? probably only get 1 or 2 to start out with

i may try to run a diver without a board first just to get the hang of things, or will this just frustrate me?

also with reef runners, they dive themselves so no need for a diver with these correct? however you can still run them off boards?

once again thanks for the info guys