Trolling Setups

[TMF89]

So I have one 8 foot King Kat Fiberglass casting rod, and just picked up another. These are fairly heavy duty fiberglass rods, and I was thinking they would make decent trolling rods for muskies? For a reel I was thinking a pair of Accudepths, but I'm not sure if I should get 27s or 47s. The 47s are slightly to big for my liking, but I like the lower gear ratio, and I feel like a larger reel is just sturdier overall. As for line I was thinking 65 or 80lb Power Pro? What do you guys think?

[TMF89]

Sorry for the double post, but I forgot to ask, how much line would you guys recommend for trolling?

[RK]

Hiya -

They'll probably be good trolling rods in most situations - the one exception possibly being bouncing over rocks if you do the fall trolling thing on a Shield lake like Lake of the Woods. Really slow action glass rods don't bounce baits out of rocks all that well and you'll snag up once in a while... But snagging is almost inevitable even with a good rod for that kind of thing. The flip side is glass rods are great for keeping fish hooked.

As for reels, I don't think a big reel matters much. It's not like they're king salmon that will run 100 yards. I've used the smaller Tekotas and 20-size Okumas for years and never had a problem. Might work a little harder cranking baits in with the higher gear ratio, but that's about it. If the drag on the smaller size is smooth enough, they'd be fine too. Nothing wrong with the 47-size of course, but it's not a necessity.

For line, I put on maybe 100 yards. No reason to fill the spool with 300 yds of braid when you only use the first 100 feet or so.

RK

[delmuts]

"For line, I put on maybe 100 yards. No reason to fill the spool with 300 yds of braid when you only use the first 100 feet or so."

+ 1

Depending on the reel; you may need to use some type of cheap line as a filler on it first.

[TMF89]

So how much line would you guys recommend? I'm thinking 80lb Power Pro? How deep will I be able to run baits with 80lb with x feet of line out? Basically just examples of "I use this much line to get this bait this deep" so I don't get too little. Like if I wanted to troll Jakes or Believers or some other big bait out in deep water how much line would I need out?

[RK]

How deep baits run varies by bait, obviously. A 10" Jake with 100' of line out runs @ 12 feet. A 10" Believer runs @ 20, an 8" @ 12. Really though, I can't see much reason to run baits more than 100' or so back. I've never encountered a situation where it's necessary anyhow. Put backing on and top it with 100 yards or so of Power Pro and you're more than fine.

[cbrooks]

Do you use planner boards at all RK?

[RK]

Do you use planner boards at all RK?

Yeah - a fair amount actually, especially early in the season when I'm trolling open water before the thermocline sets up.

For boards, I use mono. Usually 20 or 25#, either XT or Trilene Big Game. Mono holds in releases a lot better, and with the stretch it keeps fish hooked until you can get the board to the boat and unhook it. With mono they're on a big rubber band so you never get any slack line for them to throw the hook or pull it out pulling against a submerged board.

RK

[Scoot]

Rob, I thought you ran mono on all of your trolling rigs?

[cbrooks]

I've been using power pro but I might have to look into switching to mono. I might just try the boards with the line I have on already but if they don't work with the boards the PP is out there. Thanks RK

[10,000 Casts]

I haven't found a need for a line counter, would it be nice, sure but we have alot of other things that we spend our money on. As far as depths of baits, we are finding that 20' is too deep in most situations, 14' and shallower seem to be best for us and you don't need alot of line out. And this year we are looking for baits to even up our spread and have one, 4ft down, 12', 14' and 20' and sometimes one in the prop wash but due to MN and 1 line law, we can only do that when we have 4 people in the boat (argggg). We used planner boards a few times last year and didn't boat a fish on them but did boat a couple on the inside lines when they were out. It makes sense but they were alot of hassle and only needed when we had 4 lines out. All of our trollong rods are graphite and have superbraids on there. Knock on wood, we haven't lost a fish in 2 years and we haven't broken a rod yet, but when you troll alot, you can see how it takes its toll of your equipment.

[RK]

Hiya -

Scoot: I use mono and braid both. Mono on boards and mostly braid on flat lines, although as long as I'm not crashing rocks like on LoTWs or pulling spinnerbaits I have no problem flatlining mono. I grab whatever rod is on top and the least tangled in the rod box. How's that for a scientific approach?

10k - I rarely find the need to run baits deeper than 20', other than fall trolling sometimes on Trout water up north. In my experience the fish you see deeper than 20 don't bite much. For open water trolling, I would bet most of my fish come from 10 feet and less. One of my favorite open water trolling baits is a Bomber Long A, and I bet that runs all of 3' down. As far as boards vs flat lines, it seems like on any given day it's one or the other. Fish either come on the boards, or the flat lines. Clear, calm, sunny days are great for boards, especially if bait is up high. Part of it is fish spooking away from the boat I'm sure, but I honestly think part of it is the boards spooking baitfish and getting them racing around. I'm happy when I see ciscoes skipping around my boards.

The other thing with boards... I have never, EVER, caught a fish on a board going into the wind. Always going downwind. Lord knows why, but I'm not the only one to make that observation either...

Cheers,

RK