trolling speed

[jighead 3]

i have a 16.5 alumacraft magnum with a 75 horse mercury motor and a minkota trolling motor what are my options for trolling cranks does any one have any tips for me on how i should be trolling with my boat

[Dave B]

Put the big motor in gear and hold on. You may miss out on certain times when they want it very slow (then move to trolling motor), but you should be able to troll just fine with you set up. You might even want to kick it up a bit of you arent getting fish.

[Deitz Dittrich]

your 75 should do just fine... If you feel you are going to fast, throw out a drift sock.

[Borch]

Early in the spring and late in the fall I'm generally trolling in the 1.7-2.5 mph range. During these times you may need to throw out a drift soft like Deitz mentioned. Just remember to pull the sock before you take out. Your boat will be very sluggish otherwise.

I know several guys who troll cranks with their bow mount trolling motors exclusively unless the wind is howling. So if you have a good trolling motor witih a battery that will last that'll definitely work as well.

Good Luck!

[Rost]

If your boat is a tiller, you can always turn around and back troll. I've never pulled cranks back trolling, but I have seen it done before.

[BobT]

Depending on the crankbait you're using you might find different ones work better at different speeds. Some of my best summer walleye fishing has been speed trolling with cranks. We were moving fast enough to leave a wake.

Bob

[Chad Halvorson]

If your going too fast using the big motor, drop your front trolling motor and use it to fight the gas motor, works great and you can fine tune your speed by .1, at least on mine I can and I dont see why others couldnt. Drift Socks get in the way .

[croixeyes]

Im going to assume you dont have a tiller since the 16.5 magnum is probably rated for a 60 on the tiller version.Go to cabelas and pick up their smallest drift sock.You should be able to tie a section of rope to each cleat on the front of your boat.Run the sock on the rope so it can slide back and forth along it,this makes turning alot easier.Make sure to measure your rope,you have to be able to put it over the front of the boat .However when your trolling you dont want the sock to get in the motor,see how far back the sock goes before you get out on the water.Ive done this with longer boats and it works great,the sock being able to slide back and forth as you turn and it doesnt get twisted up

[azzclwn]

I have the exact same setup as you, going downwind/downcurrent I find that I move in the 2.2-2.4mph range with the 75 just bumped into gear. Up current or upwind I move at a much more tolerable 1.8 mph

Try the drift sock stretched between the front cleats, sounds like it accomplishes your goal of slowing down, without losing the maneuverability of the boat.

[LMITOUT]

I have the same Alumacraft but with a 60HP. I've been trolling with no driftsock up until last year and have caught plenty of fish. But, I think that I may have had better luck earlier in the year if I could have slowed down more. Later in the summer the speed thing won't be as critical but early on the driftsock can get you down to a better speed to present your crank.

A 36" driftsock seems to work really well with this size boat and a 60HP motor, and I'm sure it'd be fine with the 75HP too. I also have a 52" sock as well but that's much too big for trolling.

[Team Otter]

1.5 - 2.0 mph is a good starting point.

[Hockey Guy]

I’m able to adjust my speed just by trimming the motor up and down. Changing the angle of the thrust does wonders.

[d.roy]

Alright, next question. Assuming you have line counters, where do you guys like to start as to # of feet of line out for shallow water trolling (4-8 fow)???

[Paul Waldowski]

The amount of line that you have out is more dependent upon the lure you are running. With a shallow running shad rap or husky jerk I will generally have out 100-110 feet of line. This is with 10lb test diameter as Line diameter will also make a difference on how deep your lure will run.

[LMITOUT]

Exactly what Paul said. It all depends on what type of lure you're using.

In that shallow of water, I don't use a line counting reel and use the "feel" method instead.....keep letting out line until I feel the lure start to tick the bottom or start pulling on weeds. If it does I then reel in just a bit. I like to start in the shallower water because then I know where I'm at if I drift out a few feet deeper.

[Tony Boshold]

droy,

Look for a "Trollers bible", it will tell you the distances to let out for just about any lure and type of trolling as well as so much other info. It really puts it all out there for you to get a better understanding of the dynamics of trolling. Make sure you find the latest edition, the old ones are often "on sale."

I might fish #5 shad raps 12-17' behind a board in that shallow water during the day. It seriously depends on the lure you are using. And you can use just about any lure, if you have the book, know how deep it runs and at what length of line.

The book is well worth the price of admission. Hope this helps.

[Borch]

Do a google for precision trolling. You'll find everthing you'll need.

[Mike Walerak]

Another vote for Precision Trolling. A nice feature is the Fireline conversion chart. The charts are right on too, which takes all the guess work out of where your lures are actually running.

mw

[Paul Waldowski]

If you do any trolling at all you will want that book

[LMITOUT]

That book is priceless when it comes to trolling. A buddy of mine used the book to create a one-page spreadsheet with the more popular lures and their depths. It works great and saves the time of thumbing through the book.

[Blaze]

I'm also a newbie to trolling cranks, but have been seeing some success and how valuable it is in the walleye arsenal. The thing I always question is how to troll shallow with a drift sock off the bow. If you're working 4-6' of water, wouldn't the sock spook the fish since you're dragging it within a couple feet of them? I have a 17' Lund Fisherman/140 Johnson 4 stroke and I either need to drag my drift sock or back troll, which is a pain for maintaining boat control. Thoughts?

[Team Otter]

Your 4-stroke should easily be able to maintain a decent trolling speed (i.e. 1.5 - 2.0 mph) without using anything.

[Mike Walerak]

One trick I use to shave a few tenths of a mph off is to drop the bow mount in the water. I use this in windy situations to help controll speed especially when trolling with the wind.

Before I had a kicker, I used a small drift sock to slow the boat down and did not have troubles with boat controll or spooking fish.

mw

[PerchJerker]

"Big" 4-strokes like you have typically troll a lot faster than you want for walleyes. Like others mentioned, the 2 easiest tricks to slow you down are to drop your electric motors in the water and turn them so they produce as much water resistance as possible, and trim out your motor.

Another thing to consider is getting a prop for trolling. Drop down in pitch to go slower. It won't be the best prop for running fast and you'll have to be careful to not over-rev your motor, but spare props are not very expensive and are easy to switch around as needed. Good luck.

[croixeyes]

If your fishing shallow with a sock try throwing out some boards to get your cranks away from the boat.