Tolling Cranks

[Dock Boy]

I'm a rookie at this and I'm looking for some help. Never tried it, but would like to learn how to. What tools do I need for this type of fishing, rod, line, cranks, what speed to troll at. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[PikeBayCommanche]

Heres a post from a while back on speed.

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=785637&page=3&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

I would say get a book such as the Trollers Bible and read it over that will get you started. From there experience in where it counts.

Good Luck

[Nodak7mm]

Best advise, go out with someone who trolls cranks and observe and absorb. Offer to pay for his gas or whatever it takes make him your best buddy, till you feel confident. Or find a guide and tell him you want to learn... Well worth the 150$ a day for lessons... You could easily spend that on "wrong/inappropriate equipment". If thats not an option:

A quick rundown on basic entry level equipment: I suggest you go to your local sporting goods store, big chains such as Gander, Cabelas, Scheels. Find the trolling rod/big water rod selection and choose a medium/lite or medium action rod either in a 7' or greater( dont need to spend a lot of $ on a trolling rod). Look for the ones marked "Planer Board or Downrigging". Good backbone and a soft tip are what you want.. I personnaly like the med lite downrigging rods for flatlining cranks, really soft tip that telegraphs how my lure is running. Get yourself a Diawa accudepth 27 or a sealine (sealines are twice as much, but you get what you pay for also) Or if you have a decent bait caster already, get a line counter you attach on the rod. Linecounters are not necessary, but are extremely conveniant. Get it spooled up with 10 lb mono or braid, your call. Positives and negatives to either. Get a handfull of deep shad raps to start with (beware, buying cranks is addicting). MUST GET a copy of "Precision Trolling", 8th addition is most current. Pick up Walleye Critical Concepts 3 & 4. This will bring your knowledge base up drastically. Do a search on tolling for walleyes.

Dont be afraid to ask questions..

Rod

[Team Otter]

There are several posts from page 1 to page 5 of this forum in relation to trolling crank baits for 'eyes. Take a few minutes and sift through each one of those topics. There is a "boat load" of good information in each of these posts. If you still have questions, please feel free to fire away!

[Dock Boy]

I have bought all the stuff for cranken all I need now are some cranks. I will be fishing mostly 19 to 34 ft of water. What cranks does a guy absolutely have to have in his box when he heads to the water. Any help would be great. Thanks guys

[Tony Holland]

All sizes of Shad Raps 5,7,9

Deep Down Tail dancers

Wally Divers

Wally Minnows

Husky Jerks

Deep Husky Jerks

[BFD]

All of the above in perch, silver/blue, and gold/black for clear water.........and clown, firetiger, & chartruce for darker water. When you buy them expect to lose them.... especially when trolling. Either pike / rocks / or logs take at least $100 worth from me every season. Good luck..

[Dock Boy]

When your trolling the cranks and you get a hit. Do you idle back or keep the boat going the same speed?

[Team Otter]

I typically idle back just to be sure.

[Tony Holland]

If fishing planer boards i will keep in gear until i can get the planer board off then go to idle. Keeps pressure on fish. While you clear other boards or slowly bring in the board.

[solbes]

A couple of my favorites that were not already mentioned:

Rapala Tail Dancers, deep 11

Reef Runner Deep Divers

Yo-Zuri MD Crank-n-Dive (and the bigger one if you can find it)

I love the medium size Wally Divers and Deep Husky Jerk 12's as well. The later was catching northerns one after another for me the other day.

[iland99]

Lately I've become a pretty big fan of Salmo Hornets.

[Jim Hudson]

Salmo Hornets are definately good!!! Along with the Sting!!!

The new Berkley Flicker Shads are something to look at also, a bait designed by Keith Kavajecz and Gary Parsons.

Overall in the depths you are looking at, you can run almost any kind of crank... be it shallow diver or deep diver by using devices to help you get to a target depth. Snap weights, keel weights, leadcore.. etc etc.

[Dock Boy]

Just ordered $400 of cranking equipment from cabela's and Precision Trolling 8th edition. Please let me know guys if you have any other techniques or help full hints in getting me started. Where to you guys look structurally when heading out to crank. I will be fishing mostly on glacierally carved lakes (very rocky). Not soup bowls like LOW or Mille Lacs. Mostly on Kabetogama, Namakan, and Rainy.

[BFD]

Find a nice large flat area near an island, or hump, mid lake and troll the deeper edge during the day and the flat at night. Or a long point that goes out into the deep main lake area troll around & on it and the inside & outside turns of the point. Or a good weed-edge in 10-18 fow. Or around every island you see. Or all over near a river inlet to the lake. In rivers troll in front of and just behind wing dams, or on large flats near shallow backwater areas. Burn some gas and you'll get fish!

[walleye_82]

I use 14LB Fireline it is thinner and shows more of how the lure is running. I found that Mono dosn't react as good as the Fireline. Also i like the extra lb on the fireline. One thing to get when trolling are some good rod holders. Holding on to the rod while trolling can realy give your arms a work out.

[hitthebricks]

Dock boy, Do you work at Sandy point? HTB

[Dock Boy]

Nope, I don't work at Sandy

[Dock Boy]

Ok guys, I just got my G Loomis 7/10 crankbait rod and I have the Diawa Sealine reel. I also have my power pro 10/2 line and 8ib mono for the lead. I have never owned a baitcaster line counter reel in my life. How do I spoll the power pro on to my reel. Someone told me I need to put backer line on before my power pro. I have two reels and 500 yards of PP. How or what do I need to do first to get these babies ready for tommarrow. Thanks guys for all or your help.

[croixeyes]

Dock-boy...congrates on the purchase.Im assuming you bought either the 27 or 17 diawa.Ive got the 27s and ive spooled them up with 15/4 pp.I put on enough mono backer to spool on 400 feet of pp on each.Make sure when you put on your pp that it fills the spool to max capacity,you will get a more accurate count on your reels.400 ft of pp doesnt take up that much space on your reel,so dont be afraid to use alot of backing.

[Dock Boy]

Eyes I bought the 27. How should the line look on the spoll. How do I know when I have enough on. Thanks

[toddb]

Fill spool up to about 1/8" to 1/4" from full with mono, 10 or 12 # cheap stuff. I use 14# fireline and start with then 1/4" measurement. The line you are using may be a little smaller diameter so it might take a little experimenting. Fill the rest with superline. I usually go to wide open space and walk off about 200 yards of superline. Tie it off to something then attach to mono. I like to put it on the spool very tightly so it is packed on the spool. This will help from having the superline bury itself in the spool if you have too tight of a drag setting. If it isn't full unwind and put more mono on. It might take a little time, but you should only have to do this once. A full spool is also essential for line counter accuracy. If you only fill it half way the counter can be up to 30% off. Your line pickup rate is also faster with a full spool. When the line starts to show wear reverse it and your good to go.

later,

toddb

[Dock Boy]

First off I would like to thank everyone for all of your help. I have all the gear I need to successfully catch a couple eyes on Cranks. I purchased the SeaLine SG27LCA-W. I spolled it up last night got out the tape measure and the line counter is off. I'm using Power Pro 10/2. How do I get my line counter to work correctly. This is a key. Thanks again guys for all of your help.

[Team Otter]

You don't necessarily need to use a monofilament backing prior to spooling your superline. I just wrap the bare spool with black electrical tape and spool the superline right to that. I've never had a problem.

As far as the line counter, how far is it off? If it's within 5 - 10', I wouldn't sweat it.

[Mike Walerak]

Your line counter may be off due to the spool on the reel being full. You will want the line about 1/8 of an inch from the edge of the spool. As for being off 5-10 feet I wouldn't sweat it, I think most reels probably are off a little.

mw