How fast to troll?

[Kyle Sandberg]

How fast or more precisly, what speed do you troll to get a TDD 11 down to the thirty feet. The Trolling Bible says you have to let out 200' but doesn't say how fast to go. Thanks for the help.

[Grant Pearson]

I really don't think you need that much line out. I'd be more comfortable with 120 feet out. As far as speed, I'd say between 1.5 mph and 3 mph, depending on all the variables like time of year, weather conditions, and activity. I usually keep my trolling between 1.5 and 2 mph when trolling for walleyes.

[RedDB76]

Speed will only matter if you are using weight to get your crank down (e.g. snap weights, lead core, bottom bouncer). For a diving crank bait your biggest variables are line type (diameter and bouyancy) and amount of line out.

For getting down that deep, I would be using a braided line. I don't have the dive charts in front of me - but I know they really flatten out after 100 feet. 200 feet is a LOOOONG way - at least for countour trolling - for open water trolling its no problem.

The best way is to test it out - go to a flat that is, say 25 feet deep and start letting out line. Engage the reel, and when you feel it ticking off the bottom, you can measure how much line you put out (hopefully with a linecounter!). Then move deeper and try again.

[toddb]

160' with 14# fireline will get you down to that 30' range give or take 10' of line. I don't use mono for longling due to the fact that you lose lure response with that much line out. Get say an 8'6" softer trolling rod (planer board rods work for me) and some fireline and you are set. 10# fireline will get you gown there on a shorter line, but is not as durable if you are fishing close to rock structure. I usually run TD11'S around 2.4 to 2.8 MPH GPS. This combination works well on Lake of the Woods for me and should work on other lakes also.

later,

toddb

[Team Otter]

Perfect response. I couldn't have said it any better.

[ripstick]

I like trolling 1.7 to 2.3 Some times you have to watch if the fish are hitting lite or short. tou mite want to try a more suttle action bait. Hitting fast and hard a fast action one. Good luck also get a good line counter.

[Kyle Sandberg]

I judge the 200' on the troller guide where is said with 10 lb mono, you should let out that much line. I haven't hit bottom yet. I went out today and tried trolling for a little at the end before I packed it up. Was going around 1.5. Seemed to be getting down.

Thanks for all the replys.

[toddb]

If you are fishing a softer bottom (sand/mud) with 200' on mono out you will have a harder time detecting bottom with the TD11's. With the amount of line bowing at 200' it would look like your bait is running pretty much straight back. Most of the depth is obtained in the first 100' so you won't be able to judge solely with how it appears. Believe the Bible, from what I've seen those guys did a pretty good job. If I were you at this time of year, I would also crank up the speed a little. Another thing I would try with the big deep divers is fireline, It does wonders in the lure response dept.

later,

toddb

[solbes]

Ditto the Fireline for getting deeper. I have the Precision Trolling book as well and it has proven to be pretty accurate. They tested various Fireline diameters and found it could get the lures deeper than mono (10-20% if I remember right). The reason being it has a flat profile. They also determined there is no penalty on depth for 10 lb vs 8 lb. So 10 lb it is for me; this year in Crystal color. Great stuff for trolling.

[Fish&Fowl]

Don't overlook PowerPro for deep trolling cranks. I use the 10 lb. with the diameter of 2 lb. with tail dancers and reef runners and can easily hit 28-30 ft. with 150 ft. of line out.

[DinkADunk]

I'm not a huge fan of running 200' of line out back (I mostly contour troll) and if I need to consistantly go deep I'll use downriggers (even light duty ones) with 4lb balls to get down 10-25' and then let the lure take over from there (for the last 10-20'). That way I keep the ball out of the weeds and avoid most of the breaks and still run the lure's around 30-60' back.