Trolling Cranks

[Sandmannd]

I'm pretty new to fishing with a boat and still learning new things. Trolling cranks confuse me a bit. I get doing it in up to 15 fow just tied to the line but how do you do it in say 40 fow? I know some say bottom bouncer, how does that work though? Do you put seven feet of line after the bouncer to the rap or what do you do. Lets day it can dive five to seven feet.

[Cicada]

I'm set up with a linecounter reel. This way you can play with the amount of line you let out and once you hit a fish or two you can easily replicate the troll.

Next, get a good small diameter super braid like 4LB diameter Fireline. The low diameter will have less water resistance letting the lure get to it's maximum depth. Also, the no stretch results in a better hookup rate. Mono will stretch too much and you will be lucky to land 20% of your hits. You will want to have a mono leader attatched to the lure, but the six to ten feet of line won't have too much stretch.

You can buy deeper running cranks. You might want to write on the lure it's maximum depth or get a book that has tested cranks and tells you how much line to let out to get a certain depth at a certain speed.

I use a fairly stout rod to pull cranks. Not muskie or catfish type heavy but something medium- heavy. Again, this will result in more hookups because too much bend in the rod will act like stretch in mono.

My outfit set me back around a hundred bucks for the line counter reel, rod, and braided line. I have had a blast pulling cranks. Fish just crush them.

Someone will give up some information about leadcore line and maybe bottom bouncers, but I've had little to no experience with them.

[ice-man/vexilar-king]

Leadcore!!! Controlled depth fishing with ANY lure. For the most part it will follow the path of the boat as well. You can Troll at any depth, and I have pulled boards as well! $$$$$$

[hhguide]

That's what I was going to say start looking at leadcore its a great way to go out about it. then you dont have to put a huge crankbait down there if there biting on small baits you can put a 5 or 7 shad down there and watch those pigs smack em'

[fishinfey8]

Can you easily troll out of any boat, or is it like salmon fishing where you need a speed control to dial in the exact speed?? Also, what is a good line counter reel that isn't too pricey??

[Sandmannd]

I got a line counter that connects to any rod for 10 bucks either at fleet or wally world. Seems to work fine. What's a good type of leadcore?

[Team Otter]

Leadcore is an effective way to "go deep" but remember, often times, walleyes will cruise well up in the water column over deep basins, especially in the summer time. So, you don't always need to be on the bottom with the carp and suckers. Ha!

[Cicada]

Diawa(sp.) and Okuma both make linecounter reels in models for less than $50.00. Quantum has now come out with one that is in the $60.00 range. I use a lot of Quantum reels so I wish they'd had them out when I was looking. For fresh water fishng you don't need a large reel. The smaller reel also needs less line to fill the spool.

[PerchJerker]

A thin no-stretch line and deep running baits like reef runners or tail dancers will let you get down to 30 feet or so. If you need to go deeper than that you start to get into more advanced techniques like leadcore and snap weights.

I wouldn't mess around with cranks behind bottom bouncers. Running cranks behind a simple 3-way rig is a better option. This works best with stick baits, it doesn't work as well with deeper running baits like shad raps for instance.

I run my set-ups a little different that cicada does. I don't use any mono leaders on my no-stretch super lines, unless the water is ultra-clear and then I'll run a flouro leader for visibility reasons. For open water trolling I love using mono, it's much easier to fight and land fish on mono than on a no-stretch line. But if I'm flatlining or near weeds / rocks or need the depth or the feel then I'll go with a superline.

TO is right on, if you're going after basin fish you probably don't want to be on the bottom. His point about carp and suckers is a good one ---- other good points are that you need your bait to be above the fish because they'll rise to hit it, and that the fish that are up higher off the bottom are more likely to be the active fish. In states that let you run more than 1 line per angler it's worth running a bait close to the bottom, but here in MN with our 1 line per angler I almost never start in basins with a bait on the bottom.

GPS is all you need for speed control. Varying your speed slightly is usually a good technique, you don't need to lock in on one speed and stay there. S-turns are a great technique.

I like Sealine 17 line counters, they are about $85. Otherwise the Accudpeths and Okumas will get the job done too.

[tunrevir]

Sandman, guedbro is the standard but cabelas makes lead core as well as a couple other companies. 18# and 27# pretty much have the same sink rates but the cabelas line seems to differ between the poundages as far as sink rate with 27 # sinking a bit deeper. The thing to keep in mind as well is that the dacron sheath is the # test rating and the lead filament is just a passive weighting system. I use 27# guedbro and use it for both walleyes and salmon and it achieves the same depths as the 18 when trolled side by side. Remember to push the lead filament out about 6 inches or more prior to tying on your mono leader and backing. Once you get it dialed in it is pretty easy and fun to fish with. For the most part the fish set the hook on the strike and all you have to do is fight them into the boat. I have Okuma magda reels and gander mountain reels and both are sufficient for multiple applications.

Tunrevir~

[fishgutz77]

The Sealine reels are what I use and are a moderately priced reel but if your going leadcore get a reel large enough to hold 5-10 colors of leadcore. Speed control is very key with this method so a GPS to let you know speed will really help you dial your depth in. Every .1 mph in speed gain will raise your bait.

A small manul downrigger with a 2 or 3 lb. ball can work well this way you can get light weight release clips and run small cranks and spoons way down there for eyes and lakers ect.

I've only been experimenting for about 4-5 years now with controlled depth fishing for eyes, salmon and trout and it really is a science and alot of fun but can be expensive.

[fishinfey8]

So, if i want a linecounting reel that has the option to hold leadcore, but probably won't run leadcore off of it (at least for this year), how big of a reel am I looking at? Do most of you have two diff. setups, one specifically for leadcore--since the reels don't seem too spendy it would make sense to skip the hassle of re-spooling if you wanna switch...i just don't know if i'm going to be using leadcore in the future or not!! ANY ADVICE??

[Dooley87]

i am surprised i haven't heard this mentioned yet, dipsey divers, i am not very knowledgable with them but i do know that you can just hook them on to your line and the dipsey diver will dive to a certain depth such as 20 or 30 feet etc... and then your crank is behind the dipsey diver.

we go fishing on michigan once a year with a family friend who has a boat up there and we always have one dipsey out each side of the boat either pullin j plugs or spoons while the rest of the rigs are on downriggers.

[ottertailguy]

Instead of buying a line counting reel I just measure 110 ft on shore and slide a color slip knot up my line. Then all I have to do is let line out until the knot. The only thing I wonder if anyone else has ever done this.

[Team Otter]

What about the cases when you only want to run 40 - 70' back or 115 - 160' back?

[ottertailguy]

I guess you could have more then one knot but for me one is just fine. When I want to fish more than 110' back I'll just let more line out and count to 5 or 10. I have never trolled on purpose less than 100' but I guess you could do the same.

[scaup]

Another option is the use of inline weights. It takes a bit of experimenting (like everything) but I have used them on mono and braided line with great results. The draw back is that for the best results you really should have two people in the boat for unsnapping the inline weight while bringing in the fish. The plus is you don't have to deal with lead core so when you move shallower you can still use the same setup, and with a line conuter you can zero in your depth and do it over and over.

[fishgutz77]

Leadcore let's you go into a stealth mode with very small baits like michigan stingers and #5 shadraps and such. No weights to mess with and it's very acurate once the speed is determined.

Cost effective too cause, your not buying riggers and all the releases and stuff that go with that operation. A good leadcore set up is cheaper in the long run for most operations above 40 fow.

[scaup]

I use #5 Shad Raps with in line weights all the time. As I mentioned working with the weights can be a bit tricky to get the hang of. I don't get the cost effective angle of lead core? I don't use down riggers for in line wieghts. Where I think in line weights are more cost effective is when you are done using the inline wieghts you have reel with mono or braided line on it that can be used for other purposes. I don't think that is the case with lead core.

[ac777]

Or, you could use the sinker dropper. I havent used it myself, but it looks interesting.

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[TMF89]

It does, but does anyone here like the idea of A. Having to litter the lake with lead/sinkers any time you get a hit, and to a lesser point, having to buy them every time you go out?

[Dooley87]

i agree, i am the furthest from one of those tree huggers but just dropping wieghts on every strike is very careless, unless they were titanium, but who wants to have to buy wieghts for every fish caught and those big sinkers aren't cheap. i haven't ever trolled with wieghts but it seems a little complicated thats why i like the idea of dipsey divers, gets down to a specific depth and when a fish strikes it a clip releases and the diver becomes parallel with your line so you can reel it in effortlessly.

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[ac777]

Yeah, i thought of that too, you could attach an extra line to the weight and use it like a home made down rigger though.

[Speilman54]

I think ottertail has a good idea, but what do you do when you start reeling a fish in and that bobber stop gets caught on the top guide on your rod? Happens to me all the time ice fishing..