What type of trolling do you plan to do? leadcore, downriggers, copper, flat lines, dipsys, jets... Be a little more specific as to what type of techniques you plan to do and you will get loads of help from the guys on here.
I have two, one 45 spooled with 300 copper that's been flawless, and one 30 that's spooled with 30# powerpro for dipsy duty. The 30s' linecounter sticks occasionally on the way in but other than that it's been awesome. Contacted okuma and they said send it in no questions asked, and I'm the second owner of this reel. The newer issued ones are said to be relatively bug-free
not quite sure the lake could support another apex predator, I believe back when they decided to stock chinooks they were considering stocking stripers also/instead.
Dicks sporting goods usually has the best prices around here. I know most people say shop local, and I do when I can but being 21 and having a student budget I can't be picky.
This time of year go just a bit deeper out from where you fish them in the spring (open water) and look higher in the water column, especially towards dark with minnows
In my experiences plastics produce larger panfish during the open water than live bait. Its also nice not having to rebait after each fish during a hot bite.
dicks sporting goods has them on sale 5$ right now, just picked up few of the minnows, The bills seem like they're going to be prone to breaking. Haven't had good luck with rapalas quality lately. Lots of lips falling out (original/jointed), hooks pulling out, and tails falling off(jiggin rap).
Inline planers like walleye boards or offshore boards? I don't see what the purpose would be. Maybe if you were using larger boards like tx44's to pull lighter rigs like short leadcores or coppers, if you try to pull too much weight on any of the inline boards they're just going to get pulled back from all the weight. Better off just running the inline boards as inline boards and not using the mast or using big boards off a mast.
Ruger1nut has 550' of 60# spooled on a shimano tyrnos50 2speed lever drag that we're looking to try out this year. Hoping that higher gear ratio will make quick work of 550' haha