trolling question

[old man]

hey trollers,help me out. i'm gonna do a bunch more trolling next year and i need some advice. i want to buy two decent rod and reel combos to troll with. what are you guys using?

i made this rod holder when i still had two hands. i did't want to drill a bunch of holes in my boat yet. it mounts on a pedastal in the rear casting deck. only 5 months til i can try it out.

[NitroMusky]

That looks pretty sweet old man! A lot nicer than the one I've got rigged up with a 2x4.

My first set up was a daiwa accudepth plus 47lca which I bought as a combo with a 9.5 ft gander dipsy rod. It's been solid but the stock drags suck, so I upgraded those to carbontex for 10 apiece. Been good ever since and the drags are incredible now. My latest reels are okuma convector 55L for the lead core paired with okumas classic pro GLT copper rod. I really like these convector reels and my next purchase will be the line counter version in the 30 size which I will put mono on for short lining. its a bit more dough than the accudepth but worth it IMHO.

As sol will tell you, be careful with plastic spools particularly if you are going to run mono. Otherwise his okuma magdas seemed great when I was out with him.

As for rods, even the inexpensive trolling rods are good from my experience and what I've read. The dipsy rods seem to work well but I like the solid guides on the Classic Pros.

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[ray koziatek]

Hey pops looks good ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,But dont try to run dyspys with plastic rod holders itwill bit ya in the arse one day..specially that time you forget to double check yer drag and its still tight from a retrive or fight..

The lightest holder I recomend is the tightlock brand ,even those are borderline for agressive fishing trips..Just don't want ya to invest in a nice setup (rod reel) toss in another 100.00 bucks for wire,dypsy,attracter,fly,and termanal tackle(another place not to buy discount stuff)..and youll be makin your first donation to the "fish gods" sooner than youll think. everything on my boat is rummage sale or used so i dont have much research info for ya ..

Please do yerself a favor place a "wanted add" on this site i have the "big johns holders"

and know the cisco's are good stuff too.

I have a brand new okuma 30 and some used dyspy rods and a couple tightlocks laying around if times are tuff and ya need to save a few bucks,ill bet I have a fly or two and some other stuff to help ya get started ,or back in the game. but ya better pm me asap as ill be scarse after Christmass..

[NitroMusky]

Ray, you reminded me I wanted to ask what brand those holders are. They look look like folbes. I've heard great things about them but Im not a big fan of the clamshell design, for down rods at least. Trust issues about the rod popping out I guess, a lot of guys run that style just fine.

Quite the debate over plastic, those against typically haven't run it; but I haven't had a problem. 65lb line gave out before the rod or holder the one time the aforementioned 'drag n snag' issue happened to me. Plenty of other times I thought they would break...they flex but never break. #1 Dypsies at 3.5-4 with the ring on. No prob. Got lots of trust now.

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[solgrande]

hey oldman...i run the cabela`s depthmaster gold dmg-20`s w/80#cortland masterbraid on 7`med/hvy uglysticks and luv the setup(2rigs).I also run 2 magda 20`s with the okuma copper 9`rods and 30#cortland endurance mono.These 2 setups i use for not so haed pulling baits as i blewout two spools pulling harder deep diving baits.Since i`ve stopped doing that they have worked great with the smaller baits.The 7`ers i runn on down rods and the longer for the outs?flatline.Leadcore is rigged on two Penn 330gt2 reels matched with the 7`med/hvy uglystik.I use scotty holders throughout my boat.

any luck down at swifts landing lately?

sol

[NitroMusky]

hey sol

im convinced those magdas would not have blown out with braid. i think its the extra pressure that happens when mono is spooled while its stretched that did it. have you thought about putting the braid on those and the mono on the depth masters?

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[old man]

good info,thanks guys. now another question. i was lookin at leadcore line at dicks today. i spend a lot of time puttin green marker ink on my braids,yet that leadcore is all different loud colors. do you use a flouro leader at the end of that stuff or what?

[NitroMusky]

Yeah, long leader- nearly as long as the rod. I think mine is like 6 or 7 ft if memory serves...too comfy on the couch to ck tho.

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[solgrande]

Rod length...and no nitro,staying with the mono on those two for shallow running.

[Nalod]

Here is my 2 cents on rod holders:

I started off using plastic rod holders for my trolling. They were fine at the beginning, but my new poles started to bend them too much. I switched to Down-East (with the double clamps) and am really loving them! It took a few trips to satisfy me that they will not pop on their own and now I have total confidence in them.

--Joe

[zach]

I highly recommend only the Down East's. Plastic is going to give you problems. Please do yourself a favor and get down east's. I used plastic holders for one day and then bought 6 down east's for my boat. Rods- anything over 8.5' for the side rods in a heavy or x-heavy and short ones for the back. Okuma's? Can't recommend them, had 2 break on me this year just from trolling. I recommend Penn's as I have 15 years on 2 of them. I personally use 80lb braid but know of others that use 65lb to get deeper. If you look around they make pedestals for clamp on down easters that allow you to get them higher off the rail and this allows you to get those tips in the water if need be. Good luck old man. Oh- if your going to do alot of trolling make sure you have a decent radio b/c it gets boring some times.

[solgrande]

one gets what is available @ the time.I`ll run`m `til they break!!Am gonna mount some down easts though.My drags are on the lite side..at troll speed hooks will bury.I have had the scottys expand from heavy drag b4(1x in alot of hrs),but the form returned.I won`t take them all off but maybe a couple-really like the flush mounts!!!.They work for me so far-lucky i guess.

sol

[mostlymuskies]

The problem with the plastic rodholders is when it gets below freezing temps outside they can break at the dog leg that seats into the base.I had this happen to me four times before I threw the plastic rodholders out and bought all Downeast Rodholders.Tie a good piece of rope to each one of your plastic rodholders and to your boat cleat,save a rod & reel!

Capt. Larry

[rolmops]

As for leadcore,

I used to run leadcore with about 8 feet long fluorocarbon leaders,but this summer I changed from fluorocarbon to powerpro braid and instead of 8 foot I went to 60 foot.This presentation gives even more stealth and the results have been very good.I doubled my Coho and steelhead catches on the leadcore. Browns will probably go the same next spring

One word of caution though. Neither leadcore nor fluorocarbon or for that matter power braid has any stretch whatsoever.This means that you must work with a very light slip or the first good sized fish will break off with all your gear.

[jimski2]

To attach the the flouro to the leadcore, slide out about a foot of the lead from the end of the line. Form a half hitch in the lead core line end, slide the flouro inside the line where the lead was and move the half hitch down over the flouro. Tighten it up and you are good to go with all the flouro you want to add. Keith Kavajecz adds a hundred yards of flouro to his lead core rigs, but he has some goof reel it in for him. Been there.

[mostlymuskies]

jimski2,That is funny,I have been Keith Kavajecz's Goof as well,with 250 ft of leadcore & fluorocarbon out with a Storm Thunderstick with a small split shot up 20" on the line.Good workout with the 8 lb + walleyes out that far and the boat doesn't stop.

Capt. Larry D. Jones

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