Spinning reels for trolling

[jkcffs]

Just curious if anyone out there trolling for salmon on Lake Ontario uses spinning reels off their down riggers instead of the standard level wind reels? The reason why I ask is that my crazy wife likes to fish with the spinners instead of the standard. She thinks the drag is smoother and the whole out fit is better balanced .I can't argue with her yet because it seems to work. The reels we have hold 300 yards of 20 Lbs braided line.The biggest fish so far is 26 plus pounds with many more in around 20 range. Not sure what a 30 plus pound beast would do to the reel or line.

Fished out of olcott for the last two years and became a fishing junkie and may need professional help for this condition.Thank you all for this great site it is like therapy to me on these cold days. Jeff

[Big Dave]

Its to late for help for the Salmon fever.  You could try a rod with a sprial wrap on the guides that helps with rod balance.  might be easier for your wife to handle  the spinning reel under the rod.  Usually the convential reels hold more line and don't twist the llne like a spinning reel will if you crank against the drag,     I hear the therapy part too !!

Edited January 18, 2014 by Big Dave

[LongLine]

Years ago I started out using Spinning reels off the rigg'rs - Mitchell's.  I soon found out that I had to unwind the line as I lowered the rigg'r.  If free spooled or loosened the drag to let line out, the line twisted real bad.  Other than that, fighting the fish with rod in right hand, high speed ratio, they worked pretty well.  Definitely use a deep spool with a lot of line and keep an eye on your drag assembly.  Years ago they (drags) weren't nearly as good as the level winds (of years ago). 

 

Tom B.

(LongLine) 

[Xxx]

I used spinning rod and reels off the planer boards, I used the sweep of the rod figuring every sweep was about 3ft I did this 33 times figuring I was around 90 to 100ft and clipped it to the planner board line and the next one I would do 10 sweeps less and so on, it worked ok, but I eventually went to all line counters. They are more accurate and faster to set up, as I usually only run 3 rods of each side and 1 shallow off each rigger and one lead core down in the back wash and many times this was the hot rod, of course I'm talking about spring browns and the same basic set up when fishing for walleyes. Most of the time I only have my uncle with so we are stuck with 6 rod limit where I'll run 2 rods off the boards on each side and 1 rod off each rigger. 

[Sluggo / NY]

I don't use them for Lake O salmon, but I've got a bunch of "bait-runner" spinning reels that I use on the downriggers for finger lakes trout or Lake Erie walleye. They have a dual drag and each is adjustable so you can drop your rig on a light drag without line twist.. then flip the switch to the primary drag. Works great for lightweight stuff. Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

[Has Been]

If that's all you have RUN EM. This fall out of my little boat I used a 8'6" Steelhead spin combo I got at a garage sale for 15 bucks. Landed about 10 fish on it before It got caught between the rigger handle & broke.

[justtracytrolling]

Before I had all of my line counter setups I ran spinning reels of my riggers, and I still use them once in while for browns and walleye just for kicks.  Not really ideal, but it works.

justin

[rbonnell]

I use them got a ten pound steel head on one last year

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Sk8man]

I used to use them on the Fingers and Lake O as well in the Spring back in the 70's with my outriggers because I could cast them way out and then put the line in the release much quicker than letting line out gradually with bait casting reels but the line capacity (Ryobi's) was pretty limited and I got "spooled" once and that was it for them

[traveling man]

if that is all it takes to make your wife happy...run em.

[TyeeTanic]

if that is all it takes to make your wife happy...run em.

 

Best answer so far.  If that's all it took to get my wife fishing, I'd put spinning reels on the boat. lol.

 

Anyhow, the drag system is much better on the level wind, as the line comes out tangentially to the drag, whereas with spinning reels the direction of force (from the line) needs to be redirected to the drag which is offset by 90 degrees. In the end you have the spool on a spin reel have a force not around the axis, but off-centered. The simpler answer is it pulls the reel to one side, so the full drag isn't really working evenly. That's why for big game fishing you will always see level wind reels.  You can have much stronger drag mechanisms this way.

 

But who cares, if she wants to use them, let her use them. 

[Sk8man]

OR if you want to discourage her from it get her an ultralight and let it get spooled

[Captain Carl Bish]

Love catching spring kings on a med action 7' salt water rod with a penn 5000, 20# big game mono.

Spinning reels are great for LO size fish if you have some skill, not the best for newbies on a charter boat.