Trolling Lure Depth

[FSH 210 Sport]

1-You will know when you have caught something because the pole will be going crazy. You can stop occasionally to make sure your bait is still swimming correctly.

2- A fish finder does help.. but you do not need one. Just get the lures the local sporting good store recommends and a decent pole and reel. You will need to figure out some way to lay the rod in such a way that the tip is up. Also, finding the trolling speed is key, for me its 1.8mph. You will have fun figuring it out.

 

[sunbyrned]

1-You will know when you have caught something because the pole will be going crazy. You can stop occasionally to make sure your bait is still swimming correctly.

2- A fish finder does help.. but you do not need one. Just get the lures the local sporting good store recommends and a decent pole and reel. You will need to figure out some way to lay the rod in such a way that the tip is up. Also, finding the trolling speed is key, for me its 1.8mph. You will have fun figuring it out.

Great! This is helpful. Was just going to put the rods in holders attached to the tower. Will that do the trick regarding keeping the rod tip up?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Great! This is helpful. Was just going to put the rods in holders attached to the tower. Will that do the trick regarding keeping the rod tip up?

Absolutely!

I think the speed regulation will be your biggest challenge but with the analog shifting your thrust is infinitely adjustable.

If you get say an ugly stick fishing pole and spinning reel combo at Cabela’s you will get going on the cheap and having some fun. Again, local knowledge (salesman) is great for getting a small variety of baits, different colors and sizes as well as different depths. Since you don’t have a fish finder you’ll just have to experiment with different diving depths of lures. If you can run two poles when by yourself then run a deeper diver and one not as deep.

My boat is set up primarily as a fishing boat, the other day when we went out and tested new stuff I had put on over the winter we were running down riggers at 80’ depth with larger baits, and using rod riggers and the other rod holders to run different lures at different depths. Point is that even with a fish finder I will still not see a lot of fish that could get caught, since we had four people on the boat we, in theory, could run 8 rods. In practice we had 5 rods out.

 

[sunbyrned]

Absolutely!

I think the speed regulation will be your biggest challenge but with the analog shifting your thrust is infinitely adjustable.

If you get say an ugly stick fishing pole and spinning reel combo at Cabela’s you will get going on the cheap and having some fun. Again, local knowledge (salesman) is great for getting a small variety of baits, different colors and sizes as well as different depths. Since you don’t have a fish finder you’ll just have to experiment with different diving depths of lures. If you can run two poles when by yourself then run a deeper diver and one not as deep.

My boat is set up primarily as a fishing boat, the other day when we went out and tested new stuff I had put on over the winter we were running down riggers at 80’ depth with larger baits, and using rod riggers and the other rod holders to run different lures at different depths. Point is that even with a fish finder I will still not see a lot of fish that could get caught, since we had four people on the boat we, in theory, could run 8 rods. In practice we had 5 rods out.

It will mostly just be me out there. Will probably just use two rods. I have the ugly sticks and lures. Good to know I can get away with just those. I think I’ll get the fish finder though. I can see how that will help with terrain. What length of line would you suggest so the engines don’t spook the fish or is that even an issue?

 

[HangOutdoors]

It all depends on the lure and how deep you need/want to go. Different lures at different lengths will go different depths depending on line size and speed.

Kind of decide on what you are going to fish for and the depth of the water roughly where the fish could be. Then it is easier to figure out lure and line length.

I have these reels with counters on them, so it Makes it easy to figure out how much line I have out.

Okuma Cold Water Low Profile Trolling/Conventional Reel | Sportsman's Warehouse (sportsmans.com)

 

[sunbyrned]

It all depends on the lure and how deep you need/want to go. Different lures at different lengths will go different depths depending on line size and speed.

Kind of decide on what you are going to fish for and the depth of the water roughly where the fish could be. Then it is easier to figure out lure and line length.

I have these reels with counters on them, so it Makes it easy to figure out how much line I have out.

Okuma Cold Water Low Profile Trolling/Conventional Reel | Sportsman's Warehouse (sportsmans.com)

I understand length as it relates to depth, but is there any concern as it rates to proximity of the jets? I won’t be using a trolling motor. I appreciate the gear recommendation too!

 

[HangOutdoors]

Not really. I am usually around 75' back give or take and troll with the big engines. I have four rod holders. Two straight back attached to the tower and two more on the tower angled out about 30 degrees. about 10 inches higher than the lower ones, so it pushes the lures out farther.

Here is a pic.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/the-official-what-did-you-do-to-your-jet-boat-today-thread.2661/post-597227

 

[sunbyrned]

Not really. I am usually around 75' back give or take and troll with the big engines. I have four rod holders. Two straight back attached to the tower and two more on the tower angled out about 30 degrees. about 10 inches higher than the lower ones, so it pushes the lures out farther.

Here is a pic.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/the-official-what-did-you-do-to-your-jet-boat-today-thread.2661/post-597227

Ah, that’s cool. I wouldn’t have thought to do that with my holders. Thanks!

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

@HangOutdoors has sage advice as usual. Heres another thing to remember, run your deepest lure closest to the boat say 100’ back, and your shallower lure further back say 150’. This way when you make turns the longer shallower line will cross well above your closet deeper lure.

Just be sure you turn the engines off if you stop to land a fish. Otherwise you risk sucking up the slack line into the pump. I can tell you this takes a long time on the water to get the line off the pump shaft!

 

[SDAnderson51]

Absolutely!

I think the speed regulation will be your biggest challenge but with the analog shifting your thrust is infinitely adjustable.

If you get say an ugly stick fishing pole and spinning reel combo at Cabela’s you will get going on the cheap and having some fun. Again, local knowledge (salesman) is great for getting a small variety of baits, different colors and sizes as well as different depths. Since you don’t have a fish finder you’ll just have to experiment with different diving depths of lures. If you can run two poles when by yourself then run a deeper diver and one not as deep.

My boat is set up primarily as a fishing boat, the other day when we went out and tested new stuff I had put on over the winter we were running down riggers at 80’ depth with larger baits, and using rod riggers and the other rod holders to run different lures at different depths. Point is that even with a fish finder I will still not see a lot of fish that could get caught, since we had four people on the boat we, in theory, could run 8 rods. In practice we had 5 rods out.

Where were you fishing with downriggers. I have used them extensively at Lake Powell and Flaming Gorge as well as a lot of other fresh water lakes. I am now near Houston and trying to learn how to fish here. I assume you were fishing salt water from the depths you were at. All of the water here is pretty shallow including Galveston Bay.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Where were you fishing with downriggers. I have used them extensively at Lake Powell and Flaming Gorge as well as a lot of other fresh water lakes. I am now near Houston and trying to learn how to fish here. I assume you were fishing salt water from the depths you were at. All of the water here is pretty shallow including Galveston Bay.

Pactola reservoir in the Black Hills… the lake is 150’ deep in the main body of the lake which is where a lot of the lake trout are. Mostly I run the down riggers down to 80’ but have run them down to 130’. Man, those things make some weird noises!

 

[Thermobrett]

I grew up with a fist full of charter captains in my family and was a first mate on several chart boats across the western and central basin of Lake Erie and upstate New York on Lake Ontario. Give this book a try, these guys REALLY do thier research and some of them are PWT ( professional walleye trail) pro anglers. We always used Dipsey Divers, Slide Divers, Jet Divers, down riggers and planner boards on a mast on our charter boat (28' Bertram Moppie). I have used inline planner boards on smaller boats but didnt much care for them persoanlly on bigger water as the waves would pop the line from the clips, and if you tightened the clips, you had a hard time pulling line from the pads. Trolling is a science for sure, but once you get it, the lure is in the "strike zone" for a longer period of time opposed to drift fishing. Just remember, anyone can hook a fish, but not everyone can land one!

 

[sunbyrned]

I grew up with a fist full of charter captains in my family and was a first mate on several chart boats across the western and central basin of Lake Erie and upstate New York on Lake Ontario. Give this book a try, these guys REALLY do thier research and some of them are PWT ( professional walleye trail) pro anglers. We always used Dipsey Divers, Slide Divers, Jet Divers, down riggers and planner boards on a mast on our charter boat (28' Bertram Moppie). I have used inline planner boards on smaller boats but didnt much care for them persoanlly on bigger water as the waves would pop the line from the clips, and if you tightened the clips, you had a hard time pulling line from the pads. Trolling is a science for sure, but once you get it, the lure is in the "strike zone" for a longer period of time opposed to drift fishing. Just remember, anyone can hook a fish, but not everyone can land one!

View attachment 176077

Thanks for the suggestion! I looked it up on Amazon. $746 new! Ha! Some used ones on sale for less though. I’ll find one I can afford, I’m sure.

 

[Thermobrett]

I saw that price, for what you get, I guess you pay for knowledge and research.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Thanks for the suggestion! I looked it up on Amazon. $746 new! Ha! Some used ones on sale for less though. I’ll find one I can afford, I’m sure.

Look again, that was for a used book! That book reminds me of people buying 4 year old Yamaha boats for more, a lot more than what they were new. Just goes to show there is an ass for every seat.

Im sure that book is awesome, just not $764 awesome…. In my opinion. Perhaps one of the other used ones @$125.

I wonder what that book cost brand new.

There are a few choices in the App Store, from my quick perusal it appears that this one



Might be pretty good, BUT, you will need to “upgrade” to either $4.99 a month or $49.99 lifetime purchase to get the reasonable list of lures, which looks pretty big. I do like the line choices too. I may very well buy the lifetime version in the near future, but for now I’ll use my down riggers to put baits at the depth I want. And on the eve of my third walleye tournament I best not introduce something unfamiliar. I’ll be giving it a good look tonight after todays pre fishing.

 

[HangOutdoors]

I started using the Troll master. Pretty decent.

 

[sunbyrned]

Look again, that was for a used book! That book reminds me of people buying 4 year old Yamaha boats for more, a lot more than what they were new. Just goes to show there is an ass for every seat.

Im sure that book is awesome, just not $764 awesome…. In my opinion. Perhaps one of the other used ones @$125.

I wonder what that book cost brand new.

There are a few choices in the App Store, from my quick perusal it appears that this one

View attachment 176082

Might be pretty good, BUT, you will need to “upgrade” to either $4.99 a month or $49.99 lifetime purchase to get the reasonable list of lures, which looks pretty big. I do like the line choices too. I may very well buy the lifetime version in the near future, but for now I’ll use my down riggers to put baits at the depth I want. And on the eve of my third walleye tournament I best not introduce something unfamiliar. I’ll be giving it a good look tonight after todays pre fishing.

Beautiful! I didn’t think about an App. I can afford that. Thanks! I’m excited about my new adventure.