Rods For Trolling

Gdavid....

Are you talking about going fishing....or dragging lines while cruising?

I do both and there often is a big difference in my mind...especially for someone who really doesnt fish, reularly, but would like some fish to eat.

The high hook and heaviest king salmon on my first fly in was a guy who never did it before and used a zebco on a baitcaster from Walmart.

Tackle may or may have no real outcome on hooking or landing fish .....until you start getting into fish that have their way even with good tackle and fishernen.

psneeld said:

Gdavid....

Are you talking about going fishing....or dragging lines while cruising?

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Both in a way but mostly talking in circles, using any excuse to talk about fishing on a winter day.

I agree about a big difference between a big difference if you are going out specifically to fish or just want to drag a line while cruising. For me, if I was just cruising it would lower the number of rods I'm using and I would use lower maintenance lures (low snag artificial as apposed to something labor intensive like ballyhoo) but the rods and reels would be the same, a 30# class combo along the lines of the bass pro combo you recommended to the OP, although I would avoid roller guides and go for TLD if possible for the same price. I also waxed about my love for AVETs as well but that really was really off topic rambling irrelevant he OP's needs.

Dougcole said:

I've found trawler trolling to be a little different, as most of us go too fast for the most effective trolling, ie 8 knots instead of 5 knots. You've got to adjust your tackle accordingly. I have to set lures way back to keep them running true. I've also had some luck using planers to keep lures down, but it is a bit of a PIA.

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Bob The Mate keeps trying to cinvince me to drag some lines when we're out on one of our trips. One problem with that is that the appropriate speed for striped bass (locally aka rockfish) is between 2.0-2.5 kts. I'd never get anywhere...

-Chris

8 knots is fine for most pelagics, I remember the guys in Hawaii started towing high speed lures on the way to the grounds at over 20 knots.

ranger42c said:

Bob The Mate keeps trying to cinvince me to drag some lines when we're out on one of our trips. One problem with that is that the appropriate speed for striped bass (locally aka rockfish) is between 2.0-2.5 kts. I'd never get anywhere...

-Chris

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I'm on the Chesapeake too. Wecarry a couple rods with number 2 planners and spoons so we can troll on breaking fish that pop up along the way. July through Octtober you could catch rock, blurs and spanish mackeral in the same pass. The best part is you are typically in the middle of nowhere and have the school to yourself. When we get bored we continge on.

psneeld said:

8 knots is fine for most pelagics, I remember the guys in Hawaii started towing high speed lures on the way to the grounds at over 20 knots.

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On a charter out of ocean city md the weather turned nasty and we had to start heading back early making about 16 knots. I ran two lines with cedar plug chains and the customers thought I was full of it till we hooked a big eye. That was an awesome strike.

psneeld said:

8 knots is fine for most pelagics, I remember the guys in Hawaii started towing high speed lures on the way to the grounds at over 20 knots.

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Yeah, I've caught pretty much every blue water fish named here at 4 - 12 knots. And Wahoo at 15+.

So speed is not that critical if you're meat fishing.

But it is another reason you want lots of line capacity if you're going to troll at the higher speeds.

CPseudonym said:

Steve, that is an exceptionally cool rod/reel combo. Is it yours?

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Yes, my brother in law gave it to me, one of his young sons loves fishing so I'll give it to him as soon as he understands it is an antique and not to bring it to the beach! the rod is nice a split bamboo made by Morrock in Utica, NY the 2 eyes one along the rod and one on the end are metal, Agate or maybe glass lined.

Steve said:

Yes, my brother in law gave it to me, one of his young sons loves fishing so I'll give it to him as soon as he understands it is an antique and not to bring it to the beach! the rod is nice a split bamboo made by Morrock in Utica, NY the 2 eyes one along the rod and one on the end are metal, Agate or maybe glass lined.

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Awesome, thank you for sharing it.

It reminded me of my dads pole. I'm no fisherman, ask FlyWright but my dad and I spent about three weeks of evenings when I was in second grade rebuilding his split bamboo pole that looked like yours. He taught me everything from sanding, measuring, principles of layout, attaching the eyes, artistic thread working and ultimately varnishing on that project.

I made mistakes aligning the eyes and left my right index fingerprint at the base touching the wet varnish. My dad never corrected them and never fished with anything but it till he passed away. Unfortunately someone helped themselves to it before I got it and it is comprehensively lost now.

Thank you for the memory.

Gdavid said:

I'm on the Chesapeake too. Wecarry a couple rods with number 2 planners and spoons so we can troll on breaking fish that pop up along the way. July through Octtober you could catch rock, blurs and spanish mackeral in the same pass. The best part is you are typically in the middle of nowhere and have the school to yourself. When we get bored we continge on.

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I'm not much of an angler. Bob The Mate is all over it, but we only fish in the "trophy" rock season so I can run the boat a lot for Spring shake-down. And being on the water is good!

We use planer boards (trying to sell the outriggers, since we don't use 'em and I want to reduce air draft) and we've been running 16 lines; Bob says we'll add a couple this next season.

Not all that easy to get enough crew aboard... otherwise it's a lot of work if it's just the two of us. We've been taking Wounded Warriors out each year, too, working through Walter Reed/Bethesda, but that usually only accunts for 3-4 trips/year.

Anyway, he thinks I oughta be dragging for fish every time we move the boat... but after the "trophy" season, we wash up, put the cockpit carpet back down, and it becomes wifey's boat again.

-Chris

I use a stand up stick that I got from West Marine, its a 5'6 Black fin 50-80. I have 6 of them on my boat as I fish mainly with guys who have never fished before or who are not regular fisherman. I have TLD 30's on them and have caught just about everything trolling has to offer in these parts. They can also be used for bottom fishing. They are short for easy storage and are serving me very well for $150 a rod.