precision trolling on the cheap.

[north_alabama]

I'm preparing for my first precision trolling venture and after a lot of thought (and some good advice given my situation from a regular poster here) I've decided to forgo springing for line counter reels.

The clip on counters seem to get mixed reviews, especially when it comes to fireline. By the way, has anyone tried the new Rapala counters?

Anyway, I thought that I might be able to get by using a permanent marker and marking the line (fireline at least) every ten feet then counting marks and eyeballing the difference. The marking process is probably tedious, but at this point I have more time than money. Does anyone know of a reason this won't work (in the daytime at least)? Will the marker chemicals harm the line?

[risor39]

I don't know about the marker,but you can buy a mono line that is colored a different color every ten feet.I'm sure someone here can give you more info on the brand or where to get it.

[perchjerker]

As far as I know you can do it. I read once in the leaflet that came with some braid I bought once (yes I read them lol) that you can take a razor blade and cut a v in the marker tip to make it easier to color your line. The were talking about coloring it to match water conditions.

And you dont have to color all of it, just a band at each 10 ft increment or whatever you choose. The marked line they used to sell was marked that way,

[j9f]

Just a thought.... you can count passes on your level wind reel. Of course anyone would rather have line counters.... that is a no brainer. I run linecounters for my dipsys that usually fished between 100-350 feet back.

I have fished primarily crank baits or mini divers and now jets. I rarely fish in over 30 FOW, so I am not running a ton of line out there. I cannot justify the expense to myself of buying linecounters that are comparable in performance to the reels that were handed down to me. It would cost me over $1200 in reels to make the switch. So I count passes. With my reels one pass = 5'. I am probably not a precision troller, nor do I claim to be.... probably more like a in the ballpark troller. If I were a tournament fisherman, I would buy some linecounters for walleye.

I have two clip on linecounters, shakesphere. It is worth buying one just to verify where you think your lines are running, but not worth the hassle to run every time you let a line out.

A little trick.. you can keep your finger on the levelwind of the reel and count without looking. I don't tell anyone that is fishing with me this trick though... I'm afraid they will apply to much pressure and wear the pawl.

[SUPERTROLLER]

The marker will not harm your line. Many people use markers to darken their faded line so it isn't as bright. You might want a bright flourescent green marker to mark your line with. As long as you're just marking a small section to designate 10 ft. increments, it shouldn't cause any alarm to the fish. This sounds like a great alternative to laying out money for a linecounter reel that you may not use much. Good luck in your fishing.

[Dutchman]

Get the linecounter reels. Youre gonna end up doing that in the end anyway. Spend the money on good ones like the Dawia SG27LC's and you'll still be using them 10 years from now. At least that's how long I've been using mine. Just my 2 cents....


"Fishing is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope"

[Pistolboy]

I went through the clip on's, counting pass'es ect.
Was told over and over again, Get the linecounters!
Dutchman is correct get the Dawia SG27LC's.
One other way to mark your line if you fish same lake,
same depth all the time is to place a slip bobber knot
on your line. You can feel the knot and don't even have to look
at the reel. Great for night fishing!

[Kolby]

Another thing you can do is count rod sweep distance. Do a few experiments until you know what a five foot sweep of the rod is, maybe even mark it on your boat's gunnel. Then put the bait and rod tip on the surface of the water while moving along, sweep 5, then thumb on spool and follow lure back until line is taught, sweep 5, thumb spool, follow lure back etc. Not exact, but nothing else is. The key is to vary line lengths and repeat the successful ones.