looking for trolling rod- need advice?

[sturgeon]

Hi Everybody

First off I am new to this board but I have been reading the posts quite often. I live in Canada and love fishing for walleye.

I am used to jigging for walleye with worms or minnows but I moved and everybody here seems to troll for walleye with Crankbaits on the lake we have a cottage on.

The lake is a man made lake with a few deep basins and some shallow weedflats, holds perch, walleye, pike , browns and smelts. Seems a lot of people troll for the eye that are suspende over 50 feet chasing the smelts.

I am new to trolling crankbaits and I have done some research, I have a line counter reel that I am going to fill with braid probably power pro 10 lb Diameter, have the precision angling and an assortment of crankbaits. What type of rod should I buy. I long flexible rod or a stiff action. I am thinking of a rod with some give since I am using braid. Can't really troll boards here, the lake is narrow and the pontoon boaters dont care much for fisherman.

ANy brands and models you would recommend?

Thanks

Sturgeon

[manitobawalleye2]

i have used a few but off the shelf i have settled on
fenwick hmx 8'6" steelhead casting rods
have caught walleyes up to 10lbs on the same power pro
the rod has give so the hooks will not tear out
rew on this site also builds some nice custom rods for a bit more money....
a cheaper alternative is the ugly stick series

[Toolman]

Sturgeon,

I've used quite a few from inexpensive $25 rods to over $100. For trolling I wouldn't put a bunch of $$ into a rod that sits in a holder 95% of the time.

There are several rods in the $30-$35 range that work well for braids-these are all 2-piece glass rods:
1) Diawa Heartland
2) Okuma Classic Pro
3) Browning Siliflex

Here's a couple telescopic graphite rods in the $50-$60 dollar range:
1) BPS P&K trolling rods (my fav for mono-maybe a little stiff for braid)
2) Cabelas Depthmaster
3) Berkley Lightning rod (used to be Gary roach model)

Maybe the best all-around rod I've used but pricey is the St Croix T-scopic 8'. It's either composite or glass. A little over $100.

As an FYI, if you go to the top of the page and click on "search topic" you can retrieve some outstanding info from past threads. Welcome to WC.

Tim

[sturgeonx]

Thanks guys I appreciate the help. I did do a search already and I found out that a lot of guys like the soft rods, I really don't like to order from cabelas and Bass pro cause i get nailed on duty.

I got a Daiwa heartland Medium action that I use for my riggers. Do you think this would be good enough. Can it be used with snap on weights.

This site has tons of info.

Thanks Again

Sturgeon

[bob oh]

I use the 7 foot Okumas for big board rods with Diawa 17s and really like them

rod bender bob

[ChadM]

I think you will be okay w/ a M rod with most lures. You may want more backbone if using reefrunnrs or other hard pulling lures. I think you are never wrong with too soft but can get one too stiff. After you have some experience you will eventully look for something that hits your sweat spot.

[eyewinder]

I'd try it with one of the Heartland's before buying new rods (unless you really want some new rods). I'll bet that they work just fine!