Percission Trolling question

[David Beach]

When you are using your Percission Trollin book, does the distance of line back mean the line in the water or from the end of your rod tip? When they made the book, how far was it from their rod tip to the water?

Thanks,

[TBO/MN]

Line back is the line in the water. No telling how far the rod tip was from the water, that all depends on the angle of the rod. That angle will change with the speed of the boat.

Good Fishin'
TBO/MN

[Jim Ordway]

Precision Trolling means repeatability. Consistency is key. Whatever measure you use will work. There is always a slight difference in windings, bait running depth, distance of rod from water etc. Relative to the line distance, the rod height is not that important. The key is that you can repeat the depth and amount of line out that you caught your last fish at. If you are using a line counter and your reels are all wound close to the same fullness and are the same brand/thickness, the number of feet/meters out can be repeated and hopefully put you back on the fish. IF you are counting runs off the reel, at least you got a chance of getting back in the general area of the last fish caught. Duplicate the depth, speed, bait, and you might just find another hungry fish.
Hve fun,

[FreeByrd]

David,
I believe it says in the front of the book. It's been a while but I think the rods were approximately 2 feet off the surface of the water in rod holders horizontal to the water.

So you have to take that into consideration when figuring line out and when talking to others. For example, if someone is running inline boards and has 100 feet of line out before clipping to the board, he has 100 feet of line in the water and will be a little deeper than in the book if what i remember is right about the rodtips being 2 feet above the water. Now compare that to someone running mast & ski boards with the towline mounted to a mast on top of a hardtop. If they have 100 feet of line out behind the clip, the amount of line in the water will be something less until it gets out close to the end of the towline, and will vary each time you slide down the towline depending on what position it is in the spread. This is a detail I try to pay attention to when running the big boards and when talking to others that tell line out distances on the radio or when posting on here, I indicate I am running big boards. If they are running inline boards, our "line out" to catch fish will likely be different.

Good Luck,
Steve

[walter]

David
Yes the distance from the rod tip to the water does make a difference. You will gain more depth when the rod tip is close to or under the water. Dr. Holt & Mark Romenek have recently published a new book called Percision Casting and this subject is covered in some detail in that book. I recently read an artical in the North American Fisherman Magizine that quotes that book.
If you were to troll two of the same baits the same distance behind the boat with one attched to a planer board and one trolled as a flatline with the rod tip high in the air, the bait attached to the planer board would reach a greater depth.