harnesses and inline weights- how deep?

[Boatnut]

I'm kinda getting into this worm thing lately. Never really ran harnesses much before this year. My question is, is their a chart or a "rule of thumb" for how deep you really are? Seems like a lot of variables....weight of the inline, distance back behind board and speed.
Any ideas??
Mike (aka Boatnut)

"Many fish bites if you got good bait. I'm a goin' fishin', yes, I'm a going' fishin' and my baby's goin' fishin' too" Taj Mahal, "fishing blues"

[fiveinthelive]

with a 1 ounce weight at 1 mph, what ever your distance back is, cut that in half and that will be your running depth.

[Boatnut]

thanks tony. what about 2 oz weights? what about 1.4 mph? is there a formula that is easy to remeber without having to carry a scientific calculater? :)
Mike (aka Boatnut)

"Many fish bites if you got good bait. I'm a goin' fishin', yes, I'm a going' fishin' and my baby's goin' fishin' too" Taj Mahal, "fishing blues"

[knucklehead]

I believe that for instance forty foot back on a two ounce will get you about thirty down. But that's running around 1-1.2 mph. A simple check is, while you running trolling speed just send out the harness/ weight free-spool (like you would a bottom bouncer) and see when it hits bottom. This will get you pretty close to the bottom. Then just do a simple ratio in your head to figure out how far up the water column you want to be. Keep in mind these are just rough estimates. Speed, line size, blade size, and under water currents will change these drasticly.

[fiveinthelive]

not sure of a formula for the 2oz weights

[ERIE REBEL]

Knucklehead sounds about right.If I run in the western basin in thirty ft.of water pulling two ounce inlines I normally run about thirty-five back at 1.2-1.4mph.When we fished the Hawgfest last month the best setting was seventy back over 46.5 fow.The speeds were the same.Good for 19th place out of 105 teams.Hope this helps.Hard to beat big spinners and big crawlers:banging:

[K Gonefishin]

With 2 oz I know at 60-62 back will scrape just above the bottom in 39-41 FOW at 1.0-1.2

[fisher4233]

Don't forget about the variable that everyone forgets. A full spool vs 1/2 spool equals different feet on the same counter. Also different reels are slightly different.

[ERIE REBEL]

I always keep my spools full.

[Silentsixty]

1st, I wouldn't disagree with anything posted so far. I had this tucked away in wordpad...

Making your own curves is a good plan. Find a flat, let out line til you contact bottom at a given depth/weight/speed. Repeat & record number. I would try it pulling a couple of spinners though just to see how much lift they cause at the speeds your running. Big blades cause considerable drag especially when you approach 2 mph.

This link doesn't work anymore but I left it so the remaining text makes sense:
Here's another program if you can run short leads:
http://walleye.outdoorsfirst.com/winnebago/45.htm

The article kinda fine-tunes the 45 degree program. The link for their chart doesn't work but you can make your own quickly with a calculator that has a square root key --- a2 + b2 = c2 so, a2 is the depth you want, b2 is the distance back from the boat, c2 is the length of line required to equal a2 + b2

For some checks so you know your right:
2 ft depth requires 2.8 ft of line at a 45 degree angle
a2 = 2 squared = 2 X 2 = 4
a2 = b2 so,
4+4 = 8 = c2
c2 = sq root of 8 = 2.8 = amt of line needed to go 2.8 ft down if you maintain a 45 degree line angle.

10 ft = 14.1
15 ft = 21.2
20 ft = 28.3
25 ft = 35
30 ft = 42
40 ft - 57 ft of line

There is also a formula for a 60 degree line angle that I don't know. Here's a 60 degree table made by a friend:
5=10
10=20
15=30
20=40
25=50
30=60
35=70
40=80
45=90
50=100


Precision Trolling snap weight curve is based on speed & weight. The PT 7th edition covers 1/2,3/4,1, 1.5,2, & 3 oz weights with depth ranges for speeds of 1,1.5,& 2 mph. Each range is 4 ft if that makes sense. PT also has a good intro. (update - check to see what current PT edition contains as there have been changes between editions & there is some lead weight info in big water edition - both are desired tools especially for open water fishing - IMO)

OK - you want it simple. Back before linecounters were known to the average eye guy this was our western basin spring/summer program -- In 30 fow if you mark fish 12-15 ft let out 20-25 ft of line, add 1 oz snap weight, check that the harness is running right and free spool it to bottom and immediately engage reel when the weight touches bottom. Start at 1.6 to 1.8 mph before trying slower because if they are high, they are hungry.

You mark fish around 20 ft give or take, use 2 oz and do the same but try 1.3 to 1.7 mph.

If you mark fish 5 ft off bottom, same deal but use 3 oz and try 1.3 to 1.7.

I'm not saying what depths the spinners are running, just that erie fish marked at those depths can be caught with that program. The faster your going, the more line that is let out to touch bottom so the system kinda/maybe/somewhat compensates for different speeds but play with running depth using speed changes, s-turns, zigzags, pauses & lead adjustments (touch bottom + or minus 5ft, "double touch" where you contact bottom a second time a few minutes after the 1st touch or whatever). If your deeper than 30 fow but fishing high, I'd try the above with maybe a 35 ft lead.

The 45 & 60 degree charts are the real deal. Some open water guys make some "guesses" and start out with say 20,30,40 & 50 ft leads and everything the same weight, others use the same lead lengths for everything but use 1,2,3 oz weights. Think about current once in a while...

Good Luck,
SS

[Just Mike]

It is not my intent to hijack anyones post but I do think a bit of clarification might help folks. The easiest way, by far, to remember how deep a trolling weight will run if the line is going down at a 45 degree angle is to remember the value of the sine of 45 degrees which is .707 Round this off to .7 and then remember for every 10' of line on your setback your trolling weight is going down seven. If your line is going down at a more shallow angle, say 30 degrees from horizontal, then the sine is .5 The post above referenced 60 degrees and that would be measured from vertical. It is easier to think in terms of degrees down from horizontal and especially if you are fishing flat water as the water surface is the horizontal plane from which one correlates the downward angle. If your line is running downward at 30 degrees, for every 10' of setback, the trolling weight is down 5'.

I learned something myself fishing this September's Hawgfest...when moving 1.8 mph and in 3-4' waves with an occasional 5' I grossly underestimated the amount of setback needed to get a 3 ounce bottom bouncer down in the fish zone in a depth of 46' of water with most fish belly to bottom. It took a full 130' of line out to put that 3 ounce bouncer near the bottom with the tip of my rod right at the water surface. I had been running my harnesses at only 80-90' line out behind planers and my presentations were going way over the fishes heads and they weren't coming up to hit anything. My line, in this case, was only running at about 20 degrees down from horizontal. The sine of 20 degrees is .34. One almost needs to keep a calculator handy in the boat along with a protractor type device to hang out at the tip of ones rods to measure that downward angle when it is not running at 45 degrees. Use of planer boards becomes important too. The planer board puts your measured setback at the surface of the water. If you put your rod into a holder without using a planer board, there will be some amount of line from the rod tip to the water surface which might not be so easily estimated by your eyes.

[ebijack]

keep it simple! no matter the line,reel, boat speed, current, waves etc.. lets start with a bottom bouncer for example:
take your first rod with said weight let it out with your thumb lightly on the spool. once it touches bottom, if you stop there your bait on average will lift 3 to 5 ft once it catches up to boat speed. (if you thumb it out again till touching bottom, your bait will be about 2ft off bottom. a third time and your bait will be tagging bottom). now that that's out of the way.. back to the first time you let the bouncer out. you know that's pretty much bottom. divide the line out by how many rods. and your covering the water column. it's the same with crankbaits. only you have a number you want to start with by looking at a chart. and you divide those numbers. with this method, you'll have a darn good idea on what line out to use from now on for the waters you fish and baits you use. inlines are the same as bouncers.
there are way to many veriables for exact formulas that fit everyone. do as stated and you'll have numbers that work in your boat with your reels etc etc.
hope that helps.

[perchjerker]

thats the best answer I have read for this

thanks Tom

[ebijack]

the only factor that causes a problem with what i posted brian is when i use your 6oz bouncers.. there are no inlines that will corrilate.. but now that you and downriver tackle are doing custom heavier inlines that will change.. :) .. more stuff to buy :)