Basic trolling set up question

[2sac]

Let me preface this by saying all of my walleye fishing thus far is vertical jigging and casting and that I am primarily a bass fisherman. I fish Lake Wisconsin and the upper and lower Dells for walleye. The bulk of the success I've had is in less than 17 fow.

If I wanted to start trolling cranks straight behind the boat, would my current set-ups be ok or do I need to invest in different gear. The rods are all Fenwick HMG's 7' MH/F and the reels are all gen 1, 2, and 3 Revo STX's. Line is 10-12lb fluoro. I do have some C3 Ambassadors in the garage that haven't seen the light of day in a few years now but no rods to pair them up with.
Also, will my 36v Terrova last all day trolling at 2-3mph on a calm day. The big motor runs 4mph at idle speed so I would need to get a trolling plate which I would rather not do.
Am I going to have a problem running lures down to 20 feet without adding weight, and if so, will bottom bouncers do the trick?

If the above set-ups won't work, what can I get away with without breaking the bank? I would only be trolling a handful of times a season.

Thanks

[Marty59]

You will get a lot opinions here....So here is mine. I troll erie with 7' MF rods. So, mlf, MF or mhf is a matter of preference! I wouldn't buy new rods or reels till you give it a try. 10-12 # line is all I run. Speed for cranks ....I'm always less than 2mph. Closer to 1.7-1.8. Your 36v should run most of the day. If it doesn't, drift bags to slow you down with the big motor, are cheap. Another trick is to turn your bow mount 180degrees and idle your big motor. The bow mount will fight the big motor and reduce your speed.

To get my cranks deeper I use in line weights ahead of my leader or snap weights (like off shores). Typically 1/2 oz upto 2 oz depending on how deep I want to get

http://www.offshoretackle.com/graphi...vised31412.pdf

https://www.bigjon.com/diver-disk.php


I also use mini disks or jet divers....Sometimes the fish prefer one over another. But in-lines are my first choice

http://www.rapala.com/luhr-jensen/tr...Jet+Diver.html



I am sure others will chime in with more.

Marty

[Kevin23]

Originally Posted by 2sac

Let me preface this by saying all of my walleye fishing thus far is vertical jigging and casting and that I am primarily a bass fisherman. I fish Lake Wisconsin and the upper and lower Dells for walleye. The bulk of the success I've had is in less than 17 fow.

If I wanted to start trolling cranks straight behind the boat, would my current set-ups be ok or do I need to invest in different gear. The rods are all Fenwick HMG's 7' MH/F and the reels are all gen 1, 2, and 3 Revo STX's. Line is 10-12lb fluoro. I do have some C3 Ambassadors in the garage that haven't seen the light of day in a few years now but no rods to pair them up with.
Also, will my 36v Terrova last all day trolling at 2-3mph on a calm day. The big motor runs 4mph at idle speed so I would need to get a trolling plate which I would rather not do.
Am I going to have a problem running lures down to 20 feet without adding weight, and if so, will bottom bouncers do the trick?

If the above set-ups won't work, what can I get away with without breaking the bank? I would only be trolling a handful of times a season.

Thanks

I'll throw in my opinions to your points of concern.

Rods. While those rods would certainly catch fish, there's been some huge improvements in trolling specific rods now. The consensus seems to be that you want a limber rod to keep the fish buttoned up, similar to glass crankbait rods for bass fishing. I would take those C3's and buy some moderately priced trolling rods for them. Line and line counter vs non line counter reels is another topic you will have to research.

Speed. Wind, current, and boat design/weight can all factor into battery draw from your Terrova. Not really possible to say how long it would last, or even if you could get it to go 3mph. I would look into trolling bags, one for each side if your boat mid ship. With large bags you should drop around 0.5mph per bag, so that would drop you to 3mph with your big motor. If you need to drop more you can toss another bag off the back corner. Note that these are not drift socks, the drift socks are thinner and wont hold up well.

Lure depth. That depends on the cranks. I would suggest picking up the Trollers Bible and looking at the dive curves of each bait. But 20 foot is pretty far down there for long lining- especially if you need to use smaller baits, if you plan to fish that deep most of the time you may look into lead core. All that info is in the book (or app). Lead weights (clip on weights) is another option, but only for flats. You will lose most sensitivity regarding hitting bottom or weeds.

As for what speed to go, brought up by Marty, I have seen days where you had to crawl along at 1.8-2mph but most of the time 2.5-2.75 is the starting point. 2.5 at about 60 degree water temp and go faster as the water warms, by July we are talking 3 to even 3.25mph. Covering water means your bait is in front of more fish, and there's almost always an active one waiting to snap that crank as it darts by. A walleye can swim a lot faster than 3.5mph

[2sac]

Thanks for the replies so far. As far as the depth, My success vertical jigging structure has been at the 16-20ft range. Doesn't necessarily mean there aren't fish shallower. I believe much of the river channel in Lake Wisconsin is at the 20ft depth range as well. At this point in time, I don't have enough knowledge of the lake as to what other depth options are worth trying.

Terrova will pull my boat 3.1-3.2 on a calm day and I've got Link and the Lakemaster cards to attempt to set up the trolling properly which should require little effort on my part.

Could you recommend a rod to match the C3's for under $100

Marty, seems like I would need line counter reels to use those weights and disks?

[Snowking]

For the amount of use I would not be afraid to pick up the cabelas combo. For 70 bucks you get a line counter and medium trolling rod.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/fishi...%3FN%3D1100313

Are you going to use planer boards? You could get away with using your medium heavy rods when using boards. The boards would pull back when I fish hits. The medium rods have more softer tips. Less likely to rip the hooks out on first strike. Would work better if not using boards. If you are not using planer boards think about buying the above rod combo in the medium 9 foot long. That gets your lines father out from the boat noise. If you are going to run two lines without boards on the same side you would want two diffrent size rods. For trolling cranks you really want to have a line counter reel. They do not make the precision trolling in book form anymore. They have a smartphone app. They also sell stickers with the dive curves. Fleet and farm has them. That would be cheaper if you do not use a whole lot of different crankbaits. Without boards you maybe want to think about the medium lite rods instead of medium. That can very depending on rod brand as some medium lites bend over way to easy. You end up loosing a lot of your feet away from the boat.

[Marty59]

Originally Posted by 2sac

....
Marty, seems like I would need line counter reels to use those weights and disks?

Yes, line counter reels make it much easier. Repeat-ability getting your baits to the target depth the fish are active, is key. When I started, I just peeled line off, one rod length at a time and kept count. Accurate....maybe not so precise ....but close. Then I graduated to an add on line counter (like you, I wanted to use my existing reels).....finally I now have a wall full of line counters (Daiwa Accudepths).

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Berkl...A&gclsrc=aw.ds

These work reasonably well for non-braid line type lines.

Another trick is to tie small rubber bands on your line every 10 or 20 yards. The rubber bands reel right up and you can count them when you let your line out! Poor mans line counter. The bands don't last a long time but they are cheap.

Marty

[Kevin23]

You can use string bobber stops every 25/50 feet for a poor-mans line counter.

https://www.fishusa.com/product/Okum...-Trolling-Rods

[Marty59]

Originally Posted by Kevin23

You can use string bobber stops every 25/50 feet for a poor-mans line counter.

https://www.fishusa.com/product/Okum...-Trolling-Rods

Those work really good!

Marty

[rivrtroller]

On Lake Wisconsin most of the trolling is done on the channel edge or up on the flats . It is FULL of old stumps and logs . Unless you are a millionaire and can afford buying new cranks every time out I would run Fireline . Use a softer tip rod so when the fish hits it doesn't rip out of it's mouth . I used to troll the Wisconsin river below the dam at Prairie du Sac. Mainly #5 and #7 shad raps . Most of my trolling was in 12 fow or less . Caught lot's of fish . The jointed Rapalas also worked very good with a split shot (1/4oz) pinched on line about 6 ft up from the lure . If I needed to go deeper I went with 3way rigs with a floating crank (rapala originals or storm thunderstick jrs or babies) . If you go too fast the storm lures would spin out so I mainly used rapalas . Without boards I ran 7 footers in the back and 8.6-9 footers in the front . Lot's of GOOD fish to be had in that system . Last few years been a little tougher due to too many muskies ! Last time up last spring I boated more muskies than walleyes ! LOL

[2sac]

Originally Posted by Snowking

For the amount of use I would not be afraid to pick up the cabelas combo. For 70 bucks you get a line counter and medium trolling rod.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/fishi...%3FN%3D1100313

Are you going to use planer boards? You could get away with using your medium heavy rods when using boards. The boards would pull back when I fish hits. The medium rods have more softer tips. Less likely to rip the hooks out on first strike. Would work better if not using boards. If you are not using planer boards think about buying the above rod combo in the medium 9 foot long. That gets your lines father out from the boat noise. If you are going to run two lines without boards on the same side you would want two diffrent size rods. For trolling cranks you really want to have a line counter reel. They do not make the precision trolling in book form anymore. They have a smartphone app. They also sell stickers with the dive curves. Fleet and farm has them. That would be cheaper if you do not use a whole lot of different crankbaits. Without boards you maybe want to think about the medium lite rods instead of medium. That can very depending on rod brand as some medium lites bend over way to easy. You end up loosing a lot of your feet away from the boat.

Perfect. I picked up 2 of the combos today in 7'6" because that's how big my rod box holds. Now the hard part of trying to figure out what I'm doing