Depth trolling

[Stratos219]

Originally Posted by Custom Eyes

And how high you have your rods above the water can make a huge difference in that little of depth.

It's my understanding that when developing the precision trolling guide, they did experiments with rod height and found it actually made very little difference in the max depth achieved, regardless of depth

[whitey88]

You can watch mark romanack in the precision trolling data videos and he stresses about the rod tip, infact in the videos he picks up the rod before the lure is going to pass by the diver watching and touches the tip to the water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBlh5d7XORo

[gonz]

Thanks for the information. I have the app, but haven't used it much yet. I would think having the tipped up as I do in the video could make some difference in depth. When trolling in the summer, I make sure I am ticking the bottom for any chance of walleyes. But, now or in the spring hope to be more precise in depth for those suspended fish.

Gonz

[Custom Eyes]

Originally Posted by Stratos219

It's my understanding that when developing the precision trolling guide, they did experiments with rod height and found it actually made very little difference in the max depth achieved, regardless of depth

Maybe max depth, which not much has a deeper running effect on beyond a certain point. I definitely noticed it making a difference this year. Was trolling a hump with deep divers and trying to skim the lures just above the hump where the fish were pressed to bottom on it. Identical rod, line, lures, and calibrated reels. Outside lines, running either off boards, or tip low to the water just out the side, would clip the hump while dialing in the line out, and the rod out the back and over the big motor(tip about 8' over the water), set to the same length out, wouldn't hit. Happened multiple times.

[gonz]

Originally Posted by Custom Eyes

Maybe max depth, which not much has a deeper running effect on beyond a certain point. I definitely noticed it making a difference this year. Was trolling a hump with deep divers and trying to skim the lures just above the hump where the fish were pressed to bottom on it. Identical rod, line, lures, and calibrated reels. Outside lines, running either off boards, or tip low to the water just out the side, would clip the hump while dialing in the line out, and the rod out the back and over the big motor(tip about 8' over the water), set to the same length out, wouldn't hit. Happened multiple times.

Custom, did you try to calibrate the depth you wanted for that hump using depth finder and lure data from precision trolling, or did you let out enough line to feel the lure on the bottom, then go back a forth?

Gonz

[Custom Eyes]

Originally Posted by gonz

Custom, did you try to calibrate the depth you wanted for that hump using depth finder and lure data from precision trolling, or did you let out enough line to feel the lure on the bottom, then go back a forth?

Gonz

Always start using PT data, but it's always give or take a few feet. When trying to skim bottom over a hump within a few feet of the top for pressed fish, sometimes it takes a pass or two to dial in the exact line out. Depending on the wind and waves that day, it can vary quite a bit on those factors alone. Personally, I feel more confident starting off ticking bottom on the first pass in that situation, knowing where I am, then adjusting from there, as opposed to starting high or by the data and assuming I'm where i want to be.

[Ozark Bob]

The amount of line in the water is what will determine depth. If your rod is up say 30 degrees you will have 20 to 30' in the air so you will need to let out that length over what PT says. If you use boards all the line is in the water behind the board and rod position means nothing. Bob

[gonz]

Originally Posted by Ozark Bob

If you use boards all the line is in the water behind the board and rod position means nothing. Bob

Bob, that makes sense, but then I don't think I was running the depth the PT app said for the little reef runners I was using. As you can see in the video, I was using a board and tried to dial in more than 7 ft of depth. My rod was up about 45 degrees or so....

gonz

[Ozark Bob]

Originally Posted by gonz

Bob, that makes sense, but then I don't think I was running the depth the PT app said for the little reef runners I was using. As you can see in the video, I was using a board and tried to dial in more than 7 ft of depth. My rod was up about 45 degrees or so....

gonz

Like I said in that post you did not get anymore depth with the extra line you let out. The extra line may have even lost some depth for you. If you look on the "next bite site" and read about precision trolling it will tell you why. Your rod tip won't have any effect on the line behind the board.Bob

[Ddancer]

Originally Posted by hnd

Yeah I run my rods a foot above the water now due to realizing that I'm adding like 5' of height to the whole thing and not taking that into affect. that can be a big differece!

but yeah, if it has a max depth of 7' you aren't going to get it down further without weight or leadcore….. if your rod is 1' out of the water, your bait is only going 6' (maybe different due to water/air) probably.

I add weight when trolling with mono/fireline. I run the bait about 20' back and then put a rubber band on the line (small one) and then clip a weight to that rubber band…the band doesn't move and I just wait until I'm ticking the bottom with the crank bait and crank up a few to get it 6-12" off the bottom.

The Lead core depth calculator I use is on Google Play. You might find it very useful.