Trolling Crankbaits

Any pro have any helpful tips on how to determine the depth a crankbait is running at while trolling? Have a bit of a hard time when letting out line to know exactly how much to let out.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks

Lyle,
Do it the same way all the pros do it and that is by having a copy of Precision Trolling by Mark Romanac on hand. Probably the best 25 bucks any troller ever spent. Look on the products page. Good luck.

Hi Lyle, Pick up a copy of the Precision Trolling Guide. Be sure it's the 6th edition. It is sold in most sporting goods stores. It's money well spent. Good luck fishin'.

Precision Trolling by Mark Romanac is the answer to all your questions, Good product!!!

If you want to know how deep a crank runs at a certain speed ofcource Precision trolling is a priceless tool all of us use. If you don't have a speedo and don't have a line counter then you are asking another question. How do I get The cranks down to near the same depth again and again? The speed thing is easy. Make some kind of mark on your throttle control as your chosen speed or speeds. Then for the line counter stop at bigger stores ,Gander,Cabela's,Scheel's, Bass Pro etc), you can either get a clamp on $9.99- 11.99 line counter ,(Berkley I think), or since the price of line counter reels has come down so much, if your serious about continuing trolling then I sure would pick the reel. Although I'm on the water almost every day when I had the clamp ons they didn't take a beating for very long. Lawrence Ecklor Http://www.thewalleye.net

Call me old fashioned, but I still "skip" my cranks to know the exact depth. Then I write the amount of line out(this requires some type of linecounter) to the depth skipped on the bottom of the bill or crank with a Sharpie.(120'/12',I use LC if skipped with leadcore F if skipped with Fireline) Then you can use some simple math and solve for X if you choose to change depth. simple formula. 12/120 = 16/x(muliply 120 x 16 and divide by 12 = 160' of line out to achieve 16') This will get you very close, provided that all other things haven't changed, like speed or line diameter. This works excellent with segmented lead core, or Fireline. I do own the Precision Trolling Book, 2 infact, but I run many cranks that are not included in these books. So I stick with what I started doing 25 years ago, and it still works for me. If you don't own a line counter reel, I would suggest you purchase a clip on model, their fairly inexpensive, and resonably accurate. I use Daiwa SG27LC's now. Before the line counter reels came into use I used colored line than changed every 10 ft and would mark the line with a magic marker every 50'. Today you don't have to do that though(Thank you Daiwa). As far as speed goes buy a hand held GPS. They are reasonably priced nowdays and there are many used ones for sale also. With Fireline and segmented lead core speed changes from 2.5mph to 3mph have minimal effects on the depth of the lure. Under 2.5mph and your going to be deeper, Over 3mph and the baits will start riding up higher especially with leadcore. Hope this helps.....



" Fishing is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope "