A few trolling questions

[mweber02]

So I got myself a couple of baitcasters for dedicated trolling rods last week and have a few questions to make sure I have them set up right before I go out.

How long of a leader should I start with?
How short can I let it get before replacing?

What increments do you mark the braid to keep track of how much line you have out?
How far should I mark overall?
I bought hi-vis yellow line. Is it as simple as marking a few inches of line with a permanent marker?

[dsiekman]

Personally, I don't run a leader. I know most guys do but I've caught plenty of fish without one. Clear water and/or spooked fish are a different story.

It depends what you are pulling, how fast, line type, and how deep you want to be. If I'm pulling a Rapala or a BA on a jig head, I usually just cast out as far as I can and go with that. Not very scientific but it works for me. If I'm pulling something heavier and want to be on the bottom, I'll let it out a little at a time until I'm hitting bottom and then crank it up a little.

[Yak Fish]

I do use a leader and its not because I think the fish are wary. It's purely for abrasion resistance. If you're in the right spots a lot of times your lures will be bumping into things. When I'm lazy I'll just tie directly to the braid, but over the course of the day that braid is likely chewed up pretty good and a recipe for losing a fish and a lure. It also keeps you from using up your braid as you just retie another leader. I start with about 2' or so.

If I'm using diving plugs I just cast out a typical distance. If I'm using an umbrella, I'll have a stiffer rod with a line counter.

[mweber02]

Thanks Alan. I ended up tying on about 10 feet of leader so I should be set for the season I guess, lol. Also using speed clips so maybe next season too.

Great video tips by the way. The flats will probably be my most frequent place to fish for stripers. Just about ready to the my first trip out there. Hope I get lucky,i feel like it's a whole new world of fishing compared to what I have always done.

[Yak Fish]

Thanks Alan. I ended up tying on about 10 feet of leader so I should be set for the season I guess, lol. Also using speed clips so maybe next season too.

Great video tips by the way. The flats will probably be my most frequent place to fish for stripers. Just about ready to the my first trip out there. Hope I get lucky,i feel like it's a whole new world of fishing compared to what I have always done.

The video was not the susky flats by the way. There are other "flats" locations and you can fish them all the same way. The specific location is not important, only the method to finding fish is important. You'll be able to fish any body of water using those techniques of observation and gear.

When you do fish the susky flats, it will be hit or miss and the fish only seem to congregate in specific spots. It's a lot of water to cover, but over time you'll start to put it all together. Last year the fish did not show up at all. I believe they headed straight up river and spent no time on the flats. It was the worst season I'd ever seen.

[DOGFISH]

I also use a fluorocarbon leader, of about anywhere from 20 to 50lb test, depending on the time of year I am fishing. When kayak fishing, I use about a rod length of leader or sometimes up to 10'. I use mostly 7.5' casting rods. Clear mono will work just fine. For years, when I had boats, I would use a 30' mono leader, with ball bearing swivels. If you are going to use anything that will twist in the water, like a spoon, you will want to use a ball bearing swivel at the connection or at the weight and connection. If you start to use weights you may want to use a longer leader. From a kayak, I personally like crankbaits as well. Even when I had my boats, I would use crankbaits, a holdover from my bass fishing days. After all, stripers are a bass. For cranks, I tie directly to the braid using a uni/uni knot or a triple surgeon's knot. My view on a clear leader is, if 1% of the stripers are leader shy, I am going to use fluorocarbon or clear mono in order to catch that 1%. Just my view, just my view. For the little time that most have to fish, why take shortcuts? Now don't get me wrong, trolling is a numbers game, the longer you troll the more fish you will pass over and the more likely it is that some are active fish, which will strike.

One of the things that I learned, years ago, is that most folks troll their lines far to short. Mostly with boats due to motor noise. Now with that said, I have had stripers hit baits, being retrieved, a short distance from the kayak. However, I still like to troll my lines longer, call it a holdover from my boating days. I use the spool count method. Have someone take the line from the tip of the rod and move away with the reel in free spool, on shore of course. When the line moves across the spool of the reel one time, I use conventional reels, measure the line out from the tip of the spool. Such as, if you have 10' of line out at the tip, then 10 spools will give you 100'. This is the way the old timers used to do it. You can use a line counter. I just don't feel that one of those is needed. Then again, I have been using the spool method for so long, it has become second nature. To each their own. For the reels that I am now using, Calcutta 400 series and Penn International 975 casting reels, I usually let out 12 to 14 spools widths of line. I don't like trolling with spinning reels, as they add a lot of twist to lines. A little tip, if trolling with spinning tackle, is at the end of the day, when heading in, let out your line without anything on it, slightly more in length that what you were trolling with, for just a few minutes. That will let the twist out of your line. This also works if you have done a lot of casting with a spinning reel. After a day of throwing a Kastmaster at breaking fish, I will also use this method to get the twist out of my lines.

Again, as I think was mentioned earlier, I like braid, as it is thinner and will help get your lures down deeper.

...hope this helps.

[Yak Fish]

Interesting that you bring up how much line you let out. With a crankbait I let out a casts worth, so maybe 100' I'd estimate. To me that gets it the the intended dive depth. If I'm trolling a small umbrella, it's usually less than 30' which seems really short, I mean it's only 2 kayak lengths away, but that's what I've found works for me with that particular setup after lots of experimentation. It'll run about 6'-10' deep and I'd just gone over their heads so that basically tells me that the kayak does not bother them.

I've seen people let a ton of line out and that works too, but it's hard if you are trolling a small area since you can't maneuver the the lure as easily. I would imagine that it may give a slight edge if you are trolling a long distance going straight rather than turning frequently in a tight radius.

Like you said, I can't imaging that stripers are leader shy since you can basically catch them with a coat rack and a few plastic shad bodies tied to it

[DOGFISH]

One method I use to make a tight turn, with long lines out is with the line in on one rod. Regardless of the amount of line out, this will help for a needed sharp turn. For instance, when one has caught a fish and wants to quickly go back and cross over an area, suspected of holding more fish. When you have caught the fish and want to almost immediately go back and cross that area again, simply keep the one line in the kayak, and make a sharp turn in the direction of the other line that you still have out in the water. That way the line still in the water will stay far out of the way of the other line, when you do put it back out. When in the direction of where you want to go, then deploy the other rod. The rod that you have out, in the direction of the turn you just made, will then pull in behind the kayak and pose no threat of tangle with the other line. You are then set up to quickly go back over the same area again. Keep in mind that I am using an electric motor during this operation, with two fishing rods. It should work well with a peddle kayak as well. I use this method, as stripers tend to be a schooling type fish, and where there is one, most likely there are others.

...hope this helps.

[J.A. Veil]

Here are some GPS screen shots from two different days and different locations that show the paths I used to work specific areas back and forth with tight turns. I identified sections of 100 yds to 1/4 mile that were my targets. I paddled back and forth through those zones and had enough strikes to justify continued efforts. These paths were made while I trolled 4 lines. I had to be careful not to cut my turns too tight, but surprisingly I rarely tangled.

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[Yak Fish]

Hey John, have you gotten to wet the Propel yet? Anxious to hear about it!

[J.A. Veil]

Hey John, have you gotten to wet the Propel yet? Anxious to hear about it!

Alan -

I got the Slayer Propel the week before Christmas. I took it out on the water just one time -- a few days after Christmas. My report from that trip can be seen at: http://www.snaggedline.com/showthrea...ghlight=maiden

Since then I have gotten out pickerel fishing only 4 or 5 times working around the ice cover and my busy travel schedule. My Manta Ray works just as well for pickerel fishing (casting) in the tidal creeks as the Slayer. I will be traveling again for most of the next month and will not get to use either kayak. I am looking forward to using the Slayer Propel on the Susquehanna Flats in the spring and in the Severn during the summer and fall for trolling trips. I can tell from my one trip that it will bring some advantages to the trolling game.