trolling rod?

vano397 · Post by **vano397** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 10:45 am

What weight and length???

jasonvkop · Post by **jasonvkop** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:44 pm

Hopefully others will chime in as I don't have much experience in trolling, but I have asked a good amount of questions about it in the past. Trolling rods don't have to be anything special; we bought some Okuma combos at Gander Mountain for around $80 and they work well. I know King really likes Wal-mart catfish rods and ugly-stiks are always a good bet too. You really don't need an expensive outfit for trolling; you can probably get everything for under $100. I think our rods are just 8' and medium action.

vano397 · Post by **vano397** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:03 pm

Yeah i wasn't even contemplating building anything, but get plumage rods from a wholesalerand figured that I might as well get a combo or two with linecounters so I can know what I'm doing when I hit fish, and so I can stop destroying my good rods and reels!

hemichemi · Post by **hemichemi** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:56 pm

I've got a couple of 9' Cabela's Dipsy rods that work pretty well and stand up to a hard-pulling muskie lure at 4-5 mph. Plus, for a down-rod I've got an Ugly-Stik heavy Tiger rod (BWC2202) which is amazing. None of these cost me more than $60.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Fishing/ ... 727531.uts

http://www.cabelas.com/boat-shakespeare ... rods.shtml

pikerule2 · Post by **pikerule2** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:31 pm

I use an Ugly Stick catfish and Tiger on the inside two, both 7' rods. Then two 9.5' downrigger rods on the outside, with the Down-Easters set right the 4 troll very well for two people with minimal problems out of a small boat. The Kings helped me with this set up and it has served me well when the fish are on a trolling bite.

Kingfisher · Post by **Kingfisher** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 2:09 pm

The Catfish Rod is a white Uglystick. They are Glass and have the backbone right where you need it for good hook ups using up to 10 inch lures. They dont work as well for trolling double ten buck tails so we use our bigger Tiger rods and stouter line for trolling those.

We started using some more expensive Shimano Taloras last season and they are sweet . Both the 10 ft. Dipsy rod and the 7 foot lead core rod are awesome and life time guarantee .

An Okuma 30DX reel on a white Catfish rod with 30 pound MASON P-LINE CO polymer mono and 60 pound Mason 7 strand steel leaders is an awesome set up. From the smallest lakes to Lake St. Clair these Catfish rods have proved beyond any doubt to me to be the best 30.00 rod in the world for trolling. I replaced the guides with all solid stainless steel boat rod guides after two years use .

They are available at Bass Pro shops for 29.99 each. One piece 7 foot.

Any time any of you guys want to chat about trolling rods feel free to call. 231-821-98020 . Mike and Michelle

Chasin50 · Post by **Chasin50** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 7:27 pm

Questions:
What baits are you going to troll? How do you intend to use them? General out rods? Down Rods? Boards?

There are many great trollling rods, but you need to buy the right rod for the right application.

Mike has some good suggestions and has spent a lot of time on the water. I would stay away from graphite, try to buy rods with chrome plated line guides, and really good beefy construction. I would recommend max of 8' as anything longer gets trickly on landing fish. THis is especially the case if you are fishing by yourself.

Tiger rods are a really good general purpose rod for the money. Check out RP2 rods at http://www.rp2customrods.com. The RP2's are awesome, and extremely durable.

vano397 · Post by **vano397** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 10:30 pm

thanks guys, I think Im narrowing down the search a little...
Answers to some questions or ideas on what Im doing: I troll between spots and when I get tired casting, and I never fish very big lakes, so the zone is usually pretty narrow. So basically, Im using things like shad raps up to 10" jakes/believers, and the occasional bucktail, though I haven't done that much. I also don't pull many planer boards since Im just throwing in a couple lines. Im pretty much looking for a general purpose out rod or down rod that I can throw out every now and then so I don't keep putting the pressure on my better casting rods, and also want to have the line counters for keeping track of stuff.
My concern was if the usual M action planer board rods that are like 10-25lb (have acouple for kings and steelies on the big lake) are heavy enough, or if I need something more stout. And then also length, which I am gathering around 7.5 - 8 ft is about right.
thanks again
-JP

pikerule2 · Post by **pikerule2** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 7:13 pm

On small waters with tight contours and lots of boat traffic, making planers mostly out of the question, I do like the 9.5' outer rods improving the spread some to cover more water with the 7' inside to avoid tangles. The long downrigger rods have such a bend with a fish on that netting them hasn't been a problem so far. But we all have our preferences and if going with one size, 8' does seem like a good compromise.

chipdon · Post by **chipdon** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:00 am

off topic a little // try a reel with q line counter the more you use them the more help they are

Hamilton Reef · Post by **Hamilton Reef** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 11:34 pm

A local Montague charter captain told me tonight he picked up two white Uglystick catfish rods in Florida at a bargain for $20/ea just before he came home. He'll use them for big lake dipsy fishing knowing he can also use them for muskie trolling at Hamlin Lake. Hmm, this just may be cheaper for me to borrow the rods for a day.

P. Stanaway · Post by **P. Stanaway** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:51 pm

For boat rods I use 10' eagle claws. I point the rod-holders downwards towards the water. This allows me to submerge the rod tips to prevent any floating debris from fouling my baits. If there's no/minimal floating debris I use 11' bass pro cat max. This allows me to cover almost 30' of water w/ just two rods. For the rest I use 8.5' eagle claws or okuma's w/ inline boards. Hope this helps.......