Trolling layout ........ (not just a weight question)

Hi all. I've downloaded both charts showing speed + line out + weight = depth. I used this information when making my first striper outing in my boat this past Saturday.

Success was not mine as I only managed to catch some naseua and a mess of tangled lines.

My question is more about reel configuration on my boat and where I need to put the longer lines or deeper lines out in comparison to one another.

My boat ('91 2110) has 6 rod holders along the rail installed in a slightly rotated/offset fashion so the back two point straight back, the middle two angled back at roughly 30-deg and the most forward two at closer to 45-deg.

For my outing, I put the two longest lines and heaviest weights on the back two holders assuming they'd be the deepest running lines. I shortend up line lengths and reduced weight on the middle two holders and shorted up/reduced weight even more so on the front. Basically, my deepest lines were straight on the back and my shallowest lines were up front.

This DID NOT work for me and I fought tangles several times and had absolutely no luck in the fish landing department.

I was pretty focused on staying straight and not turning sharp when I needed to swing around but nothing was working for me.

After picking out nests/tangles a few times over, my stomach couldn't handle it anymore and we booked it back up the river (we came up the Patuxent and out through Solomons/Drum Point). The Bay was decent at first light but by 9-930AM, it was white capped and sloshing around pretty good.

My next outing is likely 11/20 so I'd like to be better prepared.

Can anyone offer some insight/advice?

What does your gear configuration look like (number of rods, type of line, type of lures)? Most of the time whilest trolling without out-riggers, 2 lines out should be sufficient. One line deep one line more shallow will keep your gear from tangling. I sometimes even pull a single Mojo w/ Crippled Alewive and have great success.

I put deep lines in close, using a diving plane affxed to the boat, or deep diver lre, with line with an elastic to the stern eye ... the elastic breaks when a fish strikes.

Long lines go way out, usually one longer than the other so it swings in and under the other in a turn. But I also use outriggahs (toona trolling) from the roof and out-rodders (trolling tube&worm for bass) from the side-gunnels.

It also depends on how a lure runs and what type of line it is on.

I used to troll 9 rods without planer boards or outriggers as my regular spread. key is to have seperation with length and depth. Use a line counter or count "bars" (passes of a level wind) to make sure line length is varied along with weight. Parachutes and bucktails are easiest to use since they track straight unlike a stretch or a spoon. If you have to run a spoon, put it way back beyond your other lures and put it out first. I only use spoons way back or very short and deep. However, i use my umbrellas for my short and deep since they make for a larger presentation in the lower visability deeper water. Besides I dont want to put them out too far as they are a pain to reel in.

Starting at the most forward holder on the starboard side and working your way around from there, here is what I would put out for a 6 rod spread:

1. solo parachute with shad 5-7 oz out 200'
2. umbrella out 50-60' with 20-24oz
3. tandem bucktails with shad 3/6oz (total 9 oz) out 150'
4. solo parachute or spoon w 2-3 oz out 250'
5. umbrella out 60-75' 16-20oz
6. tandem parachute 6/9oz (15oz of weight) out 100-120'

A good rule of thumb...

Longer length and lighter weights on the far outboard lines.
Shorter length and heavier weights on the closest inboard lines.

Everything in-between follows the same convention.

jonas grumby":1lfrsh0u said:

What does your gear configuration look like (number of rods, type of line, type of lures)?

Click to expand...

I have 6 trolling rods (Penn 330 GT's) on 6' boat rods (I think Slammers). 40lb mono with 15-20' of 80lb leader.

Types of lures: Mostly bucktails of various weight/color. A couple spoons. And some teaser rigs. On this particular outing, I deployed 2 bucktails by themselves. 2 more bucktails on the teaser lines and then 2 spoons.

rangerdog":1ldkuwm8 said:

Click to expand...

Thank you. This helps quite a bit.

Be careful mixing spoons and other lures.
Spoons can wander and will cause tangles if they aren't well separated from your other lures.

Even worse (for wandering) are the Stretch 25's and 30's.
If I decide to pull stretches, I only fish 2 rods and I keep both lures as far away from each other as I can.
The Stretches catch fish, but they do move around behind the boat (which is probably why they catch fish ).