Light Duty Trolling

[rcspott]

Was wondering if a Ugly Stick Medium action 7' with a Cabelas Depth Master 20 bait caster 290yds/14lb would be an ok rig for light lake trolling for trout, lures, spoons maybe lead core. Next size down reel is Cabelas Depth Master 15 bait caster 290 yds/12lb. Appreciate the imput.

 

[Georgesalmon]

Probably fine with either except for lead core. Lead core is large diameter and unless your talking just a few colors it takes a big reel to put much on.

 

[Teamster]

My personal opinion is the depth masters are just okay for a short time,...I've had the line counters quit working in short time,..

The Diawa Sealine's are a time tested trolling reel that should last forever if you don't abuse it.

The Diawa Acudepth Plus are another good option for a bit less money,..

 

[dingbat]

I'm not a fan of line counters in general. They don't work worth a darn with braid and the counter mechanism is flaky at best.

You would be better of counting "bars" or using one of the "deep marked" braided lines

 

[Georgesalmon]

I'm a big fan of line counters. Not that they are accurate so much, but they are repeatable and get you back where you caught that fish. I have 22 trolling rods and 18 of them are line counters. For an inexpensive reel that works pretty well look at Okuma magda's. I started there and although I have upgraded through the years I still use a few myself and the ones I have given away are still going strong.

 

[Teamster]

What do you mean they don't work with braid?????

Mine are set up with 20lb test mono backing,...100 yards of 40lb test Power Pro, Then a short mono leader,..

Haven't had any problems with mine,......

And if you take your time filling them they can be very accurate,...

 

[dingbat]

What do you mean they don't work with braid?????

Mine are set up with 20lb test mono backing,...100 yards of 40lb test Power Pro, Then a short mono leader,..

Haven't had any problems with mine,......

And if you take your time filling them they can be very accurate,...

Mine where setup with #200 dacron backing, 300 yards of #80 braid with a 25 ft., #100 mono wind-on leaders.

I won two Shakespeare LC at a raffle. They went three or so outings before they started to "skip" mid-deployment, requiring reset to correct. Frustrating when you have 200+ ft. of line behind the boat and have to wind it all in and start over again.

Stopped working altogether by mid-season. Tore them apart to investigate. Found a cheap, little plastic gear mating with a much larger brass gear (levelwind) with little tolerance for alignment issues or wear. To the point that they worked with the reel laying on it's side with the counter pointed down. Didn't work with counter up or held in the usual upright position. Trashed them and went back to counting bars.

Counting bars is just as repeatable as a counter w/o the problems. Counting bars allows me to deploy the lines in total darkness. Something that you can't do with a LC. Comes in handy with money on the line (pun intended) and 20+ lines to set before sun rise.

I realize I'm no where close to light tackle trolling. Then again, #40 PP isn't actually light either.. I use #20 or less for LTT

 

[Teamster]

Better linecounters shouldn't fail,...

I've had some of the cheaper stuff and they don't work long,....

The Diawa sg27lca is a good real, The Diawa Acudepth PLUS is a good real,...And the Shimano Tekota is really good if yous wan't to spend the money,...

The only reason I use the 40 pound Power Pro is the line diameter matches the 10 pound mono to the dive curves in the "trolling bible",.......

 

[dingbat]

Better linecounters shouldn't fail,...

I've had some of the cheaper stuff and they don't work long,....

The Diawa sg27lca is a good real, The Diawa Acudepth PLUS is a good real,...And the Shimano Tekota is really good if yous wan't to spend the money,...

The only reason I use the 40 pound Power Pro is the line diameter matches the 10 pound mono to the dive curves in the "trolling bible",.......

It doesn't matter how much you pay for a reel, sooner or later they all fail.

I get just as many $1200 penn internhationals in for service as $120 penn senators. I like okuma but consider them disposable given there lack of parts support.
Diawa makes some nice stuff but long term parts suspport is non-existent. Same with Shimano. They ask top dollar no support after 7 years. Never owned a Shimano and don't intend to.

All my trolling reels are proudly made in American

I used to be a follower of the trolling bible. Learned to look past the "gospel" and rewrite a number chapters over the years thru experience, starting with the depth charts. Too many variables involved. Renamed chapter, for reference only.....

 

[ondarvr]

I have a bunch of line counters, most work OK, no issues with the Tekota's, but other cheaper models occasionaly mess up, parts have been cheap if needed. We fish in ways that require being an accurate distance back from the boat, it's very easy to do with a line counter. It can be done with metered line, but not as easily, and once out it can be difficult to remember what color means what on each rod. When taking newbies line counters make it far easier.