[614851]

doughboy,

last summer, i briefly experimented with trolling big lip mann's plugs with 30 # test fireline. i had no trouble bumping bottom with the small diameter of the fireline line.

i wouldn't worry about blowing out rods as long as drags are working properly and set within reason.

set,
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[614851]

in my limited experience, i didn't have that problem with either spinning (fin nor ahab 20)
or conventional (penn 25 gls). but that is a serious concern.

captain neil - you are really starting to scare me now.

set,
opinari

 

[614851]

capt. neil,

you motivated ( scared ) me so much that i reread an article on trolling with braids that was in the 10/18/01 edition of the forbidden.

while the article did not mention the problem you warned about, it did provide a solution.

i spool my reels almost to the core with fireline. but if you were to use enough heavy mono backing so that all of your braid is in the water when on the troll, then the potential for such a disaster no longer exists.

hard to believe, but last summer's high gas prices may have saved me money.

doughboy - thanks for a good topic.

set,
opinari

 

[614851]

doughboy,

i use 30 # fireline for all my striper fishing and will continue to do so for a long, long time as i have already purchased three 1000 yard spools.

i have no idea how much fireline i had in the water as the line is unmarked and i only have enough mono backing to keep the line from slipping on the spool.

i was able to bottom out mann's big lip plugs in 25 to 30 feet of water without any added weights, as advertised.

the article i referenced says (for lures in general) to allow 50 feet of braid for every 5 feet of trolling depth.

if i was going to do this the careful way, i would only use about 200 feet of fireline, so that i would be sure to have all the braid in the water. i would then add a weight if i had to go deeper than 20 or 30 feet. much easier to add weight than subtract braid. you might want to buy some light colored braid so that you can mark it every 25 feet with different colors of permanent magic marker.

trolling is not really my thing, but i bought a bunch of those big lip plugs last winter when i thought gas was free.

set,
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