joetomlee Posted July 15, 2014 Posted July 15, 2014 I'm just starting to get into trolling for walleye. The problem is, I don't want to buy 4 new rods to troll. I currently have 5-6 good quality rods/reels and was wondering if I could just use them in a rod holder?? I am going to be trolling in approx. 20-30ft if that matters. Quote
joetomlee Posted July 15, 2014 Author Posted July 15, 2014 I'm also curious to know if there are any quality rod holders out there that won't require drilling. Quote
Super User Dwight Hottle Posted July 15, 2014 Super User Posted July 15, 2014 Yes your current rods will work. Most guys trolling for walleye use line counters reels with dedicated rods but it is not necessary. The only rod holders I have used are based on a track system which requires drilling to secure. I use cisco alm rod holders on berts tracks. If you have metal rails mounted on your boat there are holders that will adapt to the rail. Google down east rod holders. The better systems are either stainless or alm. The plastic or lexan holders will work but are not very durable when much stress is placed on the system. 1 Quote
Delaware Valley Tackle Posted July 15, 2014 Posted July 15, 2014 Rod holders might take a toll on split grips and some cork grips. Too fast of an action might break if you get hung and don't catch it right away. You can catch fish with whatever you have though. Quote
Kevin22 Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 You need a real whippy rod for pulling cranks. Otherwise they will shake off long before you get to the rod. Also if you are running multiple rods then you will need different lengths. 6- 6'6" rods for the back and 7'6"- 8' for up front. Quote
EmersonFish Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 It depends on what the quality rods you have are, and what you are trolling with. Trolling is tough on gear. If you have bass rods that are designed to be "crankbait" rods, they are more likely to work well than another bass rod might. If you have a lot of money invested in bass rods, it might actually be cheaper in the long run to bug a couple of trolling rods. You can get them fairly cheap. Most rod holders are adjustable, and will allow you to positon your rods in a manner that will distribute your baits okay. The problem is finding good ones that don't require drilling. Extreme Fishing Concepts makes some no-drill holders for fiberglass bass boats. But again, we are back to spending quite a bit of your money. Tite-lok makes some pretty decent ones for more narrow boat rails. Quote
Super User Lund Explorer Posted July 16, 2014 Super User Posted July 16, 2014 I'm just starting to get into trolling for walleye. The problem is, I don't want to buy 4 new rods to troll. I currently have 5-6 good quality rods/reels and was wondering if I could just use them in a rod holder?? I am going to be trolling in approx. 20-30ft if that matters. It's doable, but the rod/reel combos you'll want to use probably depends on what you plan to troll with. As Dwight said, most guys end up using some kind of line counter reel with a trolling rod, and I would suggest that you start looking at them if you decide to get serious about this type of fishing. Michigan allows three rods per/person so I currently run Diawa AccuDepth reels (#17 size) on all of my rods. For bottom bouncers I spool up with 14# Trilene Big Game, and for spoons or plugs I top off the reels with 100' of 12# Flourocarbon. The rods are a combination of two 6'6" Medium action Berkley Cherrywoods for running straight back, and four 8'6" MH Berkley Air IM8 Rods that I use with side planers to spread everything out. Probably $75 to $125 per combo, but Cabelas has their Depthmaster on sale right now for $60 each. The biggest benefit to using a line counter is getting your baits back to the productive depth once you've caught a fish. Before you invest in line counters, you can cheat a little by putting bobber stops on you line spaced out in 10' increments. Not an exact science, but it will get you close to repeating the productive zone. Quote
Super User Lund Explorer Posted July 16, 2014 Super User Posted July 16, 2014 I'm also curious to know if there are any quality rod holders out there that won't require drilling. One of our kids uses these holders with their clamp on bases. Pretty good holders. http://www.driftmaster.com/Bases.html Quote
Super User SirSnookalot Posted July 17, 2014 Super User Posted July 17, 2014 Trolling rod isn't necessary but I would not want to use a rod with too fast a tip. Even at a slow troll speed I'd prefer moderate action with some backbone, mh woud be as light as I would go even for smaller fish. Most of my trolling these days are at 6-10 knots, wahoo a little faster. I count out by handstriping my line. Quote
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