I was planning to take my youngest son and his wife fishing for catfish on Utah Lake today, but the wind and weather forecast scared me off. After all, discretion is the better part of valor. Another day. Maybe you can help me be better prepared when we do go. How do you manage trolling when you have three people aboard? Do you just run four rods and take turns reeling in fish? Or what? Any help would be appreciated.
[signature]
I usually take two grandkids, I run four rods and I set them but they do the catching. And they are good catchers.
[signature]
For me, it kinda depends who the other 2 fishers are, and their experience...if they have their own tackle, rod, lures, etc. they may just want to use their own....in that case, I might use a 4th rod on 'my' side, and have that one be the one that we take turns reeling in any hits.....So, 1 dedicated per person, and the 4th rod we take turns on....If I have newbies or kids, they take turns if it's all my gear (or unless one gets tired before the other)...and depending on the action, I may have that 4th rod dedicated to me, cause I like to fish also...but they all catch fish before I do....Honest!...well, most of the time they do.. well, usually.. well, some of the time.. Well, one time they did!! [cool] .....Guluk....
[signature]
You can use planers to get out more rods in addition to your downriggers.
[signature]
I have a grand-kid and a kid that lived next to me, when I take them you better be fast at getting to the pole, are you will never reel any fish in, when they see the rod jump they forget about every thing else but getting that fish.
your sons wife is so good I would let her reel all the fish in.
[signature]
It might take you some time to get set up to troll six rods but if you are brave enough to try it someday, there is several ways to do it. Two rods on side planners, on opposite sides of the boat, two rods at 90 degrees, on each sides of the boat, finally two rods straight out the back of the boat, if I do that, I usually use lead core line, so there is less chance of the lines getting tangled. Another option is to use a mast system and run lines on each side of your boat, IMO, this is the most difficult, not to put out but to keep from getting tangled but it can be done. The last option is to run 4 planer boards, two on each side, then run two rods straight out the back or at 90 degrees to each side of the boat.
[signature]
we usually have 6 people on my boat but there is no way we are getting that many rods out. The most I can do is 5 and that comes with a tricky combination of down riggers, planer boards, leaded lines and long lining shallow. If it is windy we will often end up with 3 lines out and just take turns. hope that helps!
[signature]
When trolling in my boat we take turns reeling in fish and I usually do not fish with more than 4 lines, as it keeps tangles to a minimum. My philosophy is the person running the boat is doing the fishing and the other people are essentially part of the gear.
[signature]
We have trolled 8 lines at a time before with 4 people on the boat. 4 downriggers 4 planers (2 on each side) with very little tangles. Also have ran 6 planers and 2 off the corners at Willard with 4 people. It is all about spacing of your lines and hopefully the lake isn't crowded. Good luck!
[signature]
I would generally just drive and let the other 2 catch the fish. In addition, I also run the net (which is important!).
[signature]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]This is
in cheek poke at all y'all who insist on using those gawd awful clip on planer boards.With my boards (plans still available at this [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=415914;search_string=planer;#415914"]LINK[/url]) and Big Jon masts, I can run 4 or five lines on each board line. And with 4 DRs, the combinations are almost limitless. I never fish more than 4 people on my boat, but running 8 lines is NOT a problem or hassle. [
]
[/size][/#800000][/font]
[signature]
I've mentioned this before, the first time I encountered using planer boards was on Lake Superior at Duluth, Minn. over 20yrs ago. My brother arranged a salmon trip with his brother-in-law for whom had a 26' fishing boat with planer boards on each side and 4 electric Big Jon downriggers. With just us 3 the planer boards and only 2 downriggers were used. Each side board was running 3 lines apiece with 1 DR. This is the way they fish on the great lakes and usually utilizing more rods than what we were using. They made it look so easy to do without any problems yet they do this all of the time. It can be a lot of work for an individual but I amazed at how well this was done very smoothly without hiccups. I have been tossing around the idea of adding boards for a while to my arsenal. I'm not sure if I want to spend the big bucks to purchase already made or go the dubob route of making them which I have the equipment to do it with which I probably will.
[signature]
[quote Bduck]
I'm not sure if I want to spend the big bucks to purchase already made or go the dubob route of making them which I have the equipment to do it with which I probably will.[/quote][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]Build your own. [
][/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]
[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]If I were going to build hem again, I would opt for the original larger size and recommend it to you. They actually work better at holding attached fishing lines.[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]
[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]Good luck and show us pictures when you get them built. [cool][/size][/#800000][/font]
[signature]
The larger dual board style is what I would opt to. This will be a winter project when fishing/boating gets shut down which I have a feeling that could become early this year. I'll post pics when near completion
[signature]
Outriggers!
When I was a child on our family boat and deep sea fishing, we used outriggers.
I checked our posts on that and found I won't need to write up on it because it's covered well in these posts:
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...time&mh=25
Not having outriggers when trolling on a friend's boat with four down riggers, sometimes I give myself more separation with essentially the equivalent of outriggers with my 10 foot rod or 15 foot surf fishing rod which I see PackFish says works great in his post here:
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...r;#1067988
[signature]