Quote Originally Posted by usafret99 View Post
Sounds like fun, why so many messes? Fish causing the line tangles?
Bird's nests were my fault. I used my old bass fishing baitcasting reels, which I haven't used in years, plus you can get a serious amount of whip when casting with a 12' rod vs an 8' rod, so it took several iterations to get the settings dialed in for each rod. Then, it's pretty much a given a catfish or drum will tangle up every line in the water before getting back to the boat. The 5 additional hooks on a crankbait vs a jig doesn't help either.


Quote Originally Posted by Bob D View Post
Were you using 10 lb test? Using hi vis or clear? I need to get on this as well. I've done a little of it, but not much. Seems like the white crappie are the ones that go for this. Have not heard of anyone loading up on the blacks doing this. Scott seems to do this real well too. Did you fish out of the front or back of your boat? Sorry, but I have a lot of questions about this technique. Did you use any line counting reels? Cabelas has them on sale right now for $39.99 I have a few and they are very nice. Do you have a certain type of rod holder or rod cup you prefer?
Stren 12lb Hi-vis. I have Hi-Tek Extreme rod holders mounted at the very rear of the front deck of the boat, so I'm fishing off the side with 12', 10' and 8' B'n'M Pro Staff trolling rods. I have the 12' rod straight out and angle the 10' and 8' back so there's about 4'-5' spacing between each line. No line-counting reels yet. That will probably be next if I decide I need them. I was between 1.7 - 2.0 trolling speed throughout the day. Make sure your drag is set right too! A 10-lb blue cat will hit a 2.0 mph crankbait like a freight train..... and 12lb Stren has a good amount of stretch to it, but it still pulled the rod holder around and nearly broke the rod.