Learning to troll

[ET Fish]

I bought all of the trolling racks/holders. Bought 12' and 14' rods. I have boxes of cranks. I have a set of planer boards for pulling jigs in a wide spread. At the end of the day, I have learned that I am a single pole fisherman because that is what I enjoy. I rarely load the boat, but just as rarely ever get skunked. I don't knock anyone's method of fishing, I just want to enjoy my time on the water.

[canebreaker]

I like to use 14 and 16 ft rods to get the bait away from the boat. Less chance of catching a line on the trolling motor.
Check the regs. on the waters you fish, number of rods and baits.
I like the old Johnson Century 100 series spooled with 30# Power Pro, I run them under the rod, left handed. A bobber stopper that can be adjusted to run at water surface for the depth I want the bait. A snap swivel at the end to attach the bait rig.
For waters without limits I run 6 baits per pole. The bait rig, 10 to 12 lb test mono, has a loop at both ends. One for the snap swivel and the other for the sinker. The loops and baits are 1 ft apart.
If the bobber stopper is pulled to arms length up the line from the swivel it's about 6 ft deep. The first bait is 7 ft deep, the bottom bait is 13 ft deep, sinker at 14 ft when sitting still. I use a 2 oz sinker at the bottom and speed 1, sometimes 2 on the trolling motor. My baits should be running between 5 and 10 ft deep with the bobber stopper adjusted to the surface.
I use a lot of different colored jig bodies at different locations from rig to rig. If one color seems to catch good at any depth I can swap colors around or go to that color on all baits.
On waters that have a 2 bait per rod limit my rigs have a bait 1 ft from the loop, a sinker 1 ft deeper and a 2nd bait 12 to 18" deeper at the bottom.