Hey all...I am totally new to trolling cranks, and after reading this entire thread - a couple of things stand out. One of which is consistency being key. It appears that it is crucial to know my depth, and to be able to replicate it on all poles. Therefore - obviously it is important to know how much line to have out. A lot of you cranking guys with experience on here use line counter reels to let you know how far out you are. I just spent a lot of money getting a Terrova IPilot, lures, GPS, etc...so Im not too much in the buying 4 new reels mood (or more to the point - I'm not in the mood to listen to my wife anymore when she gets the credit card bills). So I am looking for a cheaper alternative to the line counter reels but still being able to count out my line with some ease, and consistency. I don't want to pull line out by hand (5-10-15-20-25-30-etc...) - that sounds just awful!

First thought was that I could tie on a bobber stopper, and run it up my line and tie it off at whatever length of line I may start trolling (say 50'). Then I thought well what about the metered line that changed color every 10', so I would just count out my colors to know how far out I am? I don't really see anyone talking about doing that on here, so I was wondering - does nobody do this? I found a metered line marked every 10' at BPS made by Tufline. It is 30lb braid that is the mono equivalant of 8 lb mono (which is the same size as the 30/8 PowerPro HiVis Yellow that a lot of folks on here talk about).

Does anyone on here have any experience using metered line?
AND/OR
Does the bobber stopper idea hold water? Or would that be too tough to manage for some reason I'm not seeing?

AND - HUGE thanks to everyone on here giving their tips. You could put this thread in a book and sell it to guys like me. VERY valuable info on this thread!!!