Backreeling Instead of Line Counters?

This thought just occurred to me.

Sometimes when vertical casting I will drop it to the bottom and count cranks on the reel to get to a desired depth. Say 30 feet of water, fish are suspending at 20, my reel picks up 2ft per crank, 5 cranks will get you close.

Wouldn't the same concept work for trolling with spinning reels? Flip the reverse and backreel until the desired amount of line is let out?

Of course you would not have the accuracy of line counters, but it allows me to use the spinning reels that I already have, and is better than just guessing.

Yes it would work and should work fairly well. You could reel backwards 10 times and measure how much came off the reels. Wish I had thought about that before I bought line counters just to try pushing crankbaits. LOL

I have just started trolling crankbaits and I stretch my line out in the yard and use a sharpie to mark my line at different lengths. Seems to be working ok. I also count reels to fine tune the depth. I do carry the sharpie on me when I'm fishing as it will begin to wear off and need freshened up. Beats spending hundreds of dollars on new reels.

Good ideas

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I like these ideas!

tie a knot in your line at different lengths

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sinkum

tie a knot in your line at different lengths

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Been doing that forever. Oh wait... You mean ON PURPOSE! Nevermind.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by sinkum

tie a knot in your line at different lengths

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Better be using some stout line, then. An overhand knot will reduce the pound test by up to as much as 50%

Great idea for us more economical fishers.:cheers2

Good thinking!!