Thinking about giving spider riggin a try

I mainly fish single pole and a jig but I am thinking about trying spider rigging. As of right now I am not setup at all for this. My trolling motor needs replaced and I need rod holders and polls. I'm thinking about starting off with 4 14 ft bnm rods and some kind of drift master rod holders. I think the trolling motor has enough life left in it to start out this way and if I like this approach then I will upgrade the trolling motor later. Are 14ft poles too long starting out? Do you guys have any suggestions on rod holders and a trolling motor?

Hey, your money ... your choice on rod holders. There are several different ones, and only you can determine which would work best for you. :twocents

14' rods would likely be a good starting point for rod length. And 4 rods is a good number to start with, just to see if you can "get into it".

You'll likely need to get a extendable net, also. The EGO Reach net is pretty popular amongst the spider rigging crowd.

Trolling motor ... one with infinite speed adjustment will perform better for you than a 5 speed selectable. And you'd best have GPS capabilities, either on your depth finder or a hand held unit, just to gauge your speed & keep it constant.

... cp :kewl

Check with E-Z pole holder on here about a set of his SpiderLocks. 14 ft is good. I started with 12's which work fine but went to 14 and like them better. I have southern crappie rods and well pleased. Have B&M PST's and they are good all around pole.

Spyderlock rod holders will be the next ones that I own. there are alot of good ones out there and you probably cant go wrong with any of them, but the Spyderlocks are pretty nice.

Rod holders are a personal decision, I've got Driftmasters and like 'em, others like the spyder or hi-tec, it's expensive to test 'em all out but maybe some friends will let you try their different brands/styles. Recommend a TM with variable speed, NOT a 5 speed model, as you'll need the ability to adjust speed ever so slightly depending on the day, and a good gps to monitor your speed.

I will have to look into southern rod and spyderlock holders.

Pappy, you are right about a net! The one I use now wouldn't work so well with those big poles.

The trollin motor I have now is a 5 speed. I want to replace it but I just havent made up my mind what I want yet nor have I wanted to fork out the money! I do have a Lowrance HDS-7 so I can use that for my speed and location.

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Originally Posted by SlabHunter2013

I will have to look into southern rod and spyderlock holders.

Pappy, you are right about a net! The one I use now wouldn't work so well with those big poles.

The trollin motor I have now is a 5 speed. I want to replace it but I just havent made up my mind what I want yet nor have I wanted to fork out the money! I do have a Lowrance HDS-7 so I can use that for my speed and location.

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The trolling motor will work OK for now, you'll just have to be mindful of your speed & drift. The variable/infinite speed trolling motors are just a whole lot more convenient to use.

I have Hi-Tek Elite Series rod holders on my boat, and I replaced the retainer bolts for the holders with large knob bolts ... so now I can easily adjust the holders by hand. I still use a tool to tighten down the T-bar to the base plate, but that's a once & done deal until I'm ready to put them away.
I've fished over Cumberland Rod Holders 24" ... and find them a bit too tall for my liking, as I have to reach over the high forks of the holders to grab my rod. My Hi-Teks are 18" tall, and have a small fork groove where the rods lay. I just prefer them at that height, and without the deep V forks in the holders. If I were going to be doing a lot of longline trolling or trolling cranks, then I might consider getting rod holders with deeper forks ... just to insure that rods wouldn't pull out of the holders.

My Lowrance Elite 5DSI/chartplotter keeps me in the know about speed, direction, location, water temp, and a Down Image picture of what's under me. It's mounted on the trolling motor. Your HDS7 should work very well for you.

... luck2ya, and have fun !!

... cp :kewl

Started w/12 ft rods, quickly went to 14'. Your choice of make and model is not important, imo. Somethin with a good spine and gentle tip. Ego telescoping net is the berries. Variable speed TM will let you get your speed EXACTLY where you need it ..... .3 mph or less, and it is a lot easier on your battery. Your jig/minner set up is very important too. I personally use a jig tipped with minner and then a gnat about 14-18 inches above that with a free swimming minner. The critical thing to remember is when you think you're goin too slow....slow down. Now, re-read that last sentence. It's the most important thing anybody has said about trollin/spider riggin to you yet, IMHO. Took me awhile to get into it, because I like to feel the thump, but it is really fun once you get the hang of it...trust me!

I would agree with the spyder lok holders and the southern crappie rods. I am hopefully going with wiskers next week to test the 14 footers. I am just getting started to and I have not herd one bad thing said about either the spyder loks or the southern crappie rods. I have been using 12 footers but may reconsider after using wiskers rods next week. You can pick up a used terrova on here pretty reasonable if you keep your eyes open in the classified section on here.

I started with 14' PSTs and after 2 years wish I had gotten 16'. I am getting 4 more (16').

EZ Pole holder makes the best rod holders I have found. Just my opinion, I love mine and have used others. PM him for some specs and pricing, he'll be glad to respond.

if ur close to camden and want to see the spyderloks hollar ,i have a couple sets if u wanted to see them in person,still have some hitek stuff also

oh and i have a terrova ipilot forsale also but its a 101lb 36 volt

Thanks for all the great advice. After looking at the southern crappie rods website I'm leaning that direction. Ed seems like a good guy and everyone seems to like his rods. I have a 16ft aluminum boat and the front seat is about a foot below the front deck. Im thinking the rod holders I get need to be fairly short to keep the rods at waist level. I'm going to have to measure to get a better idea but I would guess something <= 12 inches. I really want an ipilot. Blueball I wish yours would work for me but with the aluminum boat that 101lb thrust would propel me like a rocket. My current trolling motor is a 45lb thrust and I never run it at full speed. Maybe I can meet you out on the lake sometime? Do you ever make it over to Barkley?

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Originally Posted by SlabHunter2013

Thanks for all the great advice. After looking at the southern crappie rods website I'm leaning that direction. Ed seems like a good guy and everyone seems to like his rods. I have a 16ft aluminum boat and the front seat is about a foot below the front deck. Im thinking the rod holders I get need to be fairly short to keep the rods at waist level. I'm going to have to measure to get a better idea but I would guess something <= 12 inches. I really want an ipilot. Blueball I wish yours would work for me but with the aluminum boat that 101lb thrust would propel me like a rocket. My current trolling motor is a 45lb thrust and I never run it at full speed. Maybe I can meet you out on the lake sometime? Do you ever make it over to Barkley?

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never fished barkley,havent really fished much the last year and a half,bought a house and its kept me busy remodeling some and working alot to.The sprderloks are adjustable height, i believe 13,16,19,21in are the height adjustments.

I am ready to pull the trigger on some rods. Im really stuck on what size to get. I would like 14's but I am just worried that it will be too much to handle in the beginning. I think 12's would be more manageable.

get the 14 ,not that much different ,or u will want them later

I started out with a 5 speed TM and added a length of log chain to drag behind the boat. I quickly learned that by varying the length of rope I could control the speed while leaving the TM on at a set speed. Each days condition was different so it would take me a few minutes to find the right combination between line length and motor setting and get my speed dialed in and adjustments through the day were occasionally needed. Worked fine but I sure was glad when I stepped into the Variable speed TM I have now :)

Go with the longer poles and .....slow down!!

I use 12 ft poles and have 1 10 ft that I have been using and I seem to catch the most fish on the 10 ft. I don't know if it makes that much difference on length especially is you are fishing deeper water. We fish 12-18 ft deep most of the time so I don't think rod length is that important, or it isn't to me. As far as speed let the fish decide for you. This spring at Nadar talked to a guy that had their limit everyday when most were not catching that much and they were running .09 and we started doing that and catching more fish. I regularly run .07 -.09 now as that seems the best speed for us to catch fish anyway. Just my :twocents Oh and almost always catch a crappie on the turn on the outside poles so I would hate to guess how fast those are moving at the time.