Doubled my score

Yesterday I started fishing Grenada at Piney Woods at daylight because someone said a friend caught 40 there yesterday. Wind was terrible with the trolling motor coming out of the water, so I decided to move. I was taking up a rod I leaned over and mashed the remote to off. When I realized it and started it backup I had drifted back over my lines and wrapped a line in the TM. I thought I could idle the big motor to keep the other lines from tangling. Well it was over the lines as well and wrapped too. I just cut the lines and headed to the landing. I learned what has been said about never stopping!!,,lol. This was my second time pulling cranks so I am learning the hard way, but lessons I will remember.
I got to the landing and removed the lines form the motors and the wind had laid. So I put back in and tried along the dam. I caught 8 good fish from 10 to about 2 with 3 shorts and a small cat. I caught them in 25 to 32 FOW with 80- 100 feet of line at 2mph. That is twice what I caught on my first outing.
When I got to the landing there was, I think a guide with 2-3 guys in the boat that had caught 2 so I was pretty happy. I caught 4 on my first try. Another double and I will be up to a limit!!

Good job. Way to hang in there. While they never go away, they do lessen with more time on the water. Congrats on the fish.

Sounds like you are doing something right. I only had 2 cats my first try. I'm gonna try it some more before long and I hope to improve.

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Originally Posted by deltarat

Yesterday I started fishing Grenada at Piney Woods at daylight because someone said a friend caught 40 there yesterday. Wind was terrible with the trolling motor coming out of the water, so I decided to move. I was taking up a rod I leaned over and mashed the remote to off. When I realized it and started it backup I had drifted back over my lines and wrapped a line in the TM. I thought I could idle the big motor to keep the other lines from tangling. Well it was over the lines as well and wrapped too. I just cut the lines and headed to the landing. I learned what has been said about never stopping!!,,lol. This was my second time pulling cranks so I am learning the hard way, but lessons I will remember.
I got to the landing and removed the lines form the motors and the wind had laid. So I put back in and tried along the dam. I caught 8 good fish from 10 to about 2 with 3 shorts and a small cat. I caught them in 25 to 32 FOW with 80- 100 feet of line at 2mph. That is twice what I caught on my first outing.
When I got to the landing there was, I think a guide with 2-3 guys in the boat that had caught 2 so I was pretty happy. I caught 4 on my first try. Another double and I will be up to a limit!!

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At least he gave ya his 2 so you caught 10. 8 in the lake and 2 in the parking lot. [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

He said his guys didn't want to clean just 2. I told him I was cleaning anyway, so thanks.

Good job, keep at it!!

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Originally Posted by deltarat

He said his guys didn't want to clean just 2. I told him I was cleaning anyway, so thanks.

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I was there in the white Caddy. Im the one who told him to give em to ya.

That's just part of the learning curve. Way to stay with it and make it happen.

Thanks to you as well.

Been there, done that. Second attempt I think... First attempt a got everything tangled in a trot line....... It gets easier.

I don't have many of those issues anymore (knock on wood) after five or six years of steady improvement and learning. I still don't catch the limit every time. In fact, I got skunked once last year. Did not even catch a slimer if I remember.

The biggest thing I learned was how to set the TM to keep a straight line while I reeled a fish or changed a bait. All of my gear is new,Terrova, helix 7 and Helix 9 SI.
I do have a question. I have new line counter reels and I can't figure how to get them to free spool when I put a bait out without pulling all the line out by hand. I pulled the lever to the back and loosen the drag all the way, but it was not quite free enough to pull out line on it's own.
Any suggestions?

On my LC reels it has a on / off switch. On engages the spool and off disengages and allows the line to free spool. I turn mine on off, make sure the counter is zeroed and drop the crankbait in the water and let the resistance pull the bait out to footage I want it. You shouldn't have to go thru all that trouble everytime to get your bait back fishing. Nice job by the way!!

What kinds reels deltarat?
I cast mine 95 percent of the time

My reels have 2 things that effect that. 1 is a little tab on the left side, I call it a clicker because it clicks as line goes out, but the clicker also restricts the line from going out. If I pull the tab up the clicking stops and allows the line to spool off more freely. 2 is a little knob behind your drag setting, right in the center of the reel. I think it's an anti backlash adjustment knob. Turn it counter clockwise a little at a time while dragging your crankbait until it starts allowing your line to play out.

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Originally Posted by Snubbys

On my LC reels it has a on / off switch. On engages the spool and off disengages and allows the line to free spool. I turn mine on off, make sure the counter is zeroed and drop the crankbait in the water and let the resistance pull the bait out to footage I want it. You shouldn't have to go thru all that trouble everytime to get your bait back fishing. Nice job by the way!!

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I do the same thing because I never learned how to cast a bait casting reel. I always used spinning reels for crappie which is pretty much all I've ever fished for. I do put some thumb tension on my line when I start letting it out to get the bait tracking in the space that it goes in. I stop my reel 2-3 times for a few seconds while letting it out to keep it tracking right without tangling or crossing over another line. When letting your lines back out, make sure you're going as straight as possible with the boat.

Sometimes while letting a bait back out you get hit on another line. I've forgot to check the reel going out a million times and wound up with 3-400 feet of line out. I've even had a reel completely spool ALL the line out before I caught my mistake. Had a buddy that did that and the knot came untied and he lost every bit of line and his crank. He checked the pole when the tip wasn't vibrating and everything was gone. [emoji12][emoji23][emoji23]

I can cast a bait caster, well let's say I used to be able to (should be like riding a bike? :tongue). I don't believe even if I loosen the drag all the way off I could cast my LC's even if I wanted to. Besides that would be more trouble for me than the drop and drag method I'm guessing. And that's no good on forgetting to stop the free spool, bet your buddy was sick about that one. So far I've been lucky, I always remember to click the on switch back if I get interrupted. I'm sure I will forget one day, let's just hope not to the same degree. Dang line counters can hold 1500ft. of line or so, I only spooled mine up to 800' about half maybe a bit more.

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Originally Posted by Snubbys

Dang line counters can hold 1500ft. of line or so, I only spooled mine up to 800' about half maybe a bit more.

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Two things from my experience...

1- A full spool will spool easier, something about the different angle the line gets to pull the spool at when fully loaded gives the line a mechanical advantage making it spool of with less resistance.

2- Line counters are only accurate when fully spooled. A smaller spool has a smaller circumference than a larger spool. They are calibrated with a full load of line. Not a game breaker though, the real reason we use line counters is to be able to return a bait to the same depth once we find fish, but having an accurate knowledge of how deep the plug is running can be important.

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Originally Posted by Snubbys

Dang line counters can hold 1500ft. of line or so, I only spooled mine up to 800' about half maybe a bit more.

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What kinda reels you using????

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Originally Posted by Rees Guide

What kinda reels you using????

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Shakespeare® ATS™ Trolling Reel | Shakespeare®

Except there the line counters can't get link to post right. Shakespeare ATS 15 line counters..

I have Okuma 20 line counter. I flipped the lever to off and backed the drag all the way off and it still clicks as the line goes out. The bait will not pull out the line and I have to pull it by hand. They are brand new reels.

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Originally Posted by deltarat

I have Okuma 20 line counter. I flipped the lever to off and backed the drag all the way off and it still clicks as the line goes out. The bait will not pull out the line and I have to pull it by hand. They are brand new reels.

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It's the metallic knob on the left hand side. move it towards you and the clicking will stop and allow it to free spool.

Don't forget to calibrate your line counter reels. Un-calibrated reels do not accurately reflect line-out readings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNHHef2oIEo

OK I feel really smart now. I didn't know that was a lever. I thought it was something holding the reel together. Sorry about the stupid questions but, I was a one pole, flat bottom boat with a 15, jig fisherman for 50 years. I am just now moving into the high tech world. I have a lot to learn.
Thanks Perch_Jerker, that worked.
Bill

Bill, we have all been through this, how you think we knew how to help ya??

Thanks John for all the help and advise you have given me as well as all the other great guys here. There are 2 sites I go to everyday, here and a Bronco, site that are a great help to us beginners without flaming us for our stupid questions at times. I hope one day I will be able to pass the help on to others that I have been given.
Bill

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Originally Posted by Iwannafish

Two things from my experience...

1- A full spool will spool easier, something about the different angle the line gets to pull the spool at when fully loaded gives the line a mechanical advantage making it spool of with less resistance.

2- Line counters are only accurate when fully spooled. A smaller spool has a smaller circumference than a larger spool. They are calibrated with a full load of line. Not a game breaker though, the real reason we use line counters is to be able to return a bait to the same depth once we find fish, but having an accurate knowledge of how deep the plug is running can be important.

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You are exactly right, I decided to check my line counters accuracy this morning. With a little over half spool I took the line out 50 feet according to the line counter, then took a tape measure and measured from the lure to the tip of the rod where it was zeroed out from. Line counter was reading 50 feet and tape measured said 32 feet of line out. So they are off by 18 feet (at 50' on LC) with a little more than half a spool, that is a huge difference, I figured it would still be withing 5 -8 feet or so. My log books this year want be any good next year when I fill the spools all the way up. Explains why my personal depth charts are a good bit off from the ones produced by arkie and bandit. I dialed my depths earlier in the year by running along flats, bumping bottom, brush and taking notes. I had them dialed in, but could have saved myself a lot of time and trouble. So don't feel bad deltarat we all learn somewhere, just good to have all this knowledge at our fingertips :highfive

I agree. There is someone here that has the answer to any fishing question. I just hope they don't get tired of all my questions.
I did fill my reels full. I had some large spools of 8# mono and it took 1600' and 200' of 40# braid. Man that is a lot of cranking for 4 reels. The first one I loaded I did what someone on here said-I loaded 200' of braid and them finished filling with mono and then transfer that to another reel, putting the braid on top. I watched the counter and it showed 1600' of mono so I didn't have to transfer it on the other reels.
I do need to calibrate it to see how accurate my counter is.

Get em all the same, close to full and go with it. Its all relative, you want to be able to duplicate. Gonna put 300 feet of braid on next time around on mine.

Rees, are you not still using power pro depth hunter? I switched and it makes it easy to keep up with the line out. Now I can use lighter, smaller reels and still maintain depth control. My line counter okumas can get contrary every once in a while. One will not let the bandit pull line out so it's going on a planer board rod. I have been able to work on my ambassadeurs and shimanos for 40 years but I took one of my okumas apart to see why it wasn't free enough. It's in a bag now for parts. The line counter, level wind is a little tricky and it swarmed on me when it first came apart. Easier to buy a new one even though they have risen in price a little. Depth hunter +ambassadeur 5000= smooth fishing.

im still using the depth hunter.....it has its advantages and disadvantages....
pros: you can buy a large spool and get several reels going if you are just starting out without having to buy new line counters
pro: you def know how much line is out because you dont have to worry about it being calibrated, especially if you break off
pro: still have the strength of braid vs mono

the only con I can think of really is sometimes its hard to keep up with how much line you actually let out because unlike a line counter reel you have nothing to refer back to

there have been times ive wanted to switch to line counters just for that reason

Line counters are fine when they work and you remember to hit the reset. Also when you don't accidentally hit it.