What’s your Spread....

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Reelax
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What’s your Spread....

Post by Reelax »

I think it would be interesting to hear how different folks setup rods for trolling... here is my setup.... what is Yours?
Matt B
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Reelax
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by Reelax »

Reelax wrote:I think it would be interesting to hear how different folks setup rods for trolling... here is my setup.... what is Yours?
nhjim wrote:absolutley they do. left 2 on split rock as trying to corner around it until figured it out. i would say 40' plus. also good to know when in traffic out there 2 boats passing both running them you will meet in the middle.
Once passing Raz for a pic opportunity my lite bite set to 2.5 hooked his rigger cable 40ft away! Yea they pull way out and clear if set right.

I run 2 riggers with cheaters, 2 slide divers and 2 lead core set on gunnels pointed out for a width of 24’ between lead sets and run without inline boards... it works great and you can turn sharp. This is the spread I use from June till Sept, and always provides action and NO tangles.

Lite bites often fire best in this spread. I can cover from 10 ft to over 100 with various presentations to increase bling as needed but usually start with clean lines. Riggers are usually 20-50 back and lite bites are 12-17 arm pulls back. Depths are picked to be at.. 1 just below the Thermocline, 2 just above it, 1 about 20ft above it.. and the 2 l leads just above salmon temp water no matter where that is. But usually highest Sets) These are MY secret numbers... Guess I am feeling open today..

If more guys are on the boat we can setup the big mast and add lead on otters or mini divers...

But 6rods and 8 spoons really seem like my majic set...

What do you run?

Fish on!
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MWM
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by MWM »

Great topic and info Reelax. Our program has been two riggers with cheaters, no more than 70 ft set back's unless I want to run vertical blades then lines are set tight to the ball. Two leadcore rods on plainer boards roughly 20ft out from mast, 3 to 6 colors out. finally a lite bite in the prop wash usually with 30-60 feet of line out.
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Ahhspray
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by Ahhspray »

We usually have two licenses on board and use this set-up:

Two riggers with cheaters and two lead core(3 & 4 colors) off the corners or one lead core off a corner and a diver on a 4 setting to one side, we also add what we call a "fish attractor" in the Hong Kong position centered in the transom. The attractor is on a stiff boat rod 35' out diving deep(45* line angle behind prop wash)and is a 6" Heddon product(white with LOTS of action) that can work as a diver or can be run as a lure. We run it clean with no hooks(VT Wardens pulled us over to check for hooks when they counted a 5th rod out at last years LCI but we were legal since it was hookless). I stagger the rigger depths so that riggers and cheaters cover a lot of vertical water. Last week in a 80-90ft deep bay we were very successful with riggers set at 24 and 17 even though top temp was 64-65 at the surface(can't afford a probe yet). This put cheaters at about 12 and 8. We will run a stickbait on the main and a spoon on that cheater and on the other rigger a spoon on the main and a stickbait on the cheater til we get word from the fish about what they want. Almost every single salmon came off of the deeper cheater so we didn't move anything deeper even though we were marking fish at 60-80ft down over 75-90FOW. We did try SWR with 3 and 4 colors at both 35 and 50 down with the hot spoon(sm silver-blue trout honeybee w/smelt Pro-Cure) but saw no action. If the fish were up near 60 we'd get releases, if they were much deeper, we saw no action. Deeper set-ups produced nothing for us regardless of where the fish were in the water column. Lure selection last week was blue/white or blue/silver ESPECIALLY if it had spots! ALL fish, Salmon, pike, perch, bass and one overly confident alewife, came on lures(spoons and sticks) that were mostly blue and white.

If we can run more rods, we will add(depending on fish feedback) a second diver, lead core lines, planer boards out one or both sides, etc. but the above set-up is where we almost always start out. Depth varies depending on the season and recent weather.
Totally rebuilt - 1986 22' Starcraft 220V CC T-top w/ 1986 Evinrude 140hp and 1978 Merc 7.5hp kicker
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Reelax
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by Reelax »

Never heard of running a an attractor rod down the shoot In lake Champlain... No hooks... that is just cool. How much action do you think it brings?
Matt B
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Ahhspray
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by Ahhspray »

Ha. We started doing it on a slow day one spring in Town Farm Bay. We were fishing up high in the water column, and because we had space and couldn't run any more rods with lures. If it was in the water we had releases, if it wasn't we didn't. Sometimes we forget to put it out and would remember because we hadn't had to use the net. It's kinda like the ritz and peanut butter thing, as soon as its out, we see action. Damnedest thing. Now we are afraid to stop. :lol:

Bass fishing umbrella rigs(w/ no hooks) seem to work there too but we are still collecting data.

I don't see this same difference with flashers, lake-trolls, etc. We haven't tried putting it on a cannonball and I'm worried that this particular one runs so erratic(even more than the scatter rap lips) that I'd end up tying everything together by accident if I ran it with a deep spread. Seems to be effective on fish down to 50-60 feet. Could very well be that's what was bringing them up to our shallow spread last week. I'll see if I can find a pic of it. Here are products of having it in the water though:ImageImage
Totally rebuilt - 1986 22' Starcraft 220V CC T-top w/ 1986 Evinrude 140hp and 1978 Merc 7.5hp kicker
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Ahhspray
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by Ahhspray »

Heddon Hellbender is the name.

Here's a link to their site. I think the one I have came with hooks that I removed but this link goes to the hookless "poor man's downrigger" version. We use white.

https://www.heddonlures.com/product/hel ... nrigger-3/

BTW - DEADLY when trolling for Pike around submerged weedbeds. Brings them in then our 8-12" spoons trail 10-30' or so behind it.
Totally rebuilt - 1986 22' Starcraft 220V CC T-top w/ 1986 Evinrude 140hp and 1978 Merc 7.5hp kicker
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C-Hawk
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by C-Hawk »

I fish solo a lot and use two riggers. One I put the spoon 75 -100 back, and the other tight to the ball with verticle blades. Later on in the summer and even if I have more people on board, I only run 3 riggers. Many times less is more. If one side out fishes the other, I adjust. This set-up is not for everybody, but what I like for bigger fish. I don't do well on numbers, but like to fish all day for a 5 pounder instead.
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BottomDollar
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by BottomDollar »

C-Hawk wrote:I fish solo a lot and use two riggers. One I put the spoon 75 -100 back, and the other tight to the ball with verticle blades.
Same deal here. I wish I could buy my dog a fishing license...it would be great to run a lite bite all the time as well.
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by JDK »

Not in Vermont or New York

If fishing solo, I run one rod off a downrigger with a sliding cheater. The other is usually a segmented leadcore with an inline board. I adjust to what the fish are telling me. If another person is with me, I use 2 riggers and either 2 leadcores or one slide diver. Again, adjusting to what the fish are telling.

An absolutely deadly technique this time of year is running a spoon in the prop wash. 1/4 to 1/2 oz trolling sinker and 6 feet of leader. Set back just far enough so you can't see it but no more than 15 feet.
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keithm87
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by keithm87 »

My set changes from week to week, but usually 2 riggers one with a laker setup deeper, and the other with a more salmon spoon right at the start of the temp break. Both set with cheater. Then 2 slide divers. I run a very short setback on the laker rod, and usually 15-25 on the higher one. Divers are usually set 50 behind diver (dont actually use the counter for that since I have it down pretty good) and down around thermo.
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ThreeBuoys
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by ThreeBuoys »

I fish alone a lot as well. It depends on how much energy I have. Most always I will have the downrigger's out. I will set them at different distances back and depending on what the probe is telling me, I play with the depth. I will use sliders to get extra lures in the water. I have gone to Elberta Clippers this year, because I want to know exactly where my cheaters are.
I also may try 1 downrigger with cheater and leadcore or slide diver on the other side of the boat.
I have also used the zig zag and slow S turn with my Autopilot more this year which has produced good results for me. Might have to try putting a lure in the prop wash, and I have been toying with the idea of setting up a SWR.
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by flyguy »

I also fish solo a lot, and when I do, I use two riggers or two lead-core rods, depending upon depth and season. With two aboard, I usually use two riggers and stack on the cable, or two riggers and two lead. I also use horizontal flashers a lot with two lines stacked above, or with Elberta clippers for cheaters. I am a big fan of horizontal flashers and also use flashers and dodgers in front of flies a lot. In my smaller boat I use two lead-cores, sometimes with a small downrigger on one when alone and use two lead-cores with appropriate colors out and two stacked on a downrigger when fishing with two persons. I find that, with flies, the lead-core works best, when I can get to the depth (thanks Ron for the fish hawk TD!). I think it is the natural swing of the line that does it. For lakers I usually use vertical flashers and just downriggers - sometimes above bottom with one color of lead-core behind the ball. Don't pay much attention to all of this-I haven't been doing very well yet this year with any of these rigs.
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Greenhorn
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by Greenhorn »

Great Topic Relax. I fish alone a fair amount also and usually use two down riggers with sliders. I typically run two dodgers in-line off the ball and clip a release on the cable to present the lures about 2 feet above the dodgers. When fishing with a buddy, I have the two down riggers and two rods with copper line. The copper lines have been the hottest rods for me this year. I started with a 35 ft section of copper to get down 6-8 feet early in the season and I am using 150 feet now to get down about 30 feet. First year with copper and I am liking it.
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Re: What’s your Spread....

Post by tamiron »

Great info. Keep notes on what works for you and/or others. Great angling success comes from repetition and duplication!
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