marking line to tell how much line you have out

[glen]

I am going to do some trolling and i would like to mark the mono line so i know how much i have out. I would like to be able to reel the mark though the guides also.

 

Does anyone have any ideas??

Thankyou for any help.

[duber]

You can purchase one of those Rapala line counters that attach to any rod for 20 bucks.

Edited June 23, 2008 by duber

[dannyboy]

I'll second the Rapala line counter, $20 and it is easy to swap from rod to rod.

 

Dan

[brifishrgy]

you could use a slip bobber stop

Edited June 23, 2008 by brifishrgy

[BITEME]

dont bother why make it complicated you dont need to know how much line you have out contrary to popular belief

let it out behind the boat when it looks or feels good your in business

 

just my 2 cents

i have never used a line counter in my life and I boat a load of fish

[Fang]

if your using a level wind reel. measure the amount of line you pull off the reel when the line guide makes a full pass from 1 side to the other. Remember that number and then just count the line passes. It's not 100% accurate but better than guessing.

 

If your using a spinning reel I always cast out the lure and then start from there.

[Raf]

It's not 100% accurate but better than guessing.

 

That works well Paul.. You don't have to be accurate, just be able to repeat.

 

I measure the distance from the reel to the 1st guide and count "pulls".. same idear. 18" from 1st guide to reel * 20 pulls = 30' of line out.

Edited June 23, 2008 by Raf

[Reef Runner]

Don't know if permanent marker will wash off mono, but my suggestion would be marking a single mark at 10 feet, 2 marks at twenty and soo on.

[Garry2Rs]

I used a bobber stopper knot at 120 feet to troll with 10 pound Mono (.134 diameter).

I was trolling in the Grand River and wanted to reach close to the bottom without snagging, and to match the depth at which I was marking fish.

The fairly long setback was because the water wasn't very deep, and I wanted to give fish some space to recover from the boat passing overhead.

I used a book called Precision Trolling, that showed almost every lure in production, but similar information for their products is available in the Rapala Tackle Box Guide. I standardized on 120 feet to simplify things.

According to Rapala a DHJ10, Deep Down Husky Jerk will run at 14.5 feet deep on that much line.

A DHJ12 will reach 17 feet.

A Fat Rap FR05 reaches 13.5 feet, FR07 18FT.

The HJ06 maxed out at 5 feet, HJ08 at 6 feet, HJ10 at 9 feet, HJ12 at 8 feet, and the HJ14 also at 8 feet.

For Jointed Rapala's, the J11 and the J13 went to 8 feet and the Jointed Shad Rap JSR05 got to 13 feet.

The little F05 Original Rapala without any split-shot goes to 4 feet, F07 and F09 to 5 feet, the F11, 5.5 feet, the F13 to 6 feet and the huge F18 reached 11 feet.

The SR05 Shad Rap runs 9 feet. The SR07 10.5 feet, SR08 and the SR09 both hit 13 feet.

The big SSR14 musky bait goes down to 17 feet.

Tail dancers TD07 reach 9 feet while the larger TD09 hits 11 feet.

Some of these lures will go slightly deeper on a longer line, but I wanted a consistent line set back without a line counter.

I would change baits or sizes to put the lure in the strike zone according to what I saw on the depth sounder.

It wasn't perfect, but it worked for me.