Trolling rods

[Ricky Bobby]

I am looking at getting 2 x telora downrigger/board rods and 2 x telora dipsy rods, along with 2x tecota 600 reels. I have 2 okumas for the downriggers.

 

Anyone use these and have any opinions?

 

thanks

[SlowPoke]

Talora's are nice but not cheap. The benefit of the Talora lineup is that you can pick and choose for your purpose. I use Shimano TDR's for downrigging, inline boards and leadcore. Daiwa Heartland's serve me well for braid dipsy, wire dipsy and muskie trolling.

If I had a pocket full of cash would I upgrade the boat rods to Talora's? Sure. Let's keep in mind, we're trolling not finesse fishing. We can get away with cheaper rods as long as they will withstand the punishment.

 

Tekota 600's are sweet. No complaints from me other than the clickers could be a little bit louder.

 

Okuma Catalina's are very nice too.

[irishfield]

I, like slowpoke, same TDR's for downrigging with Pen 309's.. I think we paid $17.21 or so per rod at the time. I have a couple 10' 6" Talora's for BOQ walleye... but when it comes right down to it you don't need them for those wet socks either...

[lew]

The Tekota 600 is an excellent reel and you'll be more than happy with it, but the line counter model makes life easier if you ever want to know precisely how far back everything is.

[outllaw]

personally. i would go with shakespeare tiger stiks. with okuma line counters. you will save much coin for other things.

[tonyb]

I use the Talora downrigger rods (Medium/Heavy I think) and they are definately beef-sticks built for Kings. They take the fun out of catching trout and walleye though.

 

I also have the 10'6" dipsy diver rods with the roller guides. I personally love these rods with wireline...the rollers make things feel so smooth when the fish are peeling off hundreds of feet of line at a time...but they are tip heavy and will bash other rods in my triple rod holder setup when under way. I simply lay them on the floor of the boat up the middle to avoid that.

 

I also use Tekota 600LC for both my dipsy and downrigger reels. I am considering upgrading my downrigger reels to the new Daiwa Saltist reels with the high-speed line retrieve (47 inches per handle turn) The reason why is being able to quickly pick up slack on fish when they hit on deep riggers. I did lose a couple of fish last year because of that, they could have been derby winners!? Anyway, something to consider...

 

If you want to trim the budget, there are great reels by Rapala called Hydros i think, Okuma, and Daiwa that are cheaper, but work as well.

 

Happy shopping!