Weighted lines

[jmr04]

When fishing weighted lines is there a formula for figuring out what depth your bait is running? For example if you have 1oz of weight with 60 ft of line out running 1mph how deep is your bait running? I was guessing it was 20', but sometimes I'll snag when I wasn't expecting to and sometimes I won't snag when I thought I would. Got me thinking if there was a more scientific way to figure out the depth the bait was running.

[johnr]

There's really no telling, due to the variance in the size of your bait. There are formulas that trollers can use, but those are calibrated for certain baits.

The easiest way I've found is to drop a baited and weighted setup into the cone of your sonar, while traveling at your desired speed. Feed out until you are seeing your weight at the depth you'd like to target and see what your line counter says. From there, you can set all your other rods and know their approximate depth with some basic math.

If I am using a weighted line, I tend to keep it as heavy and as vertical as possible. This way I can control the depth. I've tended to cut light lines completely out of the spread, and here is why:

By running a long freeline, your bait will find the natural comfort zone, provided it has a long enough line. In turn, this will likely put it directly in front of game fish. Additionally, the bait will tend to run higher in the water column than the fish. A striper, if hungry, will come a LONG way to eat a bait that is above it. I would rather have my baits 15' too high, rather than 2' too low. By putting some weight on that line, you are influencing the bait in a manner you can't really control.

In instances where fish are more than 25' deep, on a consistent basis, then I'll run downlines at that depth. Otherwise, I'm all about freelines. If the fish are up high, 5' freelines. If I can mark them on the sonar, 30' freelines.

I know some people swear by light lines. That's fine. However, I've proven to myself that they are not necessary on this lake.

[Yam]

To piggyback off of JohnR, the simple answer is to turn your sonar to 83 or something equivalent (Low Frequency or Chirp) and look at it on the screen. Personally, if I am down lining, the biggest joy I get is to watch the fish come up from the trees and sniff at my bait. Its like a video game and removes the need for line counters and trigonometry.

[drag4striper]

You also can use www.liveprecise.com
This is a Trolling Depth Estimator. I believe you can get it thur Android Apps on Goggle play. Johnr and Yam both have good ideas though.
There are all kinds of charts online like this one below.

[mwardncsu]

Dec 6, 2016 14:15:59 GMT -5 drag4striper said:

You also can use www.liveprecise.com
This is a trolling Dept estimator. I believe you can get it thur Android Apps on Goggle play. Johnr and Yam both have good ideas though.
There are all kinds of charts online like this one.

But are there charts like that for a 3/4 oz egg weight (or 3/8, or 1 oz), 4' ahead of a 4" alewive vs. a 8" gizzard shad?


I usually run my light-lines as 3/8 oz and then about 50' of line out, at about 0.7 mph when pulling ales and that seems to get them around 20' down based on what I've (not) snagged. When pulling bigger bait I'm usually moving faster and they are higher in the water column - or if I want to go higher, I use 1/4. I don't usually run anything omre than 3/8 on a light-lin. At that point I go 1.5 or 2 oz and a downline

[mwardncsu]

ok - just played with the web version it and it may not be far off... though it is not accounting for drag on the bait or the bait swimming up/down on it's own of course

[mwardncsu]

One thing John says makes a lot of sense... stripers in generally feed "up" - not down. So you'd want to err on the side of your bait being above the fish, not below..... I will say there are times of the year that a light-line with alewifes will out-fish most other presentations but if you're not clear how deep the fish are holding and the water clarity is not too stained then having the bait more likely above than below is a good idea.


On a side note - It still shocks me when a 4" alewife comes flying out of the water on it's own running from a striper (or small-mouth), dragging a 3/8 oz light-line that *should* be running 15-20' deep.....

[johnr]

Dec 6, 2016 15:08:25 GMT -5 mwardncsu said:

One thing John says makes a lot of sense... stripers in generally feed "up" - not down. So you'd want to err on the side of your bait being above the fish, not below..... I will say there are times of the year that a light-line with alewifes will out-fish most other presentations but if you're not clear how deep the fish are holding and the water clarity is not too stained then having the bait more likely above than below is a good idea.


On a side note - It still shocks me when a 4" alewife comes flying out of the water on it's own running from a striper (or small-mouth), dragging a 3/8 oz light-line that *should* be running 15-20' deep.....

Yep. Which is a good example of why I've given up on weighted lines less than about 1.5 ounces. 

[2 oars & a trash can]

Dec 6, 2016 12:54:01 GMT -5 Yam said:

To piggyback off of JohnR, the simple answer is to turn your sonar to 83 or something equivalent (Low Frequency or Chirp) and look at it on the screen. Personally, if I am down lining, the biggest joy I get is to watch the fish come up from the trees and sniff at my bait. Its like a video game and removes the need for line counters and trigonometry.

Not to be critical or argumentative, but I go out fishing to get away from anything that resembles a video game.

[Yam]

Ha.. Good point!