I’m looking into getting a trolling rod or two this spring. Trolling cranks is not something I have done much, but it’s apparently the way to go on places like Sakakawea and Lake Oahe in the summer here. What setup do you all recommend for fishing with snap weights (2 or 3 oz), long-lining, or lead core? Thanks!
Check this video out. It’s geared towards Great Lakes trolling but a lot of the same things apply. A lot really depends on your budget too. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G7d2py_wUVs The okuma convectors are really nice reels. The reel is more important than the rods in my opinion.
I’m right in your neighborhood location wise. You can get decent trolling rods at Dakota Tackle. They carry some Daiwa and Okuma rods that will do the job for $30ish. Scheels pretty much only carries house brand trolling rods.
The pro angler series are pretty decent at around $60 each. In my opinion their extreme trolling rods are overpriced. I have 8’6″ medium telescoping rods for the side, which is nice for quick breakdown to go in the rod locker. Something in the 7′ range is probably a better choice if you’re fishing alone, it makes it easier to handle solo netting. 6′ rods are nice for going straight out the back. The pro angler medium power rods are great for sensitivity to see if the bait is fouled when you’re not running snap weights, but they’re a little bit on the light end for planer board duty. Planer boards are mostly a spring river thing to get your bait up into shallower water behind sand bars without spooking fish. Less prevalent on the big lake.
Okuma Magda reels are OK at a cheaper price point around $50-60. I like the Coldwater or Convector series better but they’re more expensive. Daiwa Accudepths are good too. I have some in a smaller size for running braid or mono and the larger size for leadcore. If you’re just starting out I’d recommend going with snap weights instead of leadcore. You don’t need leadcore for the river and a lot of times on Sakakawea it can be a pain to try to stay on a contour with longer line lengths of leadcore out the back. Some people I know will pull cranks with 6-8oz snap weights when they want to really keep tight to contour lines on structure. The Next Bite did an episode on Sakakawea running 2 leadcore and 2 snap weight rods to get the lines staggered and avoid tangling. That’s a nice idea but you don’t need to spend that amount of cash until you decide if trolling cranks is something you’ll do a lot.
Since you’re in Bismarck, some of the trolling combos with linecounters at Scheels can a great place to start. I’d start with 8’6″ rods. I have quite of few Scheels rods and they are really good rods for the price. We’ve used Scheel’s trolling rods for maybe 10 years now and caught alot of walleyes on them with no failures. The Okuma reels that come with them are OK too and they work fine. You can always spend more money on pricier reels when you get the hang of how it all works.
My wife and I troll with two leadcore rods and two snapweight rods when we troll where two rods each are legal. I’d recommend starting trolling with either snapweights or leadcore and learn how to fish each before using them together. Both methods catch fish equally as well in my experience.
There are alot of different ways to catch walleyes but we fish LOTW, Devils Lake and Sakakawea regularly and trolling crankbaits with snapweights and leadcore are by far our favorite methods to catch walleyes on all of them.
You’ll have alot of fun learning the ins and outs of trolling cranks and be sure not to over complicate it to start.
Good info shared so far, and I’ll chime in with my two cents.
Magdas are good reels for the money and got a bad rap for crappy drags when they first came out. The drags are fine now, but their weak spot is the line counter itself. Sometimes they will stick on a number and be inaccurate.
For not much more you can get Accudepths which have a much more reliable line counter and a louder clicker. They’re a great reel for the money.
After those you’re jumping into the $100-$250 range pretty quick and really can’t go wrong with any of them.
You mentioned long lining/snap weights and leadcore. Depending on your line diameter/length you will want different sized reels, but if you’re using 12lb 832 leadcore up to 5 colors with a decent amount of backing you can get by with a small reel (like a 20 size Okuma, 27 Accudepth, etc), which also work great with braid.
There’s a plethora of rods available, I’d recommend something in the 7″-7’6″ range in medium light. Eagle Claw makes a nice rod for not a lot of money (but they’re baby poop yellow lol) and Okuma and Shimano have some cheaper rods that get the job done too (Wilderness/TDR)
Marine General has Accudepth/Wilderness and Convector/Wilderness combos for $99.
That all said, if you’re only looking to buy a pair of combos and want real quality, buy once and cry once.
The Daiwa Saltist LC reel is awesome, but are pushing $200. That paired with a Shimano Talora would make an awesome combo.
The new Shimano Tekotas are still a good reel, but guys that have had both generations agree that the first generation was much better. Used 1st generation Tekotas fetch upwards of $300+, when new ones are around $200.
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