Trolling Rigs & Weights

Okay, so when I’m on a pattern, I don’t mind hard-tying a rig that puts me at the proper depth. That being said, I usually troll primarily as a means of locating fish, which means that I’m up and down in depth a lot, and need a rig that can easily be changed to meet the changing current and depth.

I know a lot of guys use snap-weights, but the truth is that I’ve lost my share of them bumping rocks and what-not, and even have had them shake off when a fish hit from time to time. Add to that the need to take them off when the fish gets closest to the boat (is more likely to get off) and I’m in a world of hurt, especially when I’m out alone.

Originally, I would take a bell sinker and just pinch a loop into the line and run it through the wire loop and around the weight, but all the twists and turns, plus the fact that it was wearing on the wire-end of the bell sinker cost me a couple of cranks and at least one nice fish.

So here’s what I came up with. I tie a loop knot in the primary line (the one going back to the reel) and hook that in the fat end of a snap. From the other end, I tie a leader going back to the crank. When I want to switch up weights, I unsnap the loop knot, slide a bell sinker onto the snap, and then replace the loop.

This does require me to us a rod longer than my leader length, or handline the remainder into the boat if I need a longer leader, but it’s pretty rare that I use a leader longer than about 8′ so it hasn’t posed a real problem for me. If I needed a longer leader, then snap weights would be a much better option.

Here is a Picasso:

So does anyone else have an easy or unusual way of dealing with changes in depth when searching for fish? Think my catch rate would increase if I added hooks to the drawing?

On the rare occasions when I have trolled cranks deep, I use a 3 way rig w/ a snap swivel at the end of the drop line. Then attach the weight to the swivel.

I love that drawing!!

Just one thing though Gianni, you’ll get a lot better hook ups if you put treble hooks on your crankbait !!

I couldn’t help myself !!

Crankbait? I though that was a little fishie w/ his mouth open.

lmao….this might help too

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3625656686&category=31705

3/0’s seem a little big for the cranks I’ve been fishing.

No wonder my hooking percentage is so low.

When I troll i always use snap weights. The things is with these, you have to make sure that you’re using the Red or Orange ones. These snap are much stonger than the black ones. And i’ve yet to lose a orange one this year. Also make sure your placing the line behind the little “NUB”, otherwise there worthless.

Gianni – I use this rig for trolling sometimes and it works pretty good for changing weights:

A trick I use is put a three way swivel where you guys are putting snap swivels. On the unused loop of the three way put a large paper clip then you can thread a bell sinker on the clip. I use spiderwire so when sinker snags, a steady pull straightens the clip.

I had seen that two-snap setup before, but was thinking it may be a little bit dangerous with the ‘dropper’ snap wearing right on the knot. Not sure if this is really a concern or not, but knots are already the ‘weakest link’ between me and the fish so I’m a little paranoid and try to eliminate potential problems when I can. The nicest part about the rig you’ve pictured there is that if the sinker snags & you need to break it off, the crank will sometimes float to the top & can be retrieved.

The paper clip is a clever idea, I’ll have to try that one out next time I’m trolling.