Ideally you want a rod that is tippy enough to telegraph your lure’s action, but still able to cope with dragging around a bit of a weight. Your choice of reel is really a matter of personal preference. Baitcasters, overheads, or spinning reels will all do the job, though my personal preference is to use an overhead reel with a line counter. It’s rare for me not to be using at least 2 snap weights when trolling for walleyes.So with that being said, I like to use the Scheels brand Snap Weights.
This technique does not require fine line diameters to help achieve depth, the weight takes care of this. Keep in mind that if you are fishing a lake with lots of snags your line is going to get a real beating. After you have landed a fish or been snagged remember to cut a metre or two off the end of your line. Most of the stretch in mono or co-polymer lines occurs near the end of the line. Cutting a bit of line off and retying your lure or bait may save you the grief of losing a good fish. Look for a tough abrasion resistant line with low stretch and something in the order of 4-5 kg breaking strain.
Table of Contents
At a Glance: Weights & Sinkers
We snap them any where from 6 to 20 ft in front depending on conditions. Be the first to hear about new products & exclusive offers. The 50 Plus 2 Method testing was conducted using Berkley 10 pound test XT monofilament.
A. The clips are all you need if you have access to various weights. The correct clip is the red OR16 and the replacement pads are product number ORRP16HL. The OR16’s have a pin protruding through the middle of the pad which you put the line behind this pin to minimize their falling off the line. If you can catch trout just flat lining behind the boat, you would double your catch with a side planer. They are awesome for fishing high in the water column.
XTackle Trolling Weights and Clips
Now you know how much line is necessary to hit the depth of the thermocline with that rig at that speed (all other variables remaining equal – more on this later). Unless you answer “c,” you’re not catching as many fish as you could be. Even when you have a pretty good idea of the fish’s depth it’s more or less meaningless if you don’t know for a fact where your lures are running.
And the only way I can get them to work with this line is to double wrap them (which I don’t like doing, and can fail occasionally). If you have a partner, he needs to be ready as the snap weight comes over the side of the boat. Unclipping it should be a fluid motion with one hand while the other hand keeps the lead taut.
Trolling techniques – Getting down with Snap Weights
Resulting in hooks fouled from flotsam and jetsam that have settled on the bottom. Weeds, leaves, roots come from all major river estuaries. Roots from shore grass were extra nasty in April 2015 from high water eroding the shoreline off my home port of Manistee, MI.
The line, with weight and lure or bait attached are then let out further behind the boat, simple and very effective! Commercially they are available in sizes from ½ to 3 ounces. Because snap weights are basically a release clip with a lead weight attached by a split ring, you can experiment with a range of weights.
thoughts on “Best Snap Weights for Trolling”
We’re very fortunate to have an enormous selection of lures to choose from. With the vast array of locally produced and imported lures, regardless of whether you are trolling for trout, Atlantic salmon or even Australian salmon, your choice is almost endless. The snap weight system was developed to troll spinner baits and worm harnesses for walleye, but most minnow style lures work equally well. Just about any lure that will consistently troll on a flatline to 1 m to 1.5 m is usually a good choice. I would steer away from using this technique with deep-diving lures, trying to predict on accurate depth is just too complicated. Line selection for snap weight trolling is fairly crucial.
Also, the original generation of the Tattle Flag articulating flag systems do not have enough spring tension to handle the extra weight, causing the flag to fold down. Even those anglers fishing the “off-season” lower down in our estuaries for sea-trout commented on the number of fish moving in early August. The main purpose of all these toys is to enable the angler to accurately repeat line out. If you catch a fish at a particular depth or drop back, you can repeat the process to get back to the strike zone.
Trolling depth estimator
Touch the information tab inside the Apple app to confirm you have Release 4.0. If not, update to the Release 4.0 in the Apple App Store and open your PTD app. To check for new data simply touch the Store tab and the app will look for new data to download.
The big fish catching secret of the snap weight is the depth you will cover on turns. If you want to reach a specific depth, one of the divers on the market set at “0” would be better. The searching of the water column of the snap weight will catch you a lot of fish though. I normally send out several different combinations and let the fish tell me what is the proper presentation. With 8 ounces, you’re nearly vertical at 1 and will probably go up quite a bit at 2 or 2.5. This app was originally created as a tool to help striped bass fishermen on the Chesapeake Bay.
Trolling Depth Trick #2
If he marks fish at 30 feet over 50 feet of water, hell release 30 feet of line, attach his snap weight, reset his line counter and release another 30 to 35 feet of line. His crankbait will be within a few feet of the fish, but it also allows for rapid adjustment. I do not want to go to a downrigger system; your thoughts would be appreciated. Consider the above example, but now note that you’re trolling against the current, which is moving at a two and a half mph.
This in turn keeps the lures fishing longer and contacting the maximum number of fish. To troll with snap weights, most trout or native tackle will fill the bill admirably. To start out with this system, I’d suggest you look for a rod with a medium to fast action in the 1.8 to 2.2 m length.
oz snap weight depth chart
This technique is a common approach for targeting bottom hugging fish, and involves bouncing your snap weight off the bottom to attract fish to the trailing lure or bait. This is not a technique for the faint hearted, you can sacrifice a bit of gear to snags etc. but you can also catch big fish!! This will work for any species that will take a lure.
Trolling Depth Trick #3
A. This is the best way of having some geometric method of determining depth, especially since it is so speed conscious. The other way is to use either the same weight and vary the line lengths on each board or to keep the same line length and vary the weights and let the fish tell you what they want. Repeat the one they like on the other rods and have fun. Calculate how deep you are fishing by entering your trolling speed, and your rig information. Weights and sinkers are used to quicken the pace in which a lure and hook will sink. They are also used to add weight to increase the possible distance of a cast.
English 
Romanian