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trolling chart


dan z

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I am looking for the overall best trolling book for all crankbaits. I know of the precision trolling book but its seems outdated. And newer lures aren't in it. Is the a good alternative?

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Not that I know of...but I'm curious if anyone knows more about this than I do.

Most guys I know who do lots of trolling end up making their own books/charts.

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The well-known trolling books have been discontinued and are not in print anymore. If you can find one you better grab it, even if the newest lures aren't in there.

The owners of the company that made those popular books are supposedly developing a cell phone app with the dive curves. Pretty disappointing to say the least.

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Has anyone heard anything new about the app? I have done a bunch of reading and they said spring then in June they said its coming soon. Just curious of anyone knows anything new.

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would love to have that app!!

In the meantime I just do it the old fashioned way.

I tie on my dive - say one advertised to dive to 20.

I use my line counter and let out 100 yards, then put it in the rod holder. Start in 35 feet of water and put in the RPM range or MPH range that you want to troll and slowly move in until you start to touch bottom. Then just write down the results.

I can say for most lures I use...I can pretty much dial it in right away without doing all that. I can kind of "eyeball" how much line I am letting out and then slowly start to move into the shoreline. I will usually be within 2 feet above or below the advertised dives to depth.

Last, I am usually trying to just get my lure to go as deep as it can - especially when I am fast trolling in deeper waters above schools of baitfish. So, if I am only getting down 18 feet, speed up a bit or let out more line, or grab another rod with lower pound test/smaller diameter line.

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The app is supposed to be out real soon, like maybe this week.

Just out of curiosity, where are you getting this info? The fishing411 web site is down. They did have a Precision trolling facebook page that was getting hammered with frustrated fisherman wanting updates to the book or app (originally due out by June). That page disappeared about a month ago. Searching the web just brings up message board discussions, but no real facts.

Also The App (not to be negative) sounds crazy. The cost was out of this world (This info was from questions answered off of their FB page before it vanished). Something like $0.99 for every single dive curve you wanted. And a crazy cost of like $99.00 for a complete set of dive curves. Also it was not clear if the Big Water edition info would be available (Lead core). In My opinion this company took a viable product, and drove it into the ground.

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I got the info from the fishing 411 with Mark Rominack site, and from another website.

I'm don't really know why everybody is coming down on him for this. He made a book, and people coppied it and gave the info away to friends and such. He stopped printing the book and he's the bad guy?? Come on, he deserves to get rewarded for his effort. Mark, along with Gary Parsons and Keith K have thousands of hours invested over the years and should get a return on their investment.

I did hear the app was going to be iphone specific for awhile, and that there is part of the cost. $99 for the whole book sounds like a bargain, have you seen the prices of the PT book lately?

For what it's worth, a buddy of mine just picked up the 6th edition from a store in Baudette for $30 two weeks ago. I guess they didn't know what it's worth.

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Wow! What a large order.

With all the new lines out. With all the new lures coming out ever year. With all the single run lure coming out (or it sure seam that way). With all the older lures being taken out of production. I don't think you could test all the combinations, get it to print and on the shelf's be for you would have at least 3 new lines and 5 more lures to add.

Then if you are on a lake that has wind blown currents and your not paying attention to them, well you might as well be facing the wind while flying a kite.

There are so many thing that effect a crank bait that the only way to know is to get out on the lake, be alert and pay attention to what the lure is telling you. That means no rod holder. I Mn that shouldn't be a issue. Current, water temp, speed, line dia, all effect the way a lure works. Then what if they are hitting a jointed grappler shad but are in deeper water then a Grappler shad runs? Now we have to add snap weights or some kind of inline weight.

So as you see the only real way to go about this is to have information to learn how all these things come together and come up with a game plan to get you (us) going in the right direction. From there you and only you can fill in the gray areas.

Fundamentals, Fundamentals, Fundamentals. A good place to start is with a book called Spoonpluging by Buck Perry. No it is not about the lure called a Spoonplug! It is mostly about fish behavior and how to use your lures to productively locate and catch fish, using crankbait that run at a given depth. Kind of like as my dad would say "straining the lakes key areas with crankbaits".

Most lure today come with the depth they run at on the box. I use a sharpie to write this on the bill of the lure. It keeps me in the ballpark. I can troll a given depth than find the lure that runs a little deeper and work deeper water adjusting line out until I need to change lures deeper again or find fish.

I know some of you know all this already. This is for those of you who are looking to learn new tips.

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thanks for all the help guys. hopefully I can find a trolling book on the online bidding site. Atleast its it something to go on. I have the marked my go to cranks with what depths they run.

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99 cents seems like a good price to me for a chart. I would suspect the majority of people could easily get by with 20-30 different charts. I run cranks a lot of the time and I would guess I use the same 10 different types/sizes 90% of the time because it works for me. I also have the PT guide and ended up taking out/setting aside about 1/3 of the pages of the cranks I dont have.

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  • 1 year later...

@ $2/lure, is that $99.99 lifetime fee kind of a no brainer unless u only run specific lures all the time or is a guy better off slowly piecing it together individually? I added up bout the first half of lure chart and that is over $150 individually already

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There will be competition in the trolling chart market by the end of next summer. A company called Dead On Dive Charts will have something out by the end of summer. Dead On is supposed to be incredibly accurate with diver verified depths.

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There will be competition in the trolling chart market by the end of next summer. A company called Dead On Dive Charts will have something out by the end of summer. Dead On is supposed to be incredibly accurate with diver verified depths.

Amen to that!!

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Note in the article that the "lifetime version" will get more expensive as the app is updated with new versions. If someone wants to save a few bucks it might be wise to get the app now instead of waiting. YMMV.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just picked up the app on my iphone. Pretty neat, I gotta go thought my box and figure out what lures I have and get those charts. If nothing else it will be a time saver over flipping through the book.

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Are the dive curves downloaded with the app or are they accessed over the air when you pull them up? In other words, is a cell signal required to use this app?

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