Another one bites the dust.

[GeryG]

Talk about frustration, I made this new flasher with smaller blades and all the bells and whistles I like for trolling for trout with just a fly. No bait or scent. I have a 2 pole endorsement this year, so I'm using it to experiment, and still catch fish on my other pole. Luckly I had one bit on it before a fish was on my other pole, wrapped it around the line with my new flashers and snapped it off.
I'm coming to the conclusion that a 2 pole endorsement is only good if your going to run one pole off a down rigger. Ive had other tangles, you really have to keep them seperated, then if you do that you cant watch the other pole. I guess I could use a bell. Tough in a 10ft boat. Any body out there run there flasher just off the back of there boat with maybe couple feet of line, so you can pull them in, in a hurry if you catch a fish. I hate running flashers on my line, its such a drag. But they do call in the fish.:dj:

[Lotech Joe]

I've run Cowbells or Giant Cowbell flashers on leaded line with two rods for almost 50 years and never had a problem. I does take two people though. When in a turn, the outside rod is held high and the inside rod is held low. Probably a much different affair with only one fisherman. In that case you would have to make much wider turns.

[hewesfisher]

We regularly run 4 rods on our boat (we both have the 2-rod endorsement) and have been doing so since the endorsement was available. We have not tangled a single line so far, with the exception of some wildly swimming trout where we have had crossed lines, but not tangled while trolling. We do most of our trolling without downriggers.

As Joe mentioned, make slow, wide turns, and pay attention to the angle your line is from the rod to the water. If your lines are at more than a 30° - 40° angle to the rods you will be susceptible to tangles. You want to keep the lines more or less straight our from the rods. Hard to do when turning, but if you keep the line angles reasonable, you won't have as many problems. Another important element, if you fish both rods at the same depth, with essentially the same gear the odds are you will very likely experience tangles in a smaller boat. You need to separate the offerings by depth or amount of line out.

Try fishing off opposite sides with one rod forward and one aft, stagger depths, and make slow, easy turns. This will really help reduce your tangling issues.

I'm always amazed at the rigs I see on boats fishing the Great Lakes - rods and lines everywhere, and how they keep them from tangling seems nothing short of a miracle to me.

[edge540]

At times I run upto 4 poles on my boats depending on how many people are fishing. Like the other guys mentioned the key here is to make WIDE/SLOW/PLANNED turns.

Stagger you gear: Run a shallow running lure out the front right on a short pole standing up fairly steep in the rod holder with 100 feet of line out and a deep running heavy weighted pop/geer type rig our the right rear on a long pole laying flat out the side. and the same on the other side of the boat. By doing this you are separating your lines by width from the boat, depth, distance back from the boat and how they pull through a corner.

Hope this helps, it will be harder in the wind when the boat is dog legging or when there are when your on a busy lake but it can be done.

Forget about fishing, just go troll different rigs and watch what they do as you move through corners. If your trolling down wind you may need to speed up as you turn back up wind to keep you lines tight and not tangle.

[GeryG]

I agree with you guys in your nice boats, not as easy in a tiny boat by your self, being blown around in the wind, plus with neck problems, and cant turn my head much. But thanks for the tips.

[edge540]

How tiny are you talking? I used to troll 4 lines out of my old 14' game fisher. Its pretty simple your towing a small weight through the water with a boat. Try to get comfortable so you can watch your lines. If your only trolling 2 lines run a short heavy rig on one side and a shallow long line out the other.


Do you have pole holders?

[BentRod]

Talk about frustration, I made this new flasher with smaller blades and all the bells and whistles I like for trolling for trout with just a fly. No bait or scent. I have a 2 pole endorsement this year, so I'm using it to experiment, and still catch fish on my other pole. Luckly I had one bit on it before a fish was on my other pole, wrapped it around the line with my new flashers and snapped it off.
I'm coming to the conclusion that a 2 pole endorsement is only good if your going to run one pole off a down rigger. Ive had other tangles, you really have to keep them seperated, then if you do that you cant watch the other pole. I guess I could use a bell. Tough in a 10ft boat. Any body out there run there flasher just off the back of there boat with maybe couple feet of line, so you can pull them in, in a hurry if you catch a fish. I hate running flashers on my line, its such a drag. But they do call in the fish.:dj:

I tried the two pole endorsement this year too and will say it's tough to manage the two lines, steer, and watch the gear in a small boat. I do run one pole on a small DR. and the other on the surface. I put the DR pole in a rod holder in front of me and hold onto the surface pole that is stuck out the other side of the boat, so I can feel the strike on the pole I'm holding, but watch the DR pole. Not ideal, but leaves on hand free to steer and prevents me from having to crane my neck all the time to watch both poles. Can't say it's too enjoyable, but it is nice to be able to run different gear and different depths to see what's hitting where. I have not had a dual hook up yet, but did lose a lure on the bottom while trying to fight a fish on the other rod and keep my boat from being blown into a dock at the same time. Lucky I didn't lose the rod too.