Trolling with Snap Weights

[aero320]

I wanted to start this thread on trolling with snap weights. Essentially, a weight from 1/2oz. to 3oz. is attached to the line approximately 50 feet in front of the lure and causes lures to run deeper. They work for crank baits and jigs as well. Snap weights are very sensitive to boat speed, but now with the ability to set trolling motor speed (iPilot) to within 0.1 MPH you can troll lures at almost any depth. Simply adding a 1 oz. snap weight 20 feet in front of a diving crank bait makes it run 33% deeper.

I started using this system on Tims last year with a planer board setup (the kind the guys use on the Great Lakes) trolling for hybrids. Once you get the boat speed worked out with the correct amount of weight, they work as good as downriggers. This summer on JPP I was trolling with the snap weight rigs alongside downriggers and they produced just as many fish.

There is a booklet that is available titled "Precision Trolling" that the guys up north that troll use. It has "dive curves" for most of the popular crank baits. Testing was done with 10 pound mono and similar diameter Firewire. The dive curve is a plot of lure depth vs. amount of line out. You can select the depth you want the lure to run, and figure out how far to let the lure out. The book also has a table that shows snap weight effect vs. boat speed.

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Aero, I have tried to get this book, precision trolling by Mark Romanack it has been out of print for a few years and is very hard to find unless people are willing to pay the outreageous prices this book sells for on Amazon or Ebay (in the hundreds) Romanack was supposed to come up with an app for I-phones and andriods but I guess the legal stuff has kept him delayed for a couple years now, I sure love to get my hands on one of these books, my almost seven year old girl loves to troll better than sitting and watching a bobber (or anything else for that matter) , and I would like to have something to show for at the end of the trip those days we do troll! lol!!, thanks for the insight on these snap weights and trolling!

[aero320]

Trans:

I bought the book a couple of years ago for about $50. A shame it is not being printed. I also have the Bog Water edition.

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Lucky you!!, I hope and they hurry up with those apps!!

[fishfindergeneral]

ive got both, very informative... you could also try divers and planing divers. you dont have to stop the fight and remove the weight plus you seldom lose the tackle which can happen with snap on weights. also try trolling a Carolina rig set up. i also prefer this to snap weights..