i always enjoy reading MT's advice. a lot of salt water wisdom that he brings to the table that is all applicable to our usage.

an additional word on rod holders... i find them to be an irreplaceable part of my gear. MT and I have differing opinions on which is best and both reasons have their merits, but ive become especially fond of the 'cabelas quick draw' rod holder. its really a neat piece of equipment.

im also finding myself coming to agreement with MT on line choice as well. i used to run 15-20 lb braid for trolling and 4lb for jigging. now i find myself using 2 rods both spooled with 8lb test mono. im a suffix guy myself, however.

also, longer rods are indeed nice for trolling. gives you more leeway when it comes to errors. this past trip i had a 6'6" and an 8' rod. as the trip went on, i gravitated toward the 8' more and more. that was in part though, due to the actions of the rods. the 6'6" was a medium action, extra fast meaning it loads at the tip. the 8' rod was a light action with a fast tip meaning it loads more throughout the rod. since then, ive been using just one rod, a 7' medium action light tip. gives enough backbone through the blank and loads nice and even. stiff enough for trolling the 15 ft plugs and sensitive enough for finesse fishing with weightless flukes.

another reason i shy away from using sinkers is because i dont really understand them. im not comfortable because i dont know how deep i am and im not sure if i can duplicate it when i want to repeat it.

plus, i hate losing plugs, i despise it, detest it! and up in the shield lakes you grind rocks and most break offs are do to pinching your lips in rocks or your line being cut on rocks. id rather have that small chance of my plug floating back up than having it sit a few feet off the bottom with that sinker holding it down!