i use braid and like longer rods, 7ft is the shortest ive taken up there in years. when i take a dedicated trolling rod (line counter) instead of multi purposing a baitcaster or spinning, its 9ft. i do use a 6ft 12# mono leader for trolling.

to me, rod holders are a must, but i own my canoe, so they are mounted permanently. having them mounted securely where they are easily accessible is quite important to me. ive never had a fish hit and questioned whether it was a fish or not, its always a ruckus.

im a big fan of lures that dart and have an erratic action on their own. hot n tots are my favorite. they hook well, have great colors and have great action. the rapala scatter series, especially the taildancers, are also great. i still pluck my line occasionally to get the extra darting in the lure.

for jigging i like big hair jigs, 1/2-3/4oz.

Westwood wrote on Jul 12^th, 2019 at 7:51pm:


I thought is was more for the give or stretch at the hook set so it doesn't rip out of the mouth. I gave up on mono mainly because of the "memory" and line tangles.  I'm trying Berkley's "Nanofil" line on one of my reels this summer.  It is not mono or braid and absolutely limp with no memory.  The knock on it is that it nicks or abrades easily. It's very very thin diameter too.

I use 10-12# mono when trolling whether it’s for lakers, waldos or anything. I want the stretch to absorb the shock to enable better reaction time to get the fish headed to me. Often, at the strike, the canoe is heading one way and the fish is heading another way. It’s not possible to instantly stop the canoes momentum and grab the rod to fight the fish in that same instant.

Your mileage may vary. I have no quarrel with those who use braids or other lines.

I switched to braid a while ago.  My only complaint is cutting it.  I was using a high end "snipper" but had trouble so am going with a scissors this time.

im glad that my mono leader comments got some more discussion going.

the reason i use the leader is for a few different purposes.
1. knots. its much easier to tie knots with mono because theres no messing with scissors or lighters
2. intentional breakoffs. i have 40# braid on all my rigs. (sufix 832, 10# mono diameter to match precision trollings data) breaking 40# braid is a chore, so having a place in my line system that i can pop free without destroying my hand or paddle is nice, but its still plenty strong for fish.
3. visibility. i troll and fish in lots of lakes all over wisconsin, and it definitely helps in those places. it not really needed up in the Q, but im proficient with it, so its not worth changing when i can pick up a couple extra fish or two because of it. bite offs are a non issue because with barbless and floating cranks, they float right back up. waiting around a couple extra minutes in a fishy spot gets you a few more casts...

its not about being a 'shock absorber.' thats what the long rods do. properly setting the drag is very important as well. it needs to be looser than you think. and there is no 'hook set' while trolling. the fish striking and the rod bending does all that for you.