What he said ^^^^^^

I would throw in the Calcutta 700's as well and they work nice. Tried one out earlier today and cant say anything bad about em. I have been using Daiwa Luna 300s and has treat me well but I'd like a lower gear ratio to make it a little bit easier on my arms/wrist and would go with the Calcuttas or Abu Garcia 7000iC3.

Thanks Quack... I forgot all about the Calcutta 700TE... I may be wrong but I believe that the 700TE's MSRP is the same as a Trinidad 16N...

Well I put the night fishing off for maybe a week depending on what the weather is doing tomorrow night. I ended up having a long day with todays storm, wow.

I actually got a cheap gander rod for trolling and a diawa line counter reel. I don't own any DCG so maybe I should get some, but for now a big blade bucktail or spinner will have to do for shallow water. I also have a float prop bait would be nice to use...

Hugobox, what were you using for your PB? That seems like a slow troll but it might be nice and its a good thing to save on gas

Griggs... when you do decide to purchase DCGs... go to MTO... they got the best pricing on DCGs...

IMO... any big blade bucktails would have size #10 blades or bigger... #8 or less would be regular to me...

Yeah... other long day thanks to the storm... actually had power outage last nite... just came back on maybe 45 min ago...

I prefer single hook spinnerbaits and bucktails for night trolling - better for the fish and possibly way better for you then trebles. Big colorado blades like CJ SPins or Eagletails have been very effective. I also prefer to use the big motor.

Griggs - My PB was a black/chartruese DCG. Hardly a secret color. It may be just that I just use it more, but that lure has boated 3 fish this year (1 after dark). Also the same lure was responsible for 4 night fish last year. I always use to start out with black and orange after dark but my mind has changed a bit now. As far as speed, I pretty much flopped the lure back about 20-30 feet and adjusted my speed so that I was staying just above the weeds. I found that with the long stick you can go up or down a few feet in the water column without shortening or lenghtening the line.

Cjac - Good point on the cheaper rod!! I'd rather not be using a spendy rod for this- if I do much more trolling I'll definitely have to pick up the $30 Shimano. What leaders do you troll with? I was thinking of switching to a 36" flouro. Saw first hand (not while trolling) how badly line can cut fish when a buddy got one this year.
Thanks - erik

The Shimano trolling rods are a great value, and simply built for the situation far more than the high-end rods, it's as mush about performance as it is protecting the equipment. Plus, rod holders will chew up a cork handle over time.

Leaders: I use fluoro, and am going to make some longer ones for trolling. If a fish gator-rolls in a fight, things may happen, but outside of the rock situations where wire is preferred a fluoro leader will help.

Forget to say, congrats on the WBL piggie! Wow! You put the work in, at 3:00AM no less!

Thanks - I figure with little kids a full day on the water wouldn't win me father of the year so I sacrifice a bit of sleep but so far its paid off. I'm having a lot of fun this year and stuff seems to be making more sense to me - either that or I'm much luckier - now to buy a lotto ticket...

btw, what is MTO?

MTO= Musky Tackle Online

Aaron is a great guy and he has some of the best prices around. Check it out.

Got it, thanks

Ok well I went a few places and nobody carried the DCG but I got a Beast Teaser which seems like the same thing. Its 9 inches long, triple skirts, double 9 blades, 1 7/8 oz, Tandem hooks

I'll give this a try trolling when I do make it out for some night fishing...

Well I made it out for my first night of fishing for muskies. I wasn't able to make it out before dark so I was kind of guessing on some spots that looked good on a map. I launched from Spring Park Bay and found a LOT of shallow milfoil beds near the islands by there. I worked my new DCG on the outsides of those weeds without any luck. We tried a mid lake hump and my friend caught a 3 lbs bass on a bucktail which was a nice bonus. We trolled a bit with DCG and didn't get anything.

I feel like we didn't cover a whole lot of water so I need to refine my tactics and spots. It was nice to be the only boat out there and my headlamp worked great. I have one of those outrageously bright spot lights and that helped looking at what type of weeds there were, but it was a bit of a pain not being able to identify the better parts of an area right away. I definitely need to have my bait in quality spots for a longer period of time.

0-1 night fishing tonka

Griggs,
If you have a GPS, make a dayside trip and scout out some of the water, the GPS shold have a tracking function that can help to identify tracks to follow come night time. Also, mark some spots to help orient yourself, like key points, turns, etc. I realized how much this can help last year on a couple walleye nights on 'tonka, I was not as prepared as I could have been and spent too much time in non-productive water, despite having the GPS and a detailed map. Maps don't account for the milfoil walls that grow!

If no GPS, make some marks on the map, it'll help you out.

You say 0-1, but I score you at 1-0 in the "did I learn something" category.

Good luck!

I went out bass fishing tonight and tried a little bit of trolling and I think I learned exactly what you said. It doesn't matter how good an area looks on a map, because when you get there its not known how fishable or trollable a spot is because of the weeds. I didn't last long without getting weeds on my DCG.

Like you said, I think I'll go out during the day and find some good trolling routes and good spots and get them all prepared first. Thanks for the tips...