Trolling Poles

A forum for people who are new to commercial fishing and for talking about the fundamental rules and regulations.
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Baltic Hunter
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Trolling Poles

Post by Baltic Hunter »

Hi from Sweden!!
This is my first post here & I love the amount of info/ideas that I have got already :)
I was wondering if anyone has heard of fiberglass or composite poles being used instead of Aluminium? I have toyed with fitting poles for stability with birds for a long time on my (Finnish) 40' steel fishing boat (she likes to roll)! but after finding out more about trolling poles I would like to develop something to work with my rod & line setup, I already have 4 downriggers & have an idea to run 2 wires via the poles connected to 2 ATV winches. These will be connected to the downrigger weights & give me a total of 6 wires to work with.
I ran a trolling charter boat for a while a few years ago & am thinking of going back to it with my bigger boat.
Commercial salmon fishing bureaucracy in the Baltic saps the will to live so chartering is the best way to make a living from the sea for me.

Best regards.
John.
F/V Baltic Hunter
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Before she was re-named & my recent mods to 4 downriggers & steel pipe swim platform.
Before she was re-named & my recent mods to 4 downriggers & steel pipe swim platform.
carojae
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by carojae »

Nice boat.

Although it might look attractive, I have never heard of anyone using either fiberglass or composite to hold your rigging.
Aluminum is the standard around here with trimmed spruce tree or Douglas fir poles (young tall & straight trees 3"+/-) also being used with steel pole clamps holding the haul ups and rigging for your "birds".
Your boat is 40' steel. I would say if your main interest is dragging "birds" (stabilizers) then strength would be of number 1 concern if you are going to do business in rough seas.
Concerning your other interest of using them with your down-riggers for towing sport gear, then maybe that part of it will work with your idea. Although I see no advantage in fiberglass or composite except for cosmetic reasons to use such items.
But then again, maybe you can pioneer a new idea :) Good luck.

Jim
Baltic Hunter
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Baltic Hunter »

Thanks Jim,
To be honest I never thought about wood & as Sweden is FULL of various species of pine trees I will think more along those lines......I built a great flagpole from a tree once :)

Great to get new ideas, I'll be fishing down to 120' in the summer & need to get as many lures as possible down there to try to resemble a school of bait fish so the extra wire & weight will be a great help.
Cheers,
John.
carojae
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by carojae »

I see. You might get more ideas from the retailers here. Seamar.com or Pacificnetandtwine.com are a couple of places where we buy our fishing gear and rigging from.
Do you have any favorite stores in Sweden you buy from? Would love to see what you guys typically buy in your stores.
Yes, cheers!
Baltic Hunter
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Baltic Hunter »

A commercial site is http://www.carapax.se not a trolling site as trolling's not done commercially here but the site could be interesting. Just click the British flag for the english version :)
Here's a sport trolling site, http://www.trollingcenter.se/shop/ or http://www.olssonsfiske.se just click around...

Cheers,
John.
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by akfish1 »

Cool boat! Good luck on your project!
Crawfish
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Crawfish »

Nice Boat!

When setting up your boat try to use solid stays so you have less rigging to deal with . If you go the wood route you can treat your poles every other year with linseed oil, a little turpentine and some lamp black and the poles will last a lot longer. We heat the oil up with a hot plate so it soaks into the poles really well. When you figure out the lay out of your poles try to keep your stays in line so you don't have to tighten them or loosen them when you let your poles out. Typically the poles will have two to three haul in lines. For the lowest haul in line you will want to double block for ease of pulling. The upper haul in's are typically single blocked. You can look at some troller photos and get ideas for chicken wings or grass hoppers. These are what keeps the poles from coming back up and slamming into the cross tree when the boat rolls. You want a solid cable from your mast to where you flopper attaches to your pole. Speaking of floppers the ones I have had best luck with are made out of plywood with a 50 LB ball cut in half attached to the nose. I don't have a picture of it but maybe someone else here does . You want to make sure when the boat rolls you have plenty of cable or chain so it does not come out of the water. Another thing to think about is the further you put the floppers out on the pole the less roll you will have in the boat. A boat your size you should have at least 40' poles for the best spread. Some guys are using a synthetic flopper line instead of stainless cable or chain maybe someone else can tell you where to source that as it has less drag in the water. I don't know where they buy it at. For tag lines use green clothes line as it is easier to get it out of your rigging than tuna cord. Rigging a boat is always a pain just remember to buy lots of shackles you will need them.
Baltic Hunter
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Baltic Hunter »

Thanks a lot for all of the info, i have already sourced a company here that make poles for masts/ flagpoles etc so that's done, I was a commercial diver for 22 years so I'm pretty handy with rigging & I'm looking forward to that part :) I've got a couple of hundred pics now of your great boats so next step is to get my pen out & sketch where everything is going, looks like I need to extend the stubby little mast that I have at the moment.
One thing that has me beat after watching a zillion youtube videos is how the hell do the floats grip the wires?? I can see a handle being turned but can't for the life of me work out how it is gripped so tight without crimping or kinking the wire... Any info, pics or video would be welcomed as I have never seen this type of connection in Europe.
Best regards & thanks again.
John.
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joeman79
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by joeman79 »

When you put the float bag on the wire You line up the space between the stops (marks) on the Trolling Wire with the handle on the Brass rod. When you turn the handle to lock it in place the wire is pinched between the plate on the Handle and the Float. The stops make it impossible for the wire to slip.
Baltic Hunter
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Baltic Hunter »

Thanks for that but I have no access to one to actually see the "workings" I've trawled the internet with no luck on a close up pic... I'm sure it's the simplest thing but a picture or video link would be a great help if anyone has one? Understood with the stops after rereading your post, that makes sense....
Here's a nice Baltic fish I caught on my last boat....
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joeman79
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by joeman79 »

Check out the YouTube commercial trolling salmon on the seahorse 2013 is a couple pretty good shots of them putting on, and taking off float bags.
Baltic Hunter
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Baltic Hunter »

Seen, thanks for that, I now have smoke coming out of my ears thinking how to make one :-)
Seriously though, as I am only allowed to use rods I will leave the lines that are trailed behind out of the equasion & use 4 downriggers plus one cannonball from each pole & a couple of birds to steady everything up... I have some mast reinforcing first (good job I have a welding machine)!!
I have a couple of questions for your side of the world, without giving secrets away ;) (just interested)

1. How clear is the water over there?
2. We use water temperature a lot in trying to locate fish that will bite, is there a temp. that you are looking for?
3. is there a best time of day or do you catch at all times?
Crawfish
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Crawfish »

Baltic,

We have some of our best fishing in 52 degree surface water temp conditions. As far as the best time it really has no pattern. I always try to fish at the head of the low pressure.
Water clarity is either dark brown or clear when you get a light green a lot of times we call that beach water and nothing will be in it. We look for color changes , rips and such. What do you look for?
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Baltic Hunter »

I'm normally looking for around 40 to 45f for our breed of Salmon, I use a fishhawk unit to get the temperature at depth & also the true speed down there... Our water is clear too but in summer we get an algae bloom every year which is green. As the current in my area is predominantly North -South (weak) I look for channels on the seabed running in the same direction. The water moves around the Baltic in a huge anti clockwise circle..... I'm trolling at 2.6 to 3 knots.
The Baltic has no rise & fall that's worth mentioning so there are no real rips in my area (mid-Baltic), sometimes I see strange lines of brown foam & there seems to be water movement around them but I haven't had any spectacular hits while trolling through these...

All the best,
John.
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Crawfish »

John,

How is the weather on the Baltic, do you get hard North West blows or is the weather mild where you are at? How long do you have to run for the fish? Do you trip fish? Do you have good anchorages? Your salmon looks like a large Atlantic Salmon they sell farm raised here. How much is diesel fuel where you are at? Are Volvo marine parts crazy expensive over there like they are here? More importantly post more photos!
Baltic Hunter
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Baltic Hunter »

Hi again, been away for a while, the salmon run is on at the moment but unfortunately I am away working :(
A friend just caught a nice 18Kg fish last weekend & there seems to be a good chance this year for bigger fish.
I'll post some more pictures when I get home, lots of work to do on the boat when I get back, if you want you could take a peep at www.baltic-hunter.blogspot.se
John.
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Siskiyous »

Did the EEC outlaw linseed oil? I thought I read about that in Woodenboat Magazine.
Baltic Hunter
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Baltic Hunter »

Just checked & as far as Sweden is concerned it's freely available to buy at around $10 per liter.
John.
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Re: Trolling Poles

Post by Siskiyous »

That is good news.
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