trolling and umbrella rigs

[plugaholic]

I am interested in learning about trolling especially with umbrella rigs. Should I be using wire or heavier lb test? Any advice would be appreciated.

[rip316]

We have been using setups with braided line and a drail to get the rig a little deeper. I do not have any with wire.

[finchaser]

300 feet of 40# wire marked every 50' will get you down 30 feet,rule of thumb is 5' of depth for every 50' of wire. The weight of a 4 arm rig is another 5'

Each additional 4 ounces of drail is 5 more feet
A 113H Penn on a 7' rod with Carboloy guides is pretty much standard.
Many people use 8' rods for bunker spoons
Outrodders are a must on your boat to hold rods parallel to the water.

Braid can be used but it can't be marked for accurate depth control which is key. To get down 30' you need over 20 ounces of weight and close to 400' of line out which becomes a royal pain. We tried it as did many of my charter boat friends and everyone abandoned it,it really lowered the catch.

[rip316]

Fin is right. We sometimes do well but most of the time we will mark a ton of bait and not catch. Braid is not as good as wire. Just can not get deep enough. If the fish are in the middle to the top of the water column we catch, any deeper we just jig now.