Craiger05 wrote:
Dan that's my favourite use for gear ties as well . . . so quick and efficient on the paddles.
Great setup though, I caved and have setup some Scotty rod holder options between my two boats, and it makes a huge difference, not so much for fishing, but for paddling. A 7ft rod puts the line 5ft from the gunnel, and removes any hassle . . .
this is a very nice UL option though . . .
Good point on rod length. Intuitively, an ultralight canoe set-up implies a short, ultralight fishing rod, but the extra length is important for paddle clearance. If I want to troll lures near the surface, I can stand the rod straight up above my head from the centre thwart, but for deeper lure presentation, the side setup works better.
DanPM, you'll notice in a lot of my videos that I troll orange Rapala X-Raps almost exclusively, for all species. I leave it in the water most of the time while paddling, but I generally don't catch anything until I pause or slow down, either purposely or to deal with an obstruction or shoreline approach. I've caught trophy calibre fish of almost every species using this setup. The X-Rap has neutral buoyancy, or actually floats with no terminal tackle, and therefore doesn't snag bottom when I stop or slow down like a spoon, jig or spinners does. When targeting deeper fish in summer, I will jig or slow troll deeper, but not while travelling.
