I am new to trolling and in need of tips with line, boards, dipsy and lures.

Answer:

First you need to figure out what depth the fish are in. Typically in the early summer I would be looking for suspended fish.
Once you see the fish on your depth finder, figure out how to get lures running above them in their feeding zone. In clear water that may be 10 feet or more above them, in dingy water it might be pretty close to where they are laying.
If you can run cranks down to them on mono (e.g. a Reef Runner will go about 28 feet deep on 200 feet of 10 pound Berkley XT) that is the best option. I would run these behind in-line Offshore planer boards to spread out the lines. Remember if you want to fish in shallow depths, shorten up your line.
If you are running spinners or your cranks don’t go deep enough you can use weighting systems (Lead core, Snap Weights, XPS Fish Weights) to get the lures to the desired depth -or- you can use Dipsy’s.
For Dipsy’s, I use 30 pound no Stretch line – something like FireLine or the new FireLine Braid would be a good choice. Then behind the dipsy I run 15 pound Berkley 100% Fluorocarbon to my crank, spinner or spoon.
To get a good idea of depths for cranks, Snap Weights or Fish Weights I suggest checking out the Precision Trolling Stickers in our online store (Click Here for Store) or check out the Precision Trolling App.

Bite On

Keith