I have a friend looking for a walleye trolling rod, he uses a 2oz. bottom bouncing sinker with a worm harness most of the time. He's asked for a rod with a bit faster action for hooksets, not as slow as a downrigger blank or SPG glass blank. He liked a 7', MH mag bass blank I showed him, but I'm thinking that might be too fast of action, especially when trolling. Just wondered if there might be a recommendation for something in between, or if possibly a 7' M or MHM casting blank might suffice. Thank you for any help, appreciated!

Mike,
Read and understood on the rod request.

However, I really wonder if the rod that he is asking for is really what will work for him.

The reason that I ask the question is that I have done a lot of walleye fishing and trolling for walleye. In a word, over many years of fishing, I have found over and over again, that with the typical bite of a walleye, a really fast action rod, when trolling is a really great way to lose fish.

Read the paragraph about rod selection:
[www.in-fisherman.com]

Take a look at this page, the comments at the end, and the specs on the rods being sold as trolling rods.

[www.fishusa.com]

I will say that my personal selection is a 7'6" or 8" MH - moderate action with a casting reel seat, and the rod guides wrapped with a spiral wrap. Lots and lots of fish in the boat with rods of this type.

The really important thing to remember about trolling for fish. In a very large % of the cases, the rod is in a rod holder while the trolling is going on. As a result, the action of the rod, the speed of the boat, etc. catches the fish with no intervention by the fisher person.

i.e. the rod needs to be such, that when the fish take the lure, worm or what ever - they set the hook themselves and the fisherman normally does not have the rod in his/her hand to set the hook. As a result, for this type of fishing, there needs to be enough "give" in the rod to allow this to happen.

An extra fast rod has a tip that moves quickly, but not very far On the other hand, a moderate action rod, has a tip that may be a touch stiffer than an extra fast tipped rod, but the tip can move much much further than an extra fast tipped rod before the fish encounters the heavier part of the rod.

-------------------
[www.rainshadowrodblanks.com]

Take a look at the specs on the eyecon trolling rod:
[stcroixrods.com]

Or, perhaps the St. Croix Premier - 7' heavy casting rod:
[stcroixrods.com]

Thanks very much Roger, I agree in many ways! I shuddered a bit regarding a faster-actioned, graphite rod for trolling when a 2oz sinker was tossed into the equation, plus a mag-bass rated blank isn't very forgiving action-wise as you know. (Hopefully, I can talk some sense into him!)

I'm leaning toward a glass blank that can handle the load and still be forgiving on the bite. Thanks again

I would say that Roger is dead on with his advise. I troll allot for walleye using a bottom bounce 2 to 3 oz. You need the moderate heavy action to load, then set the hook while in the rod holder. Then the moderate action keeps the fish pinned with all the forward pressure bringing it to the boat.

I built 4(four) BB rods last winter after reading the same advise. One 7'6 the other 6'6 all with the spiral wrap for the side of the boat the rod is fish with. Each rod is a different color (CPR colored rods} so I can call out the color with a fish on. I added the shrink tubing on the handles for taking in and out of the rod holders. The system works very well and the rods preform better than I had hoped.
Good luck!

Thanks Scott, appreciated. Definitely headed toward a moderate-action blank.

I built 2 sets of 6 trolling rods last season. I made them for pulling boards and for pulling flies. We use 2 oz weights. I used NFC Hotshot blanks. Take a look at NFC Delta Hotshot rods. I have tried a bunch of different rods for this.These are the best action I have used. They are available 7'6" on up.

See you on the water, Doug
Captain Paddlefoot

Thanks Doug, appreciated - I will take a look!

If you end up unhappy with what you got it's always quite easy to make a fast rod slower, but not a slow rod faster.

If you end up unhappy with what you got it's always quite easy to make a fast rod slower, but not a slow rod faster.

...Still looking around, wondered if a St. Croix 3C70MHM or MHX L842 would suit this application, (walleye trolling with 2oz. max bottom bouncer/ worm rig).

Thanks again

Mike,
I would think that the St. Croix 3C70MHM would be about ideal for this application.

Remember, the St. Croix casting rods can normally carry a much heavier load that for how they are rated. I would think that this rod would easily work with 2 and possibly up to 3 oz weights if you wished.

Good luck

Thanks (again) Roger, I'm going with the St. Croix.

I sincerely appreciate everyone's help - this is a great forum! Have a great and prosperous New Year!