Have you ever tried to hammer a nail with a screwdriver, or cut a 2x4 with a pocket knife? Probably not, because it’s just common sense that to do a job the right way takes the right tools. Same thing goes for fishing really. If you’re jigging or rigging for walleyes, you’re going to be better off using open-faced spinning reels. These types of reels simply handle the “light line-finesse” presentations much better than level-wind casting style reels. Likewise, trolling for walleyes takes the right tools too. Now opinions vary from angler to angler as to rod lengths and actions for trolling, but ask most any experienced walleye angler about reels for trolling, and most will agree that line counter reels are the absolute best way to go.

Is it possible to troll for walleyes without using line counter reels? Sure; and it’s possible to hammer a nail with a screwdriver if you work at it long enough. But it’s all about using the right tools for the job. A line counter reel is basically a medium to large sized level-wind reel fitted with a device for measuring the amount of line let out. What this does is allow you to more precisely set out lures in pre-determined patterns (amount of line behind the boat allowing lure to reach desired depths) and duplicate successful set-ups to more effectively fine tune a productive trolling pattern for the day. To better explain, let’s look at an example. You and a buddy head out for some trolling on a lake where you are allowed two lines per angler. In order to simplify our example we’ll say that you’re running the same crankbait on all your lines. To start off the day, you set out two lines with the crankbaits 120 feet out which puts them at about 28 feet deep and two more lines with the lures 75 feet back which puts them running at about 20 feet deep. Shortly into the first trolling pass one of the 20 foot baits catches a nice walleye. Soon after that, another good fish comes on the other 20 foot bait. Now you decide to run all your baits at 20 feet. By using line counter reels all set-up with matching line, it’s a simple task to set them all with 75 feet of line out putting them all in the active zone. It’s a simple matter of duplication. Find the right lure and the right depth to run it at and then duplicate the pattern to more effectively produce bites. Of course that’s a very simplified example, but it illustrates the point pretty well. Line counter reels are tools that allow you to consistently duplicate productive trolling patterns.