Both low profile and traditional round frame reels will be offered in this professional quality category. Reels that feature silky smooth four or even five ball bearing drives are the norm. All these reels are also going to be available in various handle designs, plus left or right hand retrieve models.
Quality line counter reels are generally offered with either paddle style handles like pictured here or power handles and also both left and right hand retrieve models.
It’s safe to say that all line counter style trolling reels aren’t created equal. Most of the major brands offer reels for a variety of “price points” ranging from what I would classify as “certain to disappoint” to reels that have earned the “professional quality” standard of excellence.
While everyone would love to own and use the “professional quality” reels, the fact that trollers are tasked with owning a lot of reels, makes it cost prohibitive for many to invest in reels in this top of the line price point category.
So outside of charter captains and tournament pros who can justify the cost of premium quality reels, most anglers find themselves compromising. Most anglers who do a lot of trolling are going to find themselves investing in “middle of the road” reels that deliver excellent function for the cost. Many might argue that reels in this category are actually providing the best value or bang for the buck.
AVOIDING BARGAIN REELS
Line counter reels that are marketed as a bargain are anything but. A bargain is when you find a quality reel on sale. Entry level line counter reels are no bargain even if they were giving them away for free and here’s why.
These low price point line counter reels typically feature one ball bearing drive or they are built using bushings in-stead of ball bearings. This means the drive is exceptionally sloppy.
Expect that entry level reels will feature a plastic or polymer body, plastic star drag and plastic gears in the line counter. All of this plastic is virtually a guarantee these reels are going to fail as soon as they experience anything resembling real time on the water.
Low cost reels also feature inferior drag systems that offer only very low drag pressure ratings. Drag pressure is how much pressure can be put on a fish without the drag slipping. Reels with low drag pressure are worthless for trolling because reeling in a hooked fish, plus the weight and resistance of a planer board becomes impossible without the drag slipping.
These reels were simply never designed to function in the real world of trolling. In real life trolling situations anglers are going to quickly discover that these low cost reels have drag systems that offer little adjustment. That means these reels are either going to apply too much or too little pressure when fighting fish.
Reels in this entry level category retail for $40.00 to $70.00 each. It’s safe to say that these reels are not an investment, but rather a liability.
MIDDLE OF THE ROAD REELS
Line counter reels that fit into the middle of the road category typically retail for
$100.00 to $140.00 each. Most reels in this category are going to feature a three ball bearing drive and a gear ratio of 4:1 or 5:1. Most reels in this category are also going to offer a maximum drag pressure of 16 to 20 pounds which is adequate for most trolling situations.
Reels in this caliber are available in either a left hand or right hand retrieve versions. Also, middle of the road reels routinely give the angler the option of selecting a power handle or a paddle handle design.
The major manufacturers of line counter reels will offer their middle of the road models in several sizes including 20, 30, 40 and 50 versions. For the money, reels in this price range do a nice job of getting the job done without breaking the bank.
PROFESSIONAL QUALITY REELS
For the fisherman who insists on using the best money can buy, line counter reels that retail for $200.00 to $250.00 each are the answer. Reels of this caliber are going to feature the most rugged designs and the most desirable features.
The author favors low profile line counter reels like the Daiwa Lexa 300 models pictured here for walleye trolling applications. Low profile reels are lighter, but provide more drag pressure making them ideal for targeting big fish with deep diving crankbaits and also using in-line planer boards.
Both low profile and traditional round frame reels will be offered in this professional quality category. Reels that feature silky smooth four or even five ball bearing drives are the norm. All these reels are also going to be available in various handle designs, plus left or right hand retrieve models.
"The process of calibrating a line counter reel is about adding or removing line to the spool in a trial and error process. It should take about five minutes to calibrate any line counter reel perfectly. Calibrating reels is time well spent because when on the water you’ll have confidence that every rod/reel on board is delivering the same information, making it possible to duplicate productive lead lengths easily and consistently."
The maximum drag pressure on professional quality reels ranges from 22 to 25 pounds, giving them the beef to handle just about anything with fins. Even better, professional quality reels offer this power in combination with fast retrieve ratios that make it easy to burn in line when moving from spot to spot.
While professional quality reels are expensive, an angler can expect these reels to function flawlessly for many years.
CALIBRATING LINE COUNTER REELS
One would expect that when you purchase a trolling reel, load it with line and hit the water that the “line counter” feature on the reel would be accurate and ready to go. Unfortunately, this is not exactly what happens. Because line counter reels are designed using mechanical gear driven counters, these reels estimate lead lengths based on how much line comes off from the spool each time the spool makes a full rotation. It’s important to understand that line counter reels are factory calibrated based on just one line diameter. So when the consumer loads his or her reel up with a line that is different in diameter the reel calibration is compromised.
The author considers line counter reels as an investment. Good reels will last for decades while providing flawless function. Bargain reels are not a bargain, but rather a waste of money and time.
The bad news is that you just can’t spool line onto a line counter reel and expect that reel to deliver lead lengths that are accurate and consistent. The good news is that any line counter reel can be calibrated to deliver accurate trolling leads with any line type and/or line diameter by simply loading the proper amount of line onto that reel.
To calibrate a line counter reel, first measure off a known distance to use as a reference. A distance of 100 feet is a good reference number because 100 feet is roughly in the middle of common lead lengths used for open water trolling.
Use a tape measure mark off a distance of 100 feet. Use a stake to the zero point and attach a planer board line release to the stake to hold the line during the calibration process.
Load the reel with the desired line. A bulk spool of line is going to be required for this calibration process which will be repeated for every reel. When loading line onto the reel, fill the spool to capacity, but don’t cut the line from the spool just yet.
Take the rod/reel and spool of line over to the tape measure and attach the line to the planer board line release attached to the stake. Reel up any slack line so the rod tip is touching the line release and zero out the line counter reel. Now open the reel bail and walk off line until the rod tip is at the 100 foot mark on the tape measure.
At this point consult the line counter on the reel. If the line counter indicates a number lower than 100, you have to take line off from the reel and add it back onto the line spool. If the number is higher than 100, you need to put more line onto the reel. This is why you don’t cut the line until each rod/reel has been calibrated by placing just the right amount of line on the reel spool so that when the line counter reads 100 feet, exactly 100 feet of line has been played off the reel.
The process of calibrating a line counter reel is about adding or removing line to the spool in a trial and error process. It should take about five minutes to calibrate any line counter reel perfectly. Calibrating reels is time well spent because when on the water you’ll have confidence that every rod/reel on board is delivering the same information, making it possible to dupli-cate productive lead lengths easily and consistently.
SIZE MATTERS
Because mechanical line counter reels monitor how much line is coming off the reel as the reel spool rotates, the size of a line counter reel matters as to how accurately they can be calibrated. The small size 15 and 17 reels popular with walleye fishermen have such a limited line capacity they are a poor choice for the calibration process.
Because the line capacity on these reels is modest, there is not much line left on the spool when long trolling leads are deployed. The smaller the spool becomes as line is played off, the less line that’s actually being deployed. This tends to under estimate lead lengths, compared to what the line counter is indicating.
Larger 20, 30, 40 and 50 class line counter reels have enough line capacity to calibrate perfectly. This applies to both round frame and low profile style line counter reels.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD REELS BE CALIBRATED
Once a reel is calibrated properly, it will deliver accurate lead lengths over and over again. When it’s time to replace worn line, the calibration process will have to be repeated.
If a rod/reel set up is snagged and a considerable amount of line is lost from the reel, that reel will have to be calibrated again by stripping off the line and starting the process over again. To save money, many anglers opt to leave about half of the reel spool loaded and simply top dress the reel with fresh line. This is particularly popular when targeting species like walleye that don’t require the line capacity that would be required for targeting larger species like trout or salmon.
WHAT ABOUT BRANDS
It seems every manufacturer out there is offering a line counter reel these days. Some of these reels are pretty good quality and others are a nightmare waiting to happen. It’s really up to the consumer to make an informed decision when investing in line counter reels. If the price seems too good to be true, chances are those reels are going to become a disappointment sooner rather than later.
Line counter reels should be looked at as an investment. Good investments offer rewards over time, while bad investments waste both money and time.
Editor’s Note: Mark Romanack is a veteran outdoors writer, the Executive Producer
of the Fishing 411 TV series and also the founder of the Precision Trolling Data, phone app. Mark has over 35 years professional fishing experience and is considered an authority on all things trolling.
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9 comments
I do not like the new floor mat I prefer the magazine
To: Mark R.: Hi Mark…My comment is directed at the photo shown in your “line counter” article. It’s the rod relative to its position in the rod holder…it’s parallel to the surface of the water. I found that this rod position, in about a one foot “Lake Erie” chop, was deadly for over-sized walleyes. The technique was to have a 3/4 oz bright chrome Crippled Herring metal Jig (marketed by Rapala), tipped with a piece of nightcrawler, being consistently bottom-bounced. When done right, it out-fished me 100% of the time! The trick is to monitor your depth finder to keep the lure rhythmically bouncing against bottom with no slack line. This is pretty easy to do since many areas in the western basin are fairly flat and require minimal adjustment to depth changes. If the wind picked-up, using the same technique, I would switch to a 1 oz red head/pearl white tail Erie Shiner (not an Erie Dearie) weight forward spinner, tipped with a half of nightcrawler. Please remember, it’s critical to your success, that the rod length is parallel to the water surface to have the proper vertical jigging action!!! 2023 was my 75th year on Lake Erie as both a recreational angler and a USCG-licensed skipper.
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