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[Spawn Sack]

Mainly out of curiosity, I am wondering how fast I am moving when I am lake trolling. My fishing buddy fish finder does not measure speed. My phone's GPS will not work unless I have cell reception, and pretty much all of the lakes we got to are out of cell range. My crappy older Tomtom car GPS also does not seem to want to work on the water, only when driving.

Is there some device out there to measure troilling speed? I swear I saw one being used once on a TV show, or maybe I read about one in a fishing magazine....

I did some online searching with no results. I went to Casade in Chilliwack and inquired and they looked at me like I wanted a flux capacitor for my Delorean!!

[NexusGoo]

Luhr-Jensen makes a product called a Trolling Speed Indicator. Cabelas carries them for $68.99. Could be worth it to take a look Spawnsack.

[Spawn Sack]

Sweet thanks! Don't known why this didn't come up in my google search...odd.

[Damien]

I would think waves and current would mess up the reading.  Maybe okay if trolling if calm lakes?

And if that is your use, I would pay for a basic sub $100 handheld GPS before dropping that money on the Luhr Jensen unit.

Over time, you just get used to the way your lure spins, rotates, wobbles to set your speed.  In addition to the angle of the line, where applicable.

[Spawn Sack]

Hmmmm...not quite what I'm looking for. Hardware has to mount to boat, has to be calibrated just right going by the reviews. I wonder if there is somthing out there using GPS satelites, etc? Looking for something a little more high tech. Possibly nothing else out there short of buying a new boat GPS, which I'm not in the market for right now.

[island boy]

i got a hand held gps and it works great. i think you get  a basic one for $100. thats all i use it for. when the wind picks up you can still mantain your correct speed.

[Spawn Sack]

Thanks good call guys, seems like the handheld GPS is the way to go. I know my dad has an older handheld one he never uses, I'll ask him if I can test it out.

[GordJ]

Just want to point out that gps gives speed over ground while an in-water "wheel", which I assume the Luhr Jensen is, will give speed relative to the water. If you are going into a 5 knot current and your gps says 3 knots your lure is travelling against 8 knots of current like a pinwheel. Same problem with the current when GPS says 5 knots and current is 5 knots your bait is static.

[losos]

Or you can check  time of the first post and the  last one and divide it by the number of trolls .

[canso]

Check the lure beside the boat. If it's a fly then u should vary the speed anyways.
Like others have said even cheap handheld gps shows speed.

[firstlight]

Is a bit primitive but I just spit in the lake and then see how fast im going in relation to the floating spit.
It sounds much grosser than it is .
The bend in my fly rod also tells a lot as well as watching the trees in the background.
Usually don't hook up the sounder when on lakes.

[Damien]

You have to account for the changes in gravity before and after the summer solstice.  Totally throws things off.  And how close you are to the equator, but that shouldn't matter for up here.

[Spawn Sack]

Just want to point out that gps gives speed over ground while an in-water "wheel", which I assume the Luhr Jensen is, will give speed relative to the water. If you are going into a 5 knot current and your gps says 3 knots your lure is travelling against 8 knots of current like a pinwheel. Same problem with the current when GPS says 5 knots and current is 5 knots your bait is static.

Interesting...I never even thought of this. Okay a few ignoramous questions coming up here...

I get if you are, say, going into a 5 knot current and you are moving at 5 knots then 5+5= 10 knots that your gear is moving. Same idea if you are going witth the current eg moving with a 5 knot current at 3 knots = 5-3 = gear moving at 2 knots.

Now does this only apply to fishing where there is current, as in the river or ocean? As far as I know there is no current in lakes, just wind. In other words, a handheld GPS which shows speed over land should be the same as speed over water???

Do boat GPS units measure the current and give you a speed over water reading...in other words...how is one to know the speed of the current?

If I'm going to buy a handheld GPS I want to make sure it'll give me a proper reading when trolling, otherwise I might as well not bother and just guesstimate with rod bent, etc

[GordJ]

Interesting...I never even thought of this. Oay, going into a 5 knot current and you are moving at 5 knots then 5+5= 10 knots that your gear is moving. Same idea if you are going witth the current eg moving with a 5 knot current at 3 knots = 5-3 = gear moving at 2 knots.
Yes, if you are facing up a river with 15 knot current and your boat is holding still, gps reads 0, the water will be going past your gear at 15 knots.
Now does this only apply to fishing where there is current, as in the river or ocean? As far as I know there is no current in lakes, just wind. In other words, a handheld GPS which shows speed over land should be the same as speed over water???
If the water is not moving in relation to the land then the speed over land will be the same as the speed over water.
Do boat GPS units measure the current and give you a speed over water reading...in other words...how is one to know the speed of the current?
GPS' look up at the sky, they never, ever look down at water. Sonar looks down but as far as  I know they don't measure speed and they seem to look through water and not at it. Kind of like us and air, we look through it but never see it so we don't know how fast the wind is blowing.To know the speed of the water you would have to get a Luhr Jensen speed of water gauge.
If I'm going to buy a handheld GPS I want to make sure it'll give me a proper reading when trolling, otherwise I might as well not bother and just guesstimate with rod bent, etc

[cutthroat22]

What phone do you have?  Most do have a built in GPS.