Trolling motor to reel in trotline?

[browndog]

Has anyone see this? I heard their were plans on how to build a reel that was powered by a trolling motor? People used then to wind in their trotline but instead of putting the line around a reel that dumps it into a basket, this spun the reelwhich held the trotline.

Thanks

If I find the plans I will post them.

[h2oboss]

I've never heard of that but it sounds "do-able"? I've heard Jerry talking about using drills to power a spool winder. Good luck

[POLECAT]

When I first read your post I recalled reading something to that effect. Continued thinking on the subject allowed my less than instant recall to better remember what it was that I had read.
To sum it up, it wasn't about a trot line winder. It had to do with grinding up chum in a tube. The motor portion of an electric trolling motor is housed at the bottom of a 4" PVC pipe. There's a set of cutting blades on it and when fish are dropped into the top opening of the PVC pipe and the motor activated. The fish are cut into tiny morsels and dispensed into the water thru holes in the pipe sidewalls.
My thoughts, brief at this point, regarding using a trolling motor to power a reel to wind a trot line are that there would have to be a gear reduction device in the system. Snood lines would most likely not be able to be wound on the reel without numerous tangles. Non snood lines would work OK as they have for me in the past on other contraptions.
The RPM output of an electric trolling motor is much too fast to spin a spool effectively if hooled up directly to the spool without a speed reduction device. There are many other better, simpler, and less expensive ways of accomplishing the desired results.

[rj]

I have seen some homeade motorized reel arrangements, most involved a small 12 volt motor and a reel ,usually a garden hose reel,these are OK for occasional use, but they will only handle small diameter line, and you still have to unreel by hand to rebait,
the plastic reels are fragile and do not last long under constant use,and the reel arrangement does not work well with snoods,
but they are out there and there are a few crabbers using them.
saw a few at the benedict ramp last year,

[browndog]

Do you guys us a reel or just put the line in a bushel basket?
I used a reel with another person over the weekend and I liked the way it went into the water.I crab by myself and it seem easy to control. I would like to rebait the line by reel the line onto the other spool/reel. What do you recommend? I don't think I want to use a garden reel.

Thanks

[rj]

In theory the reel idea is a good one,
but the reality is that they just don't work well, granted that there are a few crabbers that use them and will swear by them
but if they were really easier and better to use , you would see huge reels on every commercial crab boat out there.the majority of the crabbers out there use a container of some sort to hold their lines,
a reel may be easier to lay in many instances but laying your line is only part of the job, you also have to take it up and unbait/rebait it and store it, this is where containers work best

[Capt.Nick]

Trolling mtrs.are designed to operate underwater this keeps the mtr.water cooled.It may overheat using it as an above water winder,especially with an abnormal load on it.A few years ago I saw a guy use a garden hose reel while he was steering the boat with the other hand.It looked like it worked pretty good...much faster than hand lining it in.

[Crabslayer]

Rock N' Crab should chime in on this one. He described one he saw down in his area where a guy used a trolling motor to power a reel that the line was stored on. I think he was supposed to be making one during the offseason.

[Durado]

You can't go wrong with a garden hose reel. I'm not really sure why some think it's hard to bait them. You pull unbait, rebait and pull...placing the line between your legs. Wind back up when your done and place in freezer. Deploying is simple, connect to anchor/chain/float......reverse and watch it lay. When retrieving....disconnect from chain and wind it up. I run 4 1000' lines and find it to be easier than laying 1 4000' line. One at a time and if the crabs take well to it, I'll lay more next to it and just go up and down them. The bottom can change so much over 4000 ft.......and it's possible that many baits will go untouched.
I don't run snoods...so I can't comment on them. I went wuth the plastic, cause the metal spools tend to rust up quickly.
Good Luck![smile]