Trolling bags and speed doubts

[young gun]

Hey you guys i am going trough my check list of thing i need this season and i was thinking about getting some trolling bags after i found a little bit of miosture in my fluid tubes after trolling with out getting the engine heated up. I have a 2012 starweld 18 with a mercury 90hp efi engine on it, i dont have a fish hawk or down temp system but i do have a lowrance HDS8. The lowrance unit is great, i am just having my doubts about my speed. I seem to be trolling on the slower side after i have watched some salmon showdown videos where thier divers are pulling harder than mine would, and also thier coppers are bent a little more and bouncing harder. I know there are down currents and waves are a factor but i just seem to be trolling a tad too slow. Back to the main question, i want two bags because it seems more stable for the boat and also my boat speed jumps from 2.2-2.6 to 3.8-4.1, I cant get it in the middle. oh and also i seem to do better when fishing on wavy days because i notice the wave pushes the boat which gets the speed up more. So with that information what size bags should i get if i am getting 2? Would the higher rpms help heat the engine up more? And would higher rpms affect the catch rates, or am i questioning myself too much. In the end i am getting bags but what sizes?

Thanks fo your time.

[SeaCatMich]

Call Bob over at Big Papa Sportfishing (www.bigpapasportfishing.com 248-344-0958). They make great bags and can give you a good recommendation.

Here is a link to the Big Papa sizing guidelines: http://bigpapasportfishing.com/trolling_bags.htm

I'd think that a pair of the 25" bags would be plenty or even the 22", but I'd call Bob to discuss it.

[Play Dough]

I second Ryan's suggestion to call Big Papa's. I just went through the exercise and they offered all kinds of advice. I purchased a set of bags that were nowhere near the size I was thinking. They also said they'd exchange them if I found I needed to adjust the size after actually using the bags. Great people.

[Captain Jason]

The crew at Big Papas is top notch you won't be disappointed.

[Play Dough]

The crew at Big Papas is top notch you won't be disappointed.

Michigan made too. Always happy to do business locally.

[fishsniffer]

I agree 100 percent with the big papa supporters. Ran my last set of bags a few years and zero issues

[CITM]

There is a new company in west Michigan making bags, stop by Fish On, not sure if they have them in stock but they had them there during the seminar last weekend. They are supposedly really nice, and a little different than the others. Amish Outfitters is anoyher good option. Anyone who makes good quality bags should be able to tell you which size you need.

[Far Beyond Driven]

I've run big papa bags for ten years no issues. Even dropped the bomb on them once or twice with the 350 when I forgot to pull them before motoring up.

[WideOpen]

A timely thread for the up coming trolling season. Hi guys, new guy here with a couple questions about these trolling bags. Sizing seems to be the key to getting the optimum speed you want for trolling. Looking at the Big PaPa site, I see the recommendations on size for specific size boats. In the bag on the Big PaPa site, description, it says the bags are measured "Size is measured along the curve of the wide end when the bag is laying flat." http://bigpapasportfishing.com/trolling_bags.htm

So when I look at the 48"bag for $75.99, based on the math, that bag opens up to a circle about 30.5" . I used the online diameter calculator on the scgnetwork.com site to come up with that.

Next on the Amish Outfitters site, their bags are sized by the open diameter size. https://amishoutfitters.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1&zenid=a68c14bddf527126e33478f4e5c97dec

The 28" open circle bag is the closest in size to the Big PaPa 30.5"equivalent and is priced at $53.95. They also make a heavier duty one with wider webbing for $63.95.

Am I understanding the sizes correctly?

[SeaCatMich]

A timely thread for the up coming trolling season. Hi guys, new guy here with a couple questions about these trolling bags. Sizing seems to be the key to getting the optimum speed you want for trolling. Looking at the Big PaPa site, I see the recommendations on size for specific size boats. In the bag on the Big PaPa site, description, it says the bags are measured "Size is measured along the curve of the wide end when the bag is laying flat." http://bigpapasportfishing.com/trolling_bags.htm

So when I look at the 48"bag for $75.99, based on the math, that bag opens up to a circle about 30.5" . I used the online diameter calculator on the scgnetwork.com site to come up with that.

Next on the Amish Outfitters site, their bags are sized by the open diameter size. https://amishoutfitters.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1&zenid=a68c14bddf527126e33478f4e5c97dec

The 28" open circle bag is the closest in size to the Big PaPa 30.5"equivalent and is priced at $53.95. They also make a heavier duty one with wider webbing for $63.95.

Am I understanding the sizes correctly?

I'd call Bob at Big Papa and discuss. He will give you the straight dope... very low key guy... unless you get him taking salmon or walleye

[tntmud]

I would do just as Ryan has suggested and just call. Thats what I did and glad I did (i would of bought wrong bags). If you give him all your boat info such as idle speed now, weight, length, engine size, and your desired speed and rpm range he will get you where you want to be.

[WideOpen]

Well, I took the advice and called bigpapa directly and the answer was as I suspected. The bags are as advertised. Size description was accurate and as I thought. We talked about material and how the lady there at the shop made them a little too. I am going to pass on the bigpapa bags. Thanks guys

[Big Papa Sports]

Wide Open, You have 2 whole posts on the same thread and just joined this month. Something smells fishy.

[WideOpen]

And you have 5 posts? pm sent

[young gun]

Thanks you guys for the info. I will definitely give big Pappas a call.