Rod, reel and line?

New to the great lakes fishing scene.  I chase the trout with a fly rod in the tributaries in waders.  Have a new kayak coming soon, Pa 14, and want to give Lake Michigan fishing a serious attempt.

Could really use a push in the right direction.  I don't need the most expensive stuff, BUT don't want to buy gear again within a year or two because I spent too little.

I'm considering the Okuma Cold water 354 low profile reel.  Does this have enough capacity to do what needs to be done?  Do I want a 8'6" rod or  9'er? 20, 30 or 40# powerpro or lead core?

I see myself, this could change as I learn more, fishing flasher and fly behind a torpedo weight. 

Looking to buy something at the show in Madison this coming weekend or the Milwaukee show in the beginning of March.

Thanks for the shove in the right direction. 

I made 4 sport shows this spring: Shaumberg, Madison, Milwaukee and Canoeicopia. 

Today I did what I should have done in the first place for learning about Great Lakes Kayak angling.  I went to see Rob Wendel at Lake Michigan Angler in Winthrop Harbor.

Rob was generous with his information and helped me get set up for the spring season. The shop was packed with Lake Michigan specific gear.

There is a free seminar tomorrow morning, wish that I could make it.  If you are available GO.

Next year, skipping the sport shows and just want to make one of his seminars. I did book an outting with him to try and shorten my learning curve.

Looking forward to April.

LuckyC, I couldn't let this left hand and right hand reel stuff go.  I went to the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal show and picked up another reel but this time a Shimano TEK501HGLCA  reel in left hand wind.   Still didn't bite on rods because they had very few rods at this show.  As a matter of fact if you want Great Lakes gear, I would skip the show and go to one of the local shops instead.  I should have just went to Rob Wendel's place in Winthrop Harbor called Lake Michigan Angler and never looked back. 

I did learn that the reason that there are so few Talora rods available right now is that Shimano is about to release a newly remodeled Talora soon.  Hope it comes out sooner than later.  I did actually handle a TDR and a Wright and McGill and a couple of Diawa trolling rods.  Of those three I liked the Diawa's the best, but not enough to put money on the table.  Still shopping.

I just wanted to thank everyone for your input.  I went to the Madison Fishing Expo and bought two of the Shimano 500 Tekota A's. They actually had very little big lake fishing stuff at this show.  Looking forward to the Milwaukee Sentinel show in a couple of weeks.  I wanted to see the Talora rods but no one had them at the show.

I wanted to try out Lucky's concept and what I saw on Tim Percy's YT chanel of a left and right hand reel.   This retrieve stuff is funny in that with a spinning reel I operate the handle with my left hand, with my fly fishing equipment I reel with my left hand, but with a baitcaster, I cast right handed then put the reel in the left hand and retrieve with the right hand.  Why??? Because it has always been that way. 

That was the plan, but the company that was there that I have dealt with before only had the Tekota A's in a right hand retrieve so I just bought two of those. 

Truth is that it is NOT the reel or the boat or the line or whatever, it's still the Indian and not the arrow.  But it's still nice to know that the tool is up for the job.

Still shopping for a bunch of stuff to make this Lake Michigan adventure take place.  Any other comments on rods and other equipment will be welcome. 

Clay34, if I ran a lefty & a righty I could situate them so the handles were each away from me.  Might make clearing lines easier...or not.  (Actually, this is the setup I tried to have now but the Convector I bought last year was mis-shipped as a righty.  I kept it anyway.).  

[Inland, I run all lefty baitcasters despite being right handed.  Saves switching hands each cast and makes me pretty ambidextrous.  In fact, traditional righty's feel odd to me now.]

I would say if you're going to spend that much on Coldwaters, then I'd go Tekotas. The new tekotas have a higher gear ratio that would especially help clear some lines while fighting a fish. I had planned on selling my current Tekotas and buying the new ones until some family stuff came up. 

Speaking of clearing lines, I'm assuming that's why Lucky C mentioned a left and right handed trolling reel. Easier to reach and clear a line (that's why I like the 43"/crank on my leadcore - it has a tendency to get in the way with decent fish). I tried that but couldn't get used to reeling a trolling rod with my left hand. Especially felt awkward when I was getting to the point to net a fish. 

Lastly, as far as dipseys in a kayak... I wouldn't be worried so much about the netting the fish, it's just that I feel by utilizing different weights, I have a more flexible system (and stealthy) to get to the depth where the fish are located. 

This is the reel, that I originally posted about:  https://okumafishingusa.com/collections/reels/products/cold-water-low-profile-line-counter  $160 to $190 depending on size and they have a 25 pound drag system right out of the box.

I do see a new Tekota A that was recently released for just a few more dollars.  That low profile reel looks very nice too.

LuckyC, tell me more about your comment:  "My next reel upgrade will be to have 1 left hander and 1 right hander in my lap, currently all my reels are right handers."  I first saw Tim Percy running something like this here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhEhITHgPps

hey, if I can solo net a 20lb king on a regular dipsy in 2-3' rollers in a tinny with no autopilot, I think a yaker can do it in flat water .........  

Braid really has minimal give.  Not real sure I would want to go with less than 30lb power pro, especially on a dipsy.  You can get away with 20lb power pro as a backer for LC and a spacer since LC as pretty good give.   Torpedo rods ok also as I assume most use a soft rigger rod for this (I did when I ran a torpedo using 30lb braid).  Rod provides the give as long as you have decent drag.  As for dipsies, the line is already loaded pretty good (MH rod etc), much more than a torpedo.  You get smashed by a monster on a dipsy, the 20lb braid may not be enough.  As for reels, I will probably get flamed.  I don't really see a problem with the low end okuma/cabelas reels.  I can't say I have ever lost a fish due to flaky drag.

Thanks for the words of experience guys.  I was leaning more toward the 9' rods now the 8'6" rods.  I was thinking of 40 pound power pro, now maybe 20 or leadcore or BOTH.  2 rods with PP and one with LC. 

I would have trolled the same line with the same weight at the same distance, thanks for helping me avoid a disaster. 

I have a lot to learn, thanks for the pushes in the right direction.  I have to read this over la few times to absorb all of the words of wisdom. 

Just to round out the species here.

Photo 1: Lake trout, leadcore spoon.

Photo 2: Brown trout, leadcore spoon.

I'm with Mark, it took me a year or so to figure out what I like and what works.

I run 3 line out of my Hobie Outback.  I run divers off the sides (or straightline cranks) then leadcore straight off the back.  I like my trolling rods in my lap so my rod holders are mounted just in front of my seat.  Due to my setup I like rods without excessive butt length (not a lot of butt hanging out of the back of the rod holder).  I also use a little shorter of rod as it makes reaching the fish with the net a little easier (I've lost fish because I couldn't reach them), 7'6ish.  [Photo 3 is me losing a nice steelhead because I couldn't reach it because my rod was too long.  The butt on this rod was way too long also].

For reels I have a Penn Warfare 20 (that I won) that I like, as well as a Convector 20, and I'm replacing my Magda 30 lead reel with a Convector 30 DS with upgraded drag.  What I like about the Convectors & the Warfare over the Magda is the drag is indexed.  The Magda, without being indexed, was always a battle trying to get it right while fighting a fish.  My next reel upgrade will be to have 1 left hander and 1 right hander in my lap, currently all my reels are right handers.

I'm pretty simple with line.  On the diver rods I've got 50# Powerpro (because it's what I had), mono backer and 20# fluoro leader.  On the lead core I was able to fit 6 colors on a 30 size reel.  This year I'm going to microlead and should be able to fit 10 colors.  I also use a little bit shorter lead rod as the line comes off it better.

I'm really careful with the lead line when I'm running flashing flies off the sides.  If you want to see a real mess get that flasher wrapped around your lead, which is why my 6 color lead is now 5.5 color.

Edit: I caught more fish off lead in 2018 than my other setups.

Photo 1, 15# king. Leadcore spoon.

Photo 2, coho, dodger fly on a torpeedo diver

Photo 3, steelhead straightlining a size 11 flicker minnow.  3/4 in the net and it came off.

Aluma has some good points, especially about safety. Lake Michigan is a body of water that has to be taken very seriously... I fished a kayak salmon tourney a few years back where a guy in a PA14 never made it back to the weigh in. Don't overestimate your abilities. Personally, I'd wear a traditional life jacket instead of an inflatable, but that's personal preference. 

I've been fishing Lake Michigan for 5 years from my kayak. My favorite time of the year is when I can take my Hobie Revo offshore and get into a consistent king salmon bite (June/July, although I've gotten them into December when the lake has cooperated).

I fished with convectors for a few years. My only suggestion is to upgrade the drags, it made a world of difference. I had the CV20s for my torpedo rods rigged with mostly 20 lb power pro to 50 ft of 20 lb big game where I can clip my torpedos. I've since upgraded to Tekotas, but still use the same setup. My go to spread in the summer consists of a torpedo rods (8'6) on each side and my leadcore rod down the chute. I've got my leadcore setup on a daiwa sealine 57 with an upgraded drag. I like the 43" retrieval rate. My LC rod is probably setup different than almost anybody out there in that I have 3 colors, a 30 ft braid spacer, 3 colors, 30 ft braid spacer and 4 colors, then a bunch of braid. This way I can run 3, 6 or 10 colors without having the leadcore take too much of a beating on the rod tip. Although I do sometimes just put out a color or two if conditions call for it. Most naysayers of my LC setup will claim there's too many knots. Maybe someday that'll bite me, but if you can tie some good knots, I wouldn't be too concerned. I've landed multiple 25 lb kings on this setup without any issues. If you have anymore questions, shoot me a message.

Edit: I should add that if you talk to 10 kayak salmon guys, you'll probably get 10 different responses on how guys run their setups. It took me a bit to optimize my setup for my kayak and the way i like to fish. It's going to take time to figure out what works for you and what you can and can't do in your kayak. Here's a hint - don't run a flasher fly on each side of your kayak with the same size weight and the same amount of line out. That's a mistake you only make once! And don't get discouraged early on. I took my lumps for almost a whole year before things started clicking for me. 

And things like this will eventually happen... 

I have that okuma reel I use for some walleye trolling. I think it is to cheap for salmon fishing.  I would recommend Daiwas reel either the sg27 linecounter or the sg47. Boat anglers would use the 47s in a kayak I think the 27s would be better for storage. You want the  single handle reel not the double paddle. https://www.fishusa.com/product/Daiwa-Sealine-SG-Line-Counter-Reels?gclid=CjwKCAiAqaTjBRAdEiwAOdx9xjK3fxVcfmOp3KY7iCqmYVXfkpDjCfDe77RpZEPmY2_TxPK7cuLv5hoCW-4QAvD_BwE

Leadcore for salmon fishing is tricky. Most of us use multiple lengths on different reels. People will talk about fishing three color or five color. That is with all the leadcore out. Big fish and lures will cause a weak spot on the leadcore at the tip of the rod. You want the backing line past the rod tip. Unlike fishing for walleyes.  From a kayak I would use either different bead chain weights or offshore tadpole weights. The torpedo weight would be very good also. I would forget the leadcore for now. Do not just rely on your cell phone for help. Pick up one of the portable floating marine radios. A manually deployed inflatable vest also. If you kayak outside of the break wall be very careful. It can be super calm. It is that unexpected wake from a large cabin cruiser that can get you. For fishing line do not overlook something like berkley big game in 20 pound. Yes it is a mono but some mono stretch can be a good thing. Fishing from a kayak with a large fish on.