Product Review: Sterling Dial Tracker - The Fisherman

Product Review: Sterling Dial Tracker

Sterling-Dial-Tracker-Bird-Bar

New for the 2022 season, Sterling Tackle’s Dial Trackers have evolved their fixed Wide Tracker bar concept to a higher level, with a true all-in-one solution.

A boat moving along at trolling speeds in the 4- to 12-knot range produces a white water wake that attracts both baitfish and the predators that feed on them. The faster your boat goes, the smaller and tighter your clean water “lure channels” between the prop wash and chine wash become, making it harder for fish to find your lures or baits in the suds. This compels operators to either zig-zag their course to get some occasional looks in clean water, or drop the baits way back in the 5th to 7th waves, 75 to 125 yards behind the transom. Outriggers and rod riggers in turn help spread out the offerings in the wash, but they are still located in bubbled water.

Back in 2017, Sterling Tackle introduced their Wide Tracker bars to solve this problem and they were an immediate hit with offshore anglers. The squid and green machine bars could now run at a set 40-degree angle off either side of the transom “in front” of the white water wake, where they were in clear view and more likely to get hit if the fish were in a feeding mood. Sterling offered these with either a fixed port or starboard acrylic keel positioned on the underside of the bar’s center bird, which caused it to veer off at an angle either to port or starboard of the boat’s transom when underway. I have been using these on home and away charters since their inception and my advice is don’t leave home without one!

Sterling-Dial-Tracker-Bar

Sterling Tackle’s new Dial Tracker makes a good thing even better and is a true multi-task solution. You can set this bar to run at seven different angles, ranging from full keel, half keel, or quarter keel starboard; traditional straight back bar; or full keel, half keel, or quarter keel port. Twin half-inch stainless steel Phillips head adjustment screws allow the user to set the Dial Tracker keel to the desired attack angle and then tighten it down to lock it in place.  The folks at Sterling Tackle say the dial keel feature allows you to strategically place your bars where you want them. If you typically pull bars on your flat lines, you will now be able to push them outboard from 5 to 10 feet to run just outside the prop wash in cleaner water. If you get more bites on your longest, widest tracker bar, you can now send a second dial tracker back to run alongside it increasing your chances of multiple bites. Yet another trolling tactic with the Dial Tracker is to run two bars long down the middle pulled from your overhead rocket launchers, with one to port and the second to starboard. The combinations with your trolling spread are practically endless.

Learn more at sterlingtackle.com.

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