Trot line disaster.

Well I went out yesterday and tried out my home made trot line.It went terible.The problem was I should have made it much much longer.After I set it i waited about a half hr.I went back and started and by the time i got it on the pvc the line was comming out of the water,so i added some weights that seemed to help.When i built this thing in the back yard it looked over welming but i forgot that the bay is a very large and was intimadated when i saw it streached it out.Ihave a small yard.We did manage to catch 1 small crab,me and freind started to laugh when we netted him,and i said see it does work.Well i think i'm going to look into a pre made line,I remember seeing a sight that someone posted some where on here, about buying trot lines?Any Help?