07-17-2008, 01:15 AM
A cheater hook is a second lure that is attached to your line. I will try to explain:
You attached your first lure to the down rigger ball as normal. When you are trolling you get a bow in your line from the end of your rod tip (top) to the down rigger release (bottom). I then use a 6 foot piece of leader and attach two cross over snaps (snap swivels would also work) - one one each end of this leader. I attach a second lure to one end of this leader and then using the cross over snap on the other end, I attach the leader to my line and toss it over board. The second lure will sink to the appex of the bow in your line - or half the distance from your rod tip to the downrigger release. You are now pulling 2 lures instead of one.
I have found that I increase my catch rate on the cheater by 50%. Your cheater lure needs to be something without a lot of action - i.e. needle fish, RMT lures, flies, cripple lures, humdingers, & etc. Do I get some tangles - yes, but generally the hassel is well worth the effort.
If you want to get fancy - attach your first line to the down rigger ball as normal, drop the ball into the water 10 feet, attach the cheater, attach a second downrigger release to your line and the downrigger line and then drop your down rigger to depth. Since the bow in the line is now 10 feet in the depth your second lure is tracking 5 feet above your first lure. This is how I often get double hook ups - pulling two lures through one school of fish. I caught four sets of doubles at Strawberry last Saturday. You can generally gage the quality of fishing on any particular day by the number of doubles caught.
Hope you could make sense out of this!
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You attached your first lure to the down rigger ball as normal. When you are trolling you get a bow in your line from the end of your rod tip (top) to the down rigger release (bottom). I then use a 6 foot piece of leader and attach two cross over snaps (snap swivels would also work) - one one each end of this leader. I attach a second lure to one end of this leader and then using the cross over snap on the other end, I attach the leader to my line and toss it over board. The second lure will sink to the appex of the bow in your line - or half the distance from your rod tip to the downrigger release. You are now pulling 2 lures instead of one.
I have found that I increase my catch rate on the cheater by 50%. Your cheater lure needs to be something without a lot of action - i.e. needle fish, RMT lures, flies, cripple lures, humdingers, & etc. Do I get some tangles - yes, but generally the hassel is well worth the effort.
If you want to get fancy - attach your first line to the down rigger ball as normal, drop the ball into the water 10 feet, attach the cheater, attach a second downrigger release to your line and the downrigger line and then drop your down rigger to depth. Since the bow in the line is now 10 feet in the depth your second lure is tracking 5 feet above your first lure. This is how I often get double hook ups - pulling two lures through one school of fish. I caught four sets of doubles at Strawberry last Saturday. You can generally gage the quality of fishing on any particular day by the number of doubles caught.
Hope you could make sense out of this!
[signature]