downrigger trolling?

[MACMAN]

I bought a boat that came with two downriggers, I have never used downriggers before and need a quick tutorial on how to use them. They have pinch pad releases and an 8# ball. Any suggestions would be great, I am mostly fishing for macs and kokes at the Gorge. I have never needed them in the past but last weekend at the Gorge I could not even get a look with a jig, and the trollers were getting into a few. A backup plan on a day like that would be good. Thanks MM
[signature]

[prov17]

I too prefer jiggin over downrigging when fishing for macks, but you're absolutely right, sometimes you do need them. With macks its a little bit tougher because they are glued to the bottom in the summer months. If you are fishing an area that has a flat bottom then you wont have any problems but most of the areas that hold fish have humps or drop offs and have a lot of varrying bottom depths. With those areas you will have to pay close attention to your depthfinder as you go over them or you will hang up alot and that can get expensive in a hurry.

With Kokes they are a different story, they are usually suspended higher up in the water column so all you have to do is find the depth they are at and leave your weight at or just above the depth you are marking the fish at.

As far as how to operate the downriggers, some of it is personal preference. Some people like to attach the release right to the ball others prefer to attach it to the cable higher up away from the ball especially when they are stacking (fishing multiple lines off of one downrigger). The easiest way to get started is stick with one line per downrigger.

Put your boat in gear and open the bail on your reel to let out line, once you get the desired amount of line out (I prefer around 150 feet) pinch the release on to your line (the further into the jaws the harder it is to pull out). Now with your line secured to the release and your bail still open you can drop down to your desired depth, if it is a manual downrigger turn the crank counter clockwise to release the brake and allow the ball to drop and clockwise to stop it. Once your ball is at the desired depth you will need to take up all the slack fishing line that will be bowing out from your rod to the release. This is another touchy are, the idea here is to get that line just as tight as you dare so when a fish pulls it off of the release there wont be a lot of slack line between you and the fish. Try to tighten the line enough that it is bending your rod down towards the water without tightening so much that you pull it out of the release and have to start all over again.

If this hasn't you enough just wait until you try it lol. Just kiddin around, its not that bad.
[signature]

[kokeking]

I fish a lot with downriggers,and prov has given alot of good advise.Fishing with d/r s is lots of trial and error.One thing i would like to mention is haveing the drag on your d/r set right(esp when fishing close to the bottom)

When fishing close to the bottom with a d/r its not if you will hang up but when and how bad.Haveing your drag set right may avoid loseing your tackle,your d/r weight or worse ripping the whole thing from your boat.

As prov has said,how far to set your lure back from the release is a personal prefence,if iam fishing for kokes i will set the lure 75-100 feet from the release.If fishing for macs on the bottom i will set it about 25-30 ft from the release.

Speed is another very important thing,mac's are known for following alure for a long time before strikeing,varying your speed from time to time,can provoke a strike .also vareing your trolling patterns can make a differnce,trolling in a "s" pattern can be very effective also.

Another thing i want to mention is the shape of your weights,ball shape weights will have more resistance and causeing more swing back and they will hang up easier,I prefer flat weights like pancakes weights and even the fish shaped weights are better then the ball shaped weights.

I hope all this is not to confuseing,the more you use a d/r the more you will learn about it,Good luck.
[signature]

[Gumbo]

Prov17 did a good job. Here's some more info...

[url "http://www.offshoretackle.com/2004articles.htm#HOW%20TO%20USE%20A%20DOWNRIGGER"]http://www.offshoretackle.com/2004articles.htm#HOW%20TO%20USE%20A%20DOWNRIGGER[/url]

I'll share my secret for trolling with downriggers at the Gorge. First off, at the Gorge I always start out trolling with the downriggers (except in the winter when I'll fish the surface). If the weather is calm AND if I mark an area with lots of big arcs on the graph, I'll stop and jig. Conditions have to be right for jigging. If they're not, I'll keep trolling.

Use the biggest pop gear you can find and follow with a frozen whole minnow. Attach the pop gear right behind the ball and lower the ball into the water so you can watch the blades. Adjust your speed so you're going as slow as possible and keep all the blades turning. Lower the ball slowly to prevent the pop gear from wrapping around your line and the downrigger cable (common problem with short leads). Then you have to balance between watching the graph, steering, and keeping that ball plowing the bottom. You don't want to snag the ball, but you want it bouncing off the bottom and stirring things up.

[MACMAN]

Thanks for the info, it will be used well this weekend. I made a huge pop gear last year to put on my steel line pole (6' long and blades like dinner plates) but as I said I've yet to really need to use it. That is a good strategy for locating fish while trolling, it seems that we spend half of our time hunting- this way we can cover some ground and still be fishing. Thanks again, I'll let you know how we do--MM
[signature]