down rigger help

[PACMEN]

Try this again. Somehow I got on some post a pole a minute ago but here goes again.

Do you guys ever have a problem with your deeper stacked down rigger line snagging your upper line when it releases on a fish or for some other reason?

I fish my deeper line shorter than the upper and sometimes have a bit of a problem. My wife on the other hand always fishes her deeper line longer. She claims she has fewer problems this way.(Tangles is her middle name)
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[Elkslayer1]

I fished mine like you buddy...then got tired of stackers and went to 4 downriggers
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[Jmorfish]

FWIW....I tend to agree with your wife on this....I know the general rule says to have your bottom line short and top line longer, so if a fish on the bottom rig misses your lure, it'll usually swing up and then have a chance to look at your upper presentation....That's the theory....but when I, or my buddy stack like that, we are usually tangling more than if we were stacking bottom rig long, and top line shorter....That Being Said....I'd rather not stack at all, so this season so far I've just been downrigging ( low) one rod and planer board (higher up) for my second rod...Earlier in the season I was using just 1 oz weight to get planer board lure deep enough, now I'm using 2 oz, and I'm working on something to get even deeper....Guluk...
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[PACMEN]

That would be good but don't have room for 2 more.
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[PACMEN]

I haven't tried planer boards yet. Might be on option for us.
Otter Creek yesterday I was running my upper line 2' to 5' down was all. Planer bd. be great for this I think. All I need is more junk in the boat though.
Thanks
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[dubob]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]If you run both 5 feet or less behind the weight and DR Cable and 10 feet or more apart, you will absolutely eliminate tangles. Some folks use the 100 foot rule where the depth and distance behind the weight must total 100 feet. Hogwash. Run 'em no more than 5 feet behind the ball/cable at anything below 15 feet and you'll still catch 'em.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I run 4 DR's and run 'em short all the time. Way less headaches with tangles that way. Still catching them that way.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Tight lines. [fishin][/#800000][/font]
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[mtncat1]

you need to run your bottom line further back than the upper or tangles will follow
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[fish_hntr]

At the gorge last weekend we ran the downriggers plus planer boards off the sides with lead core, caught enough fish to keep us from being bored so something must have worked!
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[PACMEN]

I have never run as close as 5' from the ball or cable. I can see where this would help a lot.
You say do this at 15' or deeper. In my mind 15' does not seem very deep, haven't the fish moved out away from boat at that shallow depth?
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[mtncat1]

that's great to hear but your lines will tangle if you run your uppers further back than the lower line , how did you do on the planer boards?
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[Theekillerbee]

I fish for kokes a lot, I've actually tried both ways, and I can not see any difference in the number of tangles I get. It's all about what direction your fish decides to take the line.

I've never fished that close to my rigger weights, but I have seen fish look at and swim after them on the sonar.
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[fish_hntr]

[quote Theekillerbee]I fish for kokes a lot, I've actually tried both ways, and I can not see any difference in the number of tangles I get. It's all about what direction your fish decides to take the line.

I've never fished that close to my rigger weights, but I have seen fish look at and swim after them on the sonar.[/quote]

Ha ha, it's so annoying to watch them courting the ball only to swim away without getting any action! Sometimes I wonder if it's better knowing where the fish are and not biting, or not having a graph and not see the fish.
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[wyoguy]

I agree with Dubob, pains me to say, however I run my lines 15 ft. behind the ball and 10 feet apart and very rarely have a problem.
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[liketrolling]

this is what I do
I think I catch as many kokes as any one or maybe more

I fue years ago I changed the way I did this and my catch rate went up

I put 4 camera's down to study this
one camera I have I put it on the downrigger ball and can see it live on a laptop.
the other 3 go by the dodger
I use to have 4 PC so in my house I could watch all 4 camers at the same time
so I could see what was going on with the Kokanee.

I get some Tangles a lot of the Tangles come when you hook in to a wild fish and he gets into the other lines if you are good at guiding the fish you will get less Tangles.

I have 4 down riggers sometimes I have stacked two so have 6 lines out I can handle this but I need 3 in the boat.

this part only works this time of year when you have a 52 deg. water temp column.
my front down riggers are deeper than my back two right side set back 20' Left side set back 15'
back down riggers are 5 to 10' higher than the back and a longer set back
right side set back 30' left side set back 25'

if you have your set back 5' and you see fish deeper on you fish finder you don't have time to drop the ball where as if you have a longer set back you have time to go down and get them ( this happens to me a lot.)
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[OCF]

this part only works this time of year when you have a 52 deg. water temp column.
my front down riggers are deeper than my back two right side set back 20' Left side set back 15'
back down riggers are 5 to 10' higher than the back and a longer set back
right side set back 30' left side set back 25'

I've been fishing with DR's for almost 15 years, & I ran into Liketrolling about a month ago at Strawberry and he explained this method to me. I concur, I believe my catch rate has improved since using this method.

I think I catch as many kokes as any one or maybe more

There is no doubt, Liketrolling will catch 4 times more fish than the average guy at Strawberry.
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[dubob]

[quote PACMEN]You say do this at 15' or [#000000]deeper[/#000000]. In my mind 15' does not seem very deep, haven't the fish moved out away from boat at that shallow depth?[/quote][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]My sonar tells me they don't - at least not all do. When fishing at shallower depths - 15 to 20 feet down - I mark fish at the weights every time.[/#800000][/font]
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[dubob]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I don't think anybody on here who knows you would disagree with your methods and success on kokanee. I know I certainly don't. But I don't believe your success comes largely from your DR technique. I'm fairly certain that most of your success is due to your tackle selection and use more so than from your DR technique. But that's only guessing on my part. [][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I started fishing off DRs in Lake Michigan back in 1976 with a good friend who was a licensed charter boat operator. He and I still talk on the phone at least once a week. His DR methods haven't changed since we first met in 1976. They hardly ever fish shallower than 50 feet for salmon and go as deep as 120 on a regular basis. And these days are going 250 to 300 feet down for lake trout about 15 to 20 miles off the Michigan shoreline.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Lake Michigan can't be compared to our reservoirs as far as environmental conditions, but setting back only 5 feet from the weight has proven effective for me most of the time here. I can appreciate your desire to chase fish up and down the water column and setting longer set backs to be more successful in that effort. But I don't have that much desire or energy to do that. If I see a consistent abundance of fish at a lower (or higher) depth, I will move one or 2 of my 4 DRs to that depth and leave them there for a while, but I don't see the need to chase one or two fish every so often. Just too much trouble for me. I'm a lazy fisherman by nature. [][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Another thing I picked up in Michigan is the rod set in my DRs. I notice most of the rods in downriggers here are set very lose; just a very small bend in the very tip of the rod. Mine are set with the whole rod under tension and at least a 90 degree bend in the whole rod. The more the rod is bent, the harder will be the hook set upon release from the clip.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Another thing I verified with my friend in Michigan was that on the few occasions when they do use a longer setback and more than one DR on each side of the boat is that they always run the outside line deeper and further back than the inside line. Another trick they use is to attach a dipsy diver to the out side line which is set to pull the line away from that side of the boat and further separate it from the other line on that side. And with both DRs set to the same depth, the outside line is always deeper than the inside line. They call that method 'down & out'. But they're fishing for king & coho (silver) salmon that run to 30 lbs plus. Probably not the best method for our 2 to 5 pound kokanee.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Tight lines always to you Robert; and thanks for sharing your knowledge with us all.[/#800000][/font]
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