Downrigging for Dummies,Chapter 1

[SCOTTL]

I have never fished with downriggers before, and I know that a lot of you use them on a regular basis, so I was hoping for a little help. Dumb Question No. 1. If you are running a crankbait that normally runs 5ft deep with 50 ft of line out. How deep will it run if the downrigger is in 20ft of water? Does it run 25ft or does the bouyancy of the crankbait cause it to ride up?.
Dumb Question No. 2 Looking at pictures and watching fishing shows where they are using downriggers,the rods while in the rod holders appear to have a substantial bend to them, implying that there is considerable tension on the line between the reel and the release point, why?
Dumb Question No. 3 Is there any good books or articles out there for learning the basics about using down riggers.

Thanks for the help

Scott Lee

[mac]

#1 25 ft
#2 You need a bend to take up some slack after the release because at 50' back and 20 down (not exactly) I figure you will have about 10'+ of slack line between you and the fish. (Open to verification from a math whiz)
3 You need to do some test runs before you try this in case it is a windy day for your first time, because Murphy is out there waiting for you.

Good luck

[Starfish]

Scott-- I seem to get about the same amount of depth from the plugs as you would calculate by adding the downrigger ball depth and the normal lure depth. But if you start running really deep-- especially at high speeds-- you'll find that the downrigger ball isn't straight down anymore, and you might be running a few (or many) feet shallower than you intended. You can compensate by running a heavier ball (I normally use ten pounds but have used up to fifteen pounds when trolling 180' deep for mackinaw) or let out more downrigger cable than normal (even with the fifteen pound ball it took 220 feet of cable to hit 180 feet at 2.5 mph). Under normal conditions you don't need to worry about it.

There are a couple of reasons you'll usually want to run some tension between the rod and the release clip. If there's not sufficient tension, you'll get a large belly in the line caused by drag on the line. Not only will it give slack to the fish when you hook one, you also won't be able to see any action on the rod to indicate proper lure operation, fish strikes, fouled lines, etc. With practice you can tell pretty well what's going on at the other end if you crank the rod down just right. Also it does help take up some of the slack when the release goes off.

Good luck!

[Brushpile]

Also Set your counters on your riggers so they are zeroed out when the ball is ate the waterline. some guys prefer to have it read zero when it is even with the transducer.

[Homer]

16.1 feet of slack line.

If you're 20 down and 50 back, the straight-line distance to the lure is 53.9 feet (the square root of 20 squared plus 50 squared). The amount of slack is the total amount of line out (50 + 20 = 70 ft) minus the straight-line distance (53.9 feet) = 16.1 feet

At least I think that's the right answer.

[whitetips]

After fishing Dunkirk my views on downriggers have changed, If I was to try again
run long , long, long leads 200ft min. and fish above them. Also if fishing suspended fish
try put the cannon balls near the bottom and run Roemer release higher at there level, there light enough where a walleye will trip it. plus no cannon ball at the fishs level. Hope I never get to the point of trying riggers ever again for walleye, but I did give it a shot, stick to core.

Gluck

[curt quesnell]

Whitetips,

I have heard about using real long lines behind the riggerballs
and shudder to think about the tangles that would ensue.

I run 12 to 20 feet of line behind the ball and no more.

I understand that water clarity has much to do with those ultra
long leads. techniques differ, bodys of water differ.



Curt Quesnell

[curt quesnell]

Homer,

I dont doubt for a minute your arythmatic, uhh arithmatic, arithmatc
ok math (ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ)

would a degree or two of backswing on the cables change your number?

Thanks in advance

Curt Quesnell

[curt quesnell]

Good point Brushpile.

You will see the rigger balls on your electronics and you should
watch for them. If you have 4 riggers out and see one ball is
out of the pattern you need to reset the counter the next time your
rig is up.

It is easy enough to find the culprit, start raising and lowering
the balls until you see the one that is out of pattern move and
lower it into the group.

Curt Quesnell

[curt quesnell]

also you will notice that 20 feet down on the counter may not
be actually 20 feet down on your electronics. This is due to the
backward swing of the ball pushed by the water

If you figure how deep your baits will run and how far off the bottom you want them make adjustments according to your electronics and where the balls show up and make a mental note as to where on the counter that number is.

It is a real interesting first hour or so....After a while that
awkward time is cut down some. Be careful and try not to break
to much stuff. Oh, and always have extra balls and releases for
Mr Murphy.

Curt Quesnell

[Homer]

Absolutely! It would change my answer from 16.1 ft. to "Beats me":-) It's a lot easier working with right angles.

The amount of slack line would get smaller as the ball drifted back, but to find out exactly how much smaller I'd have to ask my 15-yr old math whiz son (and who need that kind of embarrassment).

[RandyG]

Homer's calc is dead on!!

Further, if you have a diving bait and a downrigger ball that trails
back your slack line becomes much less as each of those components increase there tendencies. Therefore, downrigger balls that
trail back are more advantageous to reduce slack line when a fish stricks. Taking up slack is why downrigger rods are usualy 8,9 or 10 feet long.


Randy

[Chuck Jones]

As a frist mate for a charter & talking with other captians I don't know of any one who uses cranks with a downrigger. We all run spoons.
We set the lines about 5 to max 10 feet back & then lower the ball according to the depth of the fish marked.
The tension on the rod is to aid in the release of the line from the cannon ball.
Big John should have a article on downrigging. Or ask a local charter captian (when he isn't with customers).

[CarpetBagger]

Im no charter captain but i can tell ya all i know. I can run 2 boards with 3 small dipsys out on each side, 2 big dipsys out the back and 2 riggers all at the same time. And i can do it day in and day out can catch fish on the riggers and not worry about tangles.

1st off on a day where there is some chop and some overcast you wont need these long leads that has stricken fear into the hearts of fishermen. I usually run out no more than 75-80' thats plenty, your targeting active fish here. If u run 75'back and 65-70 down tangles will be at a definate minimum. I run my dipsys back at least 170'+ not like a walleye hits and peals off a ton of line like a King or a big steelie (those are the 1's you gota worry bout).

Tangles happen i think my worst was when we hooked a 12lb steelie off the rigger (on a crank bait!!) and he jumped the planer board line...What a mess!!

patiece, persistence, and practice make perfect...Keep at it, i know i certainly didnt learn how to use all the crap on my boat without a few foul ups.

CB

[Brad]

Running long leads on downriggers doesn't have to end in snarls of mono the size of a basketball, but it certainly can.

The most important thing to remember is to run all of the lures back the same distance so that they "corner" together on the turns. I stagger depth by a few feet and run the two outside downriggers a few feet higher than the inside ones. I always troll with the current or directly into it unless I'm making a turn. Quartering into the wind will tend to push all the lines to one side of the boat, and that can make you very unhappy as well as the line manufacturers very wealthy.

[bluelund]

Well, I'm not a charter captain but I do run crankbaits with downriggers and it is a very effective way to fish for walleyes. I usually set the cranks back two rod lengths, I use 8'6" downrigger rods and this helps prevent tangles. I also hook the line into the release with a #10 rubber band hooked onto the mono line with a half hitch. This allows small fish that won't trip the release to be seen when the rod tip bounces from the small fish stretching the rubber band. The rubber band will reel right up through your rod guides and into your reel without any problem. I have tried running longer sets but it seems like the tangles and problems are not worth the one or two extra fish you may catch, however, the lake I fish is very stained water and this could make a big difference. Just do some experimenting and see what works best for you. Half the fun is figuring it out for yourself. I have also found that to get a good hookset when the line trips, you must have a decent amount of tension on the rod, when the line releases, the snap of the rod sets the hook. So keep those rods bent!!!!

Take care and good fishing,

Bob M

[SUPERTROLLER]

I think the hook is set when the fish pulls it from the release. I like 50 ft. leads but we usually only are running two riggers at a time.

[LakeRat]

bump

[Hawgeye]

This is a good topic. I don't fish downriggers much but use them on trout now and then. Never used them for walleye fishing but would like to learn. I just inherited a Magnum 10 for my dad sold his boat and he never used it. My question is how do these autostop? Is there a clutch that sees the top of the cable or is there a breaker that kicks out when the motor senses extra current? Dumb question I know but I have never used electrics before.

[Vern]

Actually (not that it really matters much) I think the real answer is about 14.4 ft of slack. You forgot to take into account that the lure runs 5 ft down. That make the lure depth 25 ft. Since the angle from the ball is no longer 90 degrees, you have to "build" a few extra right angles to calculate some other lengths....... An issuethat doesn't have to be done here in MN right now cuz we're still ice fishing....

[bluelund]

Hawgeye,

There is a little black sensor located just above the ball, when this sensor breaks the surface of the water it automatically shuts off the downrigger motor. I have four Mag-10's on my boat and have been very happy with them.

Take care and good fishing

Bob M