Downriggers in shallow water

[Chris Krikorian]

I have been fishing for a few years now but have never tried trolling for walleye and pike. Can I troll with a regular 8.5hps motor at it's slowest or is that too fast or do I need a trolling motor. I was hoping to get a scotty laketroller downrigger(very small) to help me out. I'd only be trolling at around 15 to 20 feet deep though. ALso how far away should I keep my lures from the boat? Thanks

[James Morris]

If you are set on using downriggers, you could probably make them work, but why do that when you could use bottom bouncers, snap weights and planer boards and be as or more effective for a significantly smaller investment? You can also flatline cranks and get them down that deep with no problem. If you want some help with any of these tactics, just post your questions and chances are everyone will learn from the responses.

To get around to answering your question: you CAN use downriggers, but do not need them for that situation.

Hope this helps,

James Morris

[ironman]

Generally the farther from the boat the better. It all depends on water clarity and the conditions of the water(glassy or choppy). As a rule of thumb I try to keep my lures 50-130ft. behind the ball. Everyone has there own style but this has worked the best for me. Remember it you're fishing close to the bottom your lures will tend to dive a little deeper with this much line out

[BD]

The 8.5 hp should be able, depending on your boat of course, to troll in a range of speeds that would be the best for the lures you are using. If you meant 85 instead of 8.5 you may need a trolling plate or other type of boat break to slow you down. I have used downriggers in shallow water in the past with some success trolling baits such as floating Raps on the Winnebago flats. With the downriggers you have the option to move over to the Great Lakes for a day of fishing the deep. If you ONLY fish shallow I would go with the line counter reels, baits made to run to 20', and the trolling book. It's nice now. Before the trolling book etc., it took trial and error to know that a certain size Lazy Ike with a 1/2 oz. in line sinker would dig into the bottom at 20' with about that much line out etc. For trolling shallower water in the 6' to 12' range I like using the jointed Mirrolure cranks (search for mirrolure.com). I also use them in deeper water with an inline sinker (back to the old trial and error method). In water 6' or less I like using River Runts which are no longer made so tend to be pricey when you can find them. There is a channel in LOW between an island and a sunken island where the structure varies from 4 to 13 feet. I would not trade any other bait for a River Runt when trolling in that stretch (Walleye to 7 lbs. and snakes to 40" have fallen victim to the Runts). Have fun and grab the net!

[curt quesnell]

control depth fishing is accomplished with a downrigger..not just
in deep water. go ahead and run one in 20 feet.

if you can go under 3mph you are ok. if you can go under 2mph
even better. very your spped until you find one that works.

i run the cranks 15 to 20 feet behind the ball..with a deep diver
at 15 feet your bait will be 5 feet below the ball or so(approx).
and with a shallow diver 20 feet or so will get you down 4 feet
or so. run the downrigger 4 or 5 feet above the depth you want
your bait. watch for the ball on your electronics for an exact
depth reading on the ball.

be sure your crankbaits run straight before you hook em up to
the rigger or tangles and twists will occur very quickly.


you will enjoy fishing with a downrigger as soon as you start
catching fish...good luck. (get at least 2 of them)

curt quesnell

[Den]

Chris, ther are a couple of us in this area that have used the downriggers in as shallow as 8 foot of water, with the lure only 15 foot behind the ball. as curt said it is called lure control. oh, when we have done this the ball is only down about 18 inches, with a deep running crank behind it, trolling at 1 to 1.5 mph. the guys watching thought we were nuts, until we caught more fish. dont hesitate to do it. you can make tighter turns, and have better boat control than long lines, bouncers. i do use all methods that i think will work, and even try some that are kind of crazy, but if it works,i get last laugh, if it doesnt, oh well, maybe some other time it will. good luck and good fishin.
Den