# down rigging question..



## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

this is probably really ******* of me but, I'm making a homemade down rigger. I saw some on youtube that are pretty legit if you'll call it that. 

I'm going to Fish Lake for the 4th of July weekend with my family. If I'm not trolling rapalas then usually I'll string up some cowbells on my rod with a worm or squid bait tailing behind it, nothing fancy just plain and simple. I'v slayed fish doing that. 
I think i'm going to take my casual fishing to the next level and get my pop gear rig down just a little deeper.

Here's how i'm going to do it: I'v got an older rod with 50lb braided line that I use for cats. I'll use the lower half (rod/reel section) as my rigger. I'll tie a swivel on to the line and clip a 4lb weight to the swivel. I'll attach another swivel to the first swivel and run my line clip onto that. 

(having 1 center point of swivels will allow everything to rotate freely and keep me from getting tangled)

I'll just strip the braided line off of my "rigger" 3 feet at a time to get a rough estimate of depth. Nothing too fancy, I just want to get my pop gear down a little deeper (10-20 feet-ish) 

HERE'S the question, which line clips should I get for catching trout? Heavy? Medium? or Light?

which one is the best for trout?
which one is best for koke's?


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

I use the OffShore whites (light) for everything. I used to use the blacks (medium) but very seldom got an actual release from fish hits. For trout, I insert the fishing line all the way into the clip to the stops. For kokanee, I insert the line to the middle of the pads.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Huh interesting. As much as I love dubobs posts and experiences, I didnt like the offshore releases as much as the Scottys. I love the smaller scotty powergrips for everything. You can adjust the grip "strength" as well as vary how far into the grip you insert the line.

For kokes, I insert the line until it it even with the edge of the black dot in the middle (edit: ok in the below picture its the black line in the yellow... my releases have a dot).










This reminds me, we lost a grip over the side yesterday during multi-rod hookups... gotta pick up another one (always keep spares on board, but we are now using spares... so we need spares for the spares :mrgreen

-DallanC


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

DallanC said:


> Huh interesting. As much as I love dubobs posts and experiences, I didnt like the offshore releases as much as the Scottys. I love the smaller scotty powergrips for everything. You can adjust the grip "strength" as well as vary how far into the grip you insert the line.
> 
> For kokes, I insert the line until it it even with the edge of the black dot in the middle (edit: ok in the below picture its the black line in the yellow... my releases have a dot).
> 
> ...


I cant see your picture for some reason


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

I have used real down riggers 1 time with a buddy of mine. we didn't know what we were doing with the line clips. we only caught 3 fish but, none of the line clips released. all I can say is that they were black line clips and we put our line in the middle of the clip and snapped it on. we probably weren't using them right. we might have let out too much line too. 
when down rigging pop gear, how much line should you let out on average before you clip? 20-60 feet?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I own two of every mechanical downrigging release known to mankind and use a rubber band for a release.

.


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## phantom (Sep 13, 2007)

I have switched to chamberlin release's. they have two adjustments, one for line tension to the pole, another magnetic setting for the strike release. You can bend your pole to the water, and still have a very light release.


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

*Chamberlin releases*

I bought 2 of those for the ball weight end of the cable and 2 stackers. Used them one full season. I also liked the ability to make the two adjustments. However, they have one major problem. Because you have to twist the fishing line several times around the release pin and then put lots of pressure on the line when you take up all the slack in the fishing line, you are pinching/flattening the fishing line at the twist. This weakens the line at the pinch and when repeated 3 or 4 times at the same place on the line, the fishing line will separate under heavy fish retrieve pressure. After loosing about 8 sets of dodgers/squids from this unwanted consequence, I stopped using them and went back to the Offshores.

Braided line doesn't exhibit this problem, but braided line is not a good choice when fishing for soft mouthed fish such as kokanee. And the braided line will slip in the Chamberlins unless twisted at least 9 or 10 times as opposed to 5 or 6 needed for mono.

They are a good design and do work well, but they are just too brutal on mono line for my use.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

Here is my homemade downrigger. 50 pound spider wire, with heavy duty swivels. With a 3 pound cannon ball. With a Scotty release. I also bought an offshore light release colored white. I think this should work if I am just trolling my pop gear. 1.5-2 mph- ish. This should work for my casual fishing, and being creative innovatively. We shall see!


I might take a small eyelet screw and tap it into the 8 o'clock position of the cannon ball if it swims correctly in the water for a better strike release. although if I did that anyways it would probably help the ball swim better


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Looks ok, you need a line counter of some form. Something like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Berkley...837398?hash=item2ef0f13d96:g:VQwAAOSwLs5XKNmQ

-DallanC


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

I should have looked for one of those at sportsmans while i was there. this was just something I could throw together real quick for this coming weekend to give me a little more versatility. 

I plan on getting some serious gear next spring, my time is still consumed with my rifle. I'm still counting my click data. I never have good days off where I can finish it. better soon though, I'm anticipating a AZ whitetail tag


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Nah I totally get it. I've seen people tie a loop in a line every 5 ft and lower it X loops and tie it off. It gets you by until you can get better gear. 

I use a pair of Cannon Lake Trolls and they have been plenty good for the price. If I ever win the lottery I'll upgrade the boat THEN buy some powered dowriggers 


-DallanC


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