# Downrigger Tips



## troller (Jun 27, 2013)

A few ideas to consider when stepping up to downrigger fishing:
If you are considering purchasing downriggers there are two options, manual and electric. If you are going to be fishing deep lean towards electric. If you are going to be fishing in the 40' range, manual's will work just fine. What it finally boils down to is; how hard do you want to work?
Living in the West, there are two brands of electrics to consider: Cannon and Scotty. The simple reason if you break something there is service available! I use Cannon

A good clutch or drag system is critical incase the ball becomes hung up on a submerged stump or ledge. 
The ball or weight should run no less than 8#. The deeper you troll, the heavier the weight needed to counteract the blow back from water resistance on the cable. I personally prefer the Pancake weights for this reason. 
In the spring when fishing shallow; run your line a minimum of 100’ feet behind the release. When fishing deep, fish tight to the ball, no more than ten or 12' behind the ball.
Stacking two rods is a great way to fish assorted depths. Run your lower line out first and attach it to the ball then lower the rig five to ten feet. Run out 10' to 15’ more line on the upper rod than the lower rod, snap a stacker release onto the line and clip it onto the downrigger cable then lower to the target depth. At first, it will seem awkward fishing two lines off one downrigger but with practice, you will come to see the light and also the increased catch. 

TIP: 
Some guys like to load their rods heavily when snapped into the downrigger; I see them out on the lake all of the time, rod tip almost touching the water. That may look cool but it doesn't allow you to see if you have a fish on when the release doesn't let go for some reason. The limber rod, slightly loaded will allow you to see a small fish or in some instances a larger fish that has been hooked but doesn't trigger the release. Imagine trolling around for hours with a fish on your rod waiting for the bite only to discover when you reel in to re-bait or change out a lure, a fish on the line that is dead or half dead. You could have caught several more fish in that period of time if you hadn't overloaded your rod...
Tip:
For stacking two rods on one downrigger, I like to use the Shuttle Hawk produced by Shasta Tackle. You just snap your line into the Hawk then attach it to your DR cable and put tension on the line and it will track down the cable to the stop or the ball whichever comes first and depending on your setup. When the line releases the Hawk comes back to the surface without having to reel up the downrigger. This is especially helpful when fishing with manual downriggers! It also keeps the one rod fishing the entire time you are landing your fish and re-baiting the other rod.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

troller said:


> Some guys like to load their rods heavily when snapped into the downrigger; I see them out on the lake all of the time, rod tip almost touching the water. That may look cool but it doesn't allow you to see if you have a fish on when the release doesn't let go for some reason. The limber rod, slightly loaded will allow you to see a small fish or in some instances a larger fish that has been hooked but doesn't trigger the release. Imagine trolling around for hours with a fish on your rod waiting for the bite only to discover when you reel in to re-bait or change out a lure, a fish on the line that is dead or half dead. You could have caught several more fish in that period of time if you hadn't overloaded your rod...


If you are waterskiing fish - dragging them around the lake, you are using the wrong rod. Some fish won't always release themselves out of the downriggers. You have to watch the rods in the rigger.

If your rods aren't loaded, you won't see anything happening with your rod. You need a more sensitive rod. With my rods, I can tell exactly what kind of fish hit, if the lure is not swimming right, if it has grass on it, within about 5 seconds of something happening to it.

Maybe you don't want to load your rods, but I do and I see everything.


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## troller (Jun 27, 2013)

Great reply. I thought some one would say what you said. I do load my rods but they don't touch the water.


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

troller said:


> Some guys like to load their rods heavily when snapped into the downrigger; I see them out on the lake all of the time, rod tip almost touching the water. That may look cool but it doesn't allow you to see if you have a fish on when the release doesn't let go for some reason. The limber rod, slightly loaded will allow you to see a small fish or in some instances a larger fish that has been hooked but doesn't trigger the release. Imagine trolling around for hours with a fish on your rod waiting for the bite only to discover when you reel in to re-bait or change out a lure, a fish on the line that is dead or half dead. You could have caught several more fish in that period of time if you hadn't overloaded your rod.


If you make the release leads 4 feet long instead of the factory length of 4 - 6 inches you will gain back all the sensitivity you need and then some. The release is now above your ball about 3 1/2 feet or so and now has a 4 foot diameter arc in which to move when a lite bite occurs. Trust me, you'll see that a lot easier on ANY rod action. And I use ultra light rods for most of my downrigger trolling.



troller said:


> For stacking two rods on one downrigger, I like to use the Shuttle Hawk produced by Shasta Tackle. You just snap your line into the Hawk then attach it to your DR cable and put tension on the line and it will track down the cable to the stop or the ball whichever comes first and depending on your setup. When the line releases the Hawk comes back to the surface without having to reel up the downrigger. This is especially helpful when fishing with manual downriggers! It also keeps the one rod fishing the entire time you are landing your fish and re-baiting the other rod.


I would add this bit of advice to using the Shuttle Hawks. Since there isn't really anything that prevents the line from coming out of the Hawk slot unless it is under pressure from forward movement of the boat, I attach a binder clip to the forward edge of the Hawk and slide it over the slot when the Hawk is attached to the cable. that way if you stop the boat to fight a fish and the hawk comes to the surface it can't wiggle its way off the cable in dead water. And from experience, I can assure you it can and will happen. I've lost three Hawks so far by not using the binder clips. And in case you wonder what a binder clip is, here is a picture of what they look like; and I use the 1/2" size.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

dubob said:


> If you make the release leads 4 feet long instead of the factory length of 4 - 6 inches you will gain back all the sensitivity you need and then some. The release is now above your ball about 3 1/2 feet or so and now has a 4 foot diameter arc in which to move when a lite bite occurs. Trust me, you'll see that a lot easier on ANY rod action. And I use ultra light rods for most of my downrigger trolling.


That's a good point. I use the scotty cannonball and stacker releases, which come with an 18" 120lb test line. They allow plenty of movement, so you can see the tiniest of hits.


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## troller (Jun 27, 2013)

*Chamberlain Downrigger Release*

Chamberlain Downrigger Release
I don't have a chamberlain release but been reading about them

http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=333248
http://downriggerrelease.com/


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

I've tried those. They aren't quite as bad as the ratcheting releases but they are still pretty bad. Scotty power grip for me or nothing.


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