Down-rigger fishing and sidekicks

Thanks BB. Kudos to all the posters on this site who share their experiences, saves a lot of trial and error.
do you have a DR on your Revo, pics?

http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=15803.msg172490#msg172490  Post#17 shows the "downrigger" I use on my revo11.  Got another DR on a revo13 that is a scotty laketroller with a post mount into the mesh map pocket.  Works great for kokanee - just caught a smoker load last weekend!!

Ok, I remember that post, thats a nice set up. I like the rod butt option also. I was going to try that but couldn't find an old rod to use at the local thrift shops. I very happy with my setup though. I was getting tired with the pitfalls of long lining.

I have a 4# and an 8# ball. The 4# was blowing back a lot at 60' and 1.5mph. I was going to buy a 6# ball today as I thought the 8# would be too much. What do you think?

Don't bother buying the 6 pound weight.  It's easy to crank up an 8 pound weight with a Cannon Lake-Troll.  In terms of effort you can barely tell the difference between a 6 pound weight and an 8 pound weight, but the 8 pound weight will blow back less.

I have a 4# and an 8# ball. The 4# was blowing back a lot at 60' and 1.5mph. I was going to buy a 6# ball today as I thought the 8# would be too much. What do you think?

Don't bother buying the 6 pound weight.  It's easy to crank up an 8 pound weight with a Cannon Lake-Troll.  In terms of effort you can barely tell the difference between a 6 pound weight and an 8 pound weight, but the 8 pound weight will blow back less.

Haha! I was hoping you would say that. They are not cheap eh? The 4# might work for 40' kokes though.

I have a 4# and an 8# ball. The 4# was blowing back a lot at 60' and 1.5mph. I was going to buy a 6# ball today as I thought the 8# would be too much. What do you think?

Don't bother buying the 6 pound weight.  It's easy to crank up an 8 pound weight with a Cannon Lake-Troll.  In terms of effort you can barely tell the difference between a 6 pound weight and an 8 pound weight, but the 8 pound weight will blow back less.

Haha! I was hoping you would say that. They are not cheap eh? The 4# might work for 40' kokes though.

If you have an 8 pound weight, there's no point in using a lighter weight, even if you're only trolling at 40 feet, because the 8 pound weight will perform better.

I have a 4# and an 8# ball. The 4# was blowing back a lot at 60' and 1.5mph. I was going to buy a 6# ball today as I thought the 8# would be too much. What do you think?

Don't bother buying the 6 pound weight.  It's easy to crank up an 8 pound weight with a Cannon Lake-Troll.  In terms of effort you can barely tell the difference between a 6 pound weight and an 8 pound weight, but the 8 pound weight will blow back less.

Haha! I was hoping you would say that. They are not cheap eh? The 4# might work for 40' kokes though.

If you have an 8 pound weight, there's no point in using a lighter weight, even if you're only trolling at 40 feet, because the 8 pound weight will perform better.

Thanks again, you convinced me. Did I see in one of your posts that you like the Chamberlain release?

I have a 4# and an 8# ball. The 4# was blowing back a lot at 60' and 1.5mph. I was going to buy a 6# ball today as I thought the 8# would be too much. What do you think?

Don't bother buying the 6 pound weight.  It's easy to crank up an 8 pound weight with a Cannon Lake-Troll.  In terms of effort you can barely tell the difference between a 6 pound weight and an 8 pound weight, but the 8 pound weight will blow back less.

Haha! I was hoping you would say that. They are not cheap eh? The 4# might work for 40' kokes though.

If you have an 8 pound weight, there's no point in using a lighter weight, even if you're only trolling at 40 feet, because the 8 pound weight will perform better.

Ummm ... dragging around less weight all day is a valid point for using a 4# weight.

-Allen

I have a 4# and an 8# ball. The 4# was blowing back a lot at 60' and 1.5mph. I was going to buy a 6# ball today as I thought the 8# would be too much. What do you think?

Don't bother buying the 6 pound weight.  It's easy to crank up an 8 pound weight with a Cannon Lake-Troll.  In terms of effort you can barely tell the difference between a 6 pound weight and an 8 pound weight, but the 8 pound weight will blow back less.

Haha! I was hoping you would say that. They are not cheap eh? The 4# might work for 40' kokes though.

If you have an 8 pound weight, there's no point in using a lighter weight, even if you're only trolling at 40 feet, because the 8 pound weight will perform better.

Ummm ... dragging around less weight all day is a valid point for using a 4# weight.

-Allen

Good point too Allen

I use a Shasta Tackle Ultra Release (red clip with adjustable but fixed pinch pressure).  Don't mind the blowback at kokanee trolling speeds, so I use a 2# cannonball.  Also use a ball troll - I think it does attract fish and results in more bites.

Did I see in one of your posts that you like the Chamberlain release?

No, I use the Blacks releases which clip to the top of a downrigger weight, and they work very well.  I have a Chamberlain release which also mounts on top of a downrigger weight, but haven't used it very much.  Chamberlain releases are more complicated than Blacks releases.  I'd be interested to know if anybody on the Forum has used Chamberlain releases a lot, and likes them better than the Blacks releases.

Ummm ... dragging around less weight all day is a valid point for using a 4# weight.
-Allen

I don't notice much difference in effort between trolling with a 4 pound weight and trolling with an 8 pound weight.  With either size of weight, I can pedal around all day at 1-1.5 mph with little effort.  But I do notice that an 8 pound weight performs a lot better than a 4 pound weight.  I can troll a lot deeper before the weight gets blown back out of the cone of my sonar.  How deep I can troll before I lose sight of my weight on my fish finder also depends on the speed that I'm trolling and the drag of my lure.  For example, Flatfish and Kwikfish lures have a lot of drag, and when I'm trolling deep I switch to a lure with less drag.

I use a Shasta Tackle Ultra Release (red clip with adjustable but fixed pinch pressure).  Don't mind the blowback at kokanee trolling speeds, so I use a 2# cannonball.  Also use a ball troll - I think it does attract fish and results in more bites.

Are the Shasta Tackle releases easy to adjust?
Do you use an attracter as well as the ball troll?
How much setback behind the troll?

Shasta tackle ultra releases are so easy. The adjustment is a flat blade screwdriver just a 1/4 turn at a time - adjusted for the thickness of the line.  Then, no more adjustments needed.  I set it a couple years ago for my 8lb test mono and it releases perfectly every time.  Set pretty light so that a 12" fish strike pulls line from the clip.

The ball troll is a 3ft strand of willow leaf blades. I uses a short setback, maybe 30' in the summer when the fish are schooled up. Early season I use longer setbacks and the ball troll might be less "attractive" to get an increase on bites.

Idaho Brit, here's how I have my DR rigged up.  With this gear, I have trolled as deep as 200'. I usually have my gear in my sonar cone down to about 160'.

30# braided main line with a ~40' 40# mono top shot. The top shot is required to resist line twist and makes for easier handling on deck.

Steel cable replaced w/85# spectra.

Make a full loop around the line counter pulley. I haven't had my line jump the pulley and my depth has been more accurate since I started doing this. Follow the other tips from Pete about keeping the line taught during storage and transport.

8# cannonball

Black's cable release, cut off of the coated steel cable and threaded directly onto the spectra. The depth of the release is set with a Scotty stop bead.

The Black's release is cranked down tight, with a rubber band between the release and the mono top shot. The rubber band breaks when a fish is hooked. It acts as a shock absorber and I lose less bait on short strikes and get better hook sets.

The release can be set at any depth with the stop bead. I normally run at least a couple feet above the cannon ball so if I contact bottom I just bounce the ball and don't risk hanging up my main line. This also allows me to run an attractor off the ball itself, in addition to my main line (i.e.; a triangle flasher on my main line and a flasher or dodger on my cannon ball).


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I use a seps yellow release.the offshore style.

I use a Shasta Tackle Ultra Release (red clip with adjustable but fixed pinch pressure).  Don't mind the blowback at kokanee trolling speeds, so I use a 2# cannonball.  Also use a ball troll - I think it does attract fish and results in more bites.

Thanks for the info bb, lots of good advise.

Shasta tackle ultra releases are so easy. The adjustment is a flat blade screwdriver just a 1/4 turn at a time - adjusted for the thickness of the line.  Then, no more adjustments needed.  I set it a couple years ago for my 8lb test mono and it releases perfectly every time.  Set pretty light so that a 12" fish strike pulls line from the clip.

The ball troll is a 3ft strand of willow leaf blades. I uses a short setback, maybe 30' in the summer when the fish are schooled up. Early season I use longer setbacks and the ball troll might be less "attractive" to get an increase on bites.

Thanks for the info bb, again, lots of good advise.