Looking for some advise on using downriggers.Wondering how far back to run the baits off of the ball.I have tried 50 ft and it seems like I get hung alot.I am new to this trolling thing and would like to pick all of your brains about it.Forgive me if I ask some stupid questions.
Is your ball getting hung, or your line, orboth? Lake fishing with the depth changing so often, and the structure, you will get hung if you don’t keep a constsnt eye on them. I mainly fish saltwater, someone else will give you better help…
“The big one’s still swimming, let’s go.”
sparky, I run mine about that far back too. Shorter or longer may work, depending who you ask, but that’s what works for me. To get a feel for how deep a particular bait is diving below the ball you can let it out the distance you want, attach it to your ball and put the ball just barely below the surface, then run shallow until it starts bumping bottom. When trolling, the ball is going to be up higher than the digital counter will show since it will raise up as your boat is moving so you need to account for that too. I also try to use the same type baits on both DR’s and just use different colors/depth. Different type baits work best at different speeds. If you have an accurate way of telling your speed run a bait along side the boat and see what speed you are going when it looks most natural and run at that speed. If you don’t, you can leave a bait of the same type off a standard rod holder running along the side of the boat so you can see it. Without an accurate way to tell your speed it is hard to tell as you run with or against the wind.
I fish with them all summer long, mostly at night, but IMO, they are not much worth using till then. They work best when the fish are suspended in deep water and you don’t have to keep running back to adjust the height of the ball as you run across humps or points. You won’t have any snagging problems fishing for suspended fish in 100+ ft of water.
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thats what works for me too i don’t really run downriggers till later in the summer when the water heats up. but you wanna try to troll downriggers where your not going to have to haul the ball up every 50 ft, but the key is remembering to set your ball a little higher than the exact depth your wanting to fish because the bait will troll below the ball
You go inside the cage?
Cage goes in the water, you go in the water. Shark’s in the water. Our shark.
really great website there, definetly went to the bookmarks with that one. that one deserves an… ata boy
I fish with downriggers and leadcore line but that is all in late summer and in deep water and I will hang up every now and then but normally see it coming.
I run my lures about 50’ back as well that way it seems to be at the right depth.
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