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 Downrigger
Diversity Adds Up To Success
By Capt. Jim Hirt
 Captain
Jim Hirt operates his fishing business out of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin as
Blue Max Charters.
Now
is the time to think about changes to make you more
productive next season. There are many ways to go on
this subject. Over the next several articles I will try
to cover topics like rigging, tackle and presentation.
My goal is to provide information, which should lead to
more fish and less slow fishing.
Let’s continue with
downriggers. In the last article we covered the
hardware, weights, releases and manual or electric
models. Now we will go into using this tool in many
ways.
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The basic presentation
is to set the lead by allowing the lure to trail
behind the boat as the boat goes anywhere from 1.5
to 3.5 miles per hour. The distance the lure is run
behind the weight of the downrigger, will change
depending on a large and ever changing set of
conditions.
At or before first
light of the day, and again after sunset, a short
lead of 15 feet is the most effective. The commotion
of many lures running side by side will draw fish to
the boat. As the sun comes up and the bite slows
down, you should consider increasing the distance
from the weight to the lure. |
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Zebra mussels have taken
much of the color out of the water and a long lead is
required for spooky fish on sunny calm days. This is
very important when you are working the top forty feet
of water. The short lead is also very good when fishing
deeper than 75 feet down.
There are lures that must
be run shorter than 15 feet to work. Rotators, flashers
and dodgers like to run 8 to 10 feet behind the weight.
SWR is another presentation to run on a downrigger. SWR
or secret weapon rig is a rod with two or three colors
of leadcore line. The advantage to this set up is it
runs below the weight to offer a lure in an environment
100 feet behind the boat.
For many years some
fisherman have been using down and outs. This is a small
diving disc adjusted to run to the left or right of the
boats path to provoke a hit. Set up the disc as you
would for working it on a solo line and attach it 20
feet behind the weight.
In addition to the
standard rigging, sliders are a popular method of
getting more lines in the water. After the main line is
set, a six foot piece of monofilament with a lure on one
end and a snap on the other is attached to the main line
and allowed to slide down to about midway from the
surface and the bottom lure.
With a downrigger you can
also run a stack line to offer more lures at more
potential depths. The way this is rigged is to set your
main line as usual, lower it to 15 feet and add another
line by means of an additional release.
My experience with this
has been outstanding. Two lures together are very
effective when working deep lines. I like a dodger or
flasher 10 feet behind the weight on the bottom line and
a spoon 30 feet back on the top stack line. The
variations of downrigger presentation are end less.
Good Luck Captain Jim.
Let's go fishing!! Jim
charters out of Milwaukee, WI. with Blue Max Charters.
He can be reached at 414-828-1094 or visit his web site
at
http://www.bluemaxcharters.com
Copyright© 2006, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.
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