DOWNRIGGERS

Downriggers, one of the greatest inventions to hit salmon fishing since sliced bread. The system eliminates weights on the actual line. One on each side of the boat, those black wheel looking things, simply take your line down via weight to where the fish are. When the fish is on, the downrigger weight is no longer on the line. This is great when playing fish.

WHAT IS A DOWNRIGGER

A downrigger is a wheel like coil of steel cable, downrigger wire, attached to a weight on the end. (usually 10-15lbs). It has a counter on the top, in feet, to measure how deep the weight, or cannonball, goes beneath the surface when lowered. The steel cable wheel can be lowered, turned, until the downrigger wire has completely run out. (it works just like a fishing reel).
This usually is anywhere between 200-250'. Once you lower the downrigger to the desired depth there is a brake which stops the cable at the desired depth. Unless opened up, the brake always defaults to the stop position.

HOW IT WORKS

There are mechanical or electrical downriggers. Having used both many times, there are advantage and disadvantages to each, but essentially they work the same. The wheel is turned to let out the cable and lower the cannonball, and likewise is "reeled in", or turned, to raise it. Mechanical downriggers have a handle on them. They are lowered and raised by winding the handle in or out. Electrical downriggers are lowered by opening up the brake and are raised by pressing the automatic wind-in button. Pretty easy eh?

RELEASE CLIPS

Attached to or near the cannonball is a "release clip". A release clip is a short piece of chord, around 2' or so. On one end, (trailing end), is the release grip that grabs and attaches to the actual fishing line. At the other, (leading end), is a metal snap that attaches to the downrigger wire itself. This is what actually grabs the fishing line and takes it down to where the cannonball is lowered to.

Attaching the Release Clip

The release clip is attached just around the bottom of the downrigger cable via an attaching device. the device may be attached right at the cannonball. However I attach the release clip around 5' up from the cannonball. This way, if the cannonball comes into contact with bottom, your gear attached to the release clip will not become entangled in the rocks beneath. They will be safe, even if you lose your cannonball from a bottom snag. (which does happen). Also, sometimes, in the winter, on a muddy bottom, dragging the cannonball in the mud every few seconds is effective. (See Winter Chinook). In this case, attaching the release clip at least 5 or 10' up from the cannonball, is a must. It doesn't matter where the cannonball is, as long as your line is working at the depth desired. Why not add in some gear insurance by leaving a few feet for fudge factor as I do.

Releasing the Line

Now that the fishing line, and release clip, are down, trolling along where the cannonball is, how does it work from here? Well essentially the line can be pulled out from the release clip with some force. This can either come from the fish biting and grabbing it out, or from the angler pulling. The concept it, when a fish bites, the line is pulled from the release clip and therefore there is no weight on the line...just you and the fish!

Worthy of note is that not all fish will pull the line free. Even large salmon will sometimes not hit hard and you will find yourself doing so yourself. When you do go to set the hook and set it free, reel in all the slack, reel right down as tight as you can, (as quickly as you can as time is of essence when a salmon hits), and while holding the reel so it does not wind out, pull up using the rod's strength, in a quick jerk motion, and the line will come free.

Deep Fishing

Releasing the line from the clip will require extra effort when fishing deep. Monofilament line (fishing line) stretches. So as you can imagine when you are trying to pull the line in a quick jerk at 200', it will require an extra bit of 'pullage'. Just the way fishing line works. However when fishing at 35' it's great!

SNAGS

When you come into contact with the ground, sometimes you'll get unlucky and the cannonball will get lodged and stuck in the bottom. In this case, immediately wind in all your other gear!! Then try and move the boat around to unsnag the cannonball. If nothing else works, the cannonball wire will release at a certain strength. Just pull and either it will come lose or it will snap at the cannonball. If neither of these happen, just cut the wire, using the wire-cutters you have on board of course!

Bad Spots

Some bad spots for losing cannonballs will be any sort of underground rocky reef. From my experience, around southwest Vancouver Island, the Trap Shack Reef, (which is between Sooke Harbour and Becher Bay) is horrible. However it is among many. Any sort of protruding reef that has currents running along the shore, waiting to suck you in, is bad. It means simply look at the bottom contours before you fish an area, and beware of where to fish. Fishing next to these reefs can be great due to the underwater eddies created. Just be careful, especially in fog. (can you say GPS?)

REATTACHING CANNONBALLS

If you do snap off a cannonball, be a resourceful angler and attach a new one at sea. I recently did this off the Bedford Islands this November in Gale force winds. It wasn't fun or easy, in fact it makes you feel damn well like crap in the head. However it paid off for us and led to a few springs that morning.

So, how to do this. Taking the downrigger wire, cut in a place where there are no snags or frays, so just slightly up from where it broke off. Take out a "Scotty Terminal Kit". Firstly place the coastlock snap swivel's upper swivel ring around the horseshoe looking metal guide. (The metal guide is there to avoid the wire from crimping at the terminus of the setup, and rounds it out). Keep those 2 together the whole time. Then put the wire through the black connector sleeves, should be 3 of them, through the black stopper bumper, and then guide it around the Horseshoe Metal Guide (not even sure of the proper name for this, sorry guys), and back up through the black stopper bumper and then back up through the 3 black connector sleeves. Now make sure it is taught through the terminal system here, before crimping the 3 black sleeves with your wire cutters. Make sure they are crimped to the max and secure. Cut off the excess wire sticking out, (as it will grab onto seaweed etc. and distract the salmon), and you're done!

REWIRING THE DOWNRIGGER CABLE

To rewire the downrigger (which I also did on that fateful day in November...), simply guide the wire through the downrigger's guides and arm, and attach the cable once to the downrigger, just as in a reel. I usually use a black connector sleeve or two and crimp it on. I'm sure there are other ways, and maybe even better ways, to do this. But this way has always done the trick for me. Then proceed to wind the downrigger wire onto the downrigger (the right way, which is clockwise-in), keeping tension at all times!!! Otherwise the cable will become a twisted mess. Ladies and gents it is just like winding line onto a fishing reel.

HOW TO SET FISHING GEAR ON THE DOWNRIGGER

How do you set out your gear behind the downrigger? First make sure you are in a forward motion. Then, simply let out the flasher and lure anywhere from 20'-50' behind the boat, dragging on the surface. Then grab the line, put the rod in the rodholder (on the downrigger), and place the line in the release clip, just around the black line on the green release clip. (This can be varied, if you want a more guaranteed hold, or you've been having troubles, set the line further back in the release clip). Then drop the release clip, make sure the rod's tension is loose enough, and let the downrigger down. Double check and make sure the gear doesn't strike any seaweeds, kelp or debris on the way down. Right before lowering the downrigger, also make sure your fishing reel's tension on your rod is set tight enough that the reel won't spin uncontrollably on the way down. However you must also make sure it is loose enough that the drag will let out line when the release clip takes it down. When ready, don't lower the downrigger too fast. It can either mess up your bait or gear. Then simply lower the downrigger down, on the counter to the depth desired. That's it.

Adjusting the Rod Once the Downrigger is Lowered

Once you have lowered the downrigger to the desired depth, slightly tighten the rod's tension so line won't be pulled out with the current. Also reel in the slack on the line so you can have tense line which will indicate any movement of the flasher and lure.

SEEING FISH HIT

How does a fish hit look like? You can tell from the rod primarily, as long as your line is taught, and will develop a keen eye for it as your experience goes on. You will see one of three things, as I always told my guests.

Firstly you may see the rod start twitching and jerking as if someone is pulling on the downrigger cable. This usually means that the fish is not off the downrigger and, as we already mentioned, you will have to quickly reel in the slack and pull the line off the downrigger and set the hook.

Secondly, you may see the rod go completely slack. This means the fish has pulled the line free of the release clip and is swimming towards the boat. Quickly grab the line and begin reeling in as fast as you can to set the hook and keep tension on the line.

Thirdly, you will see the reel begin unwinding like crazy and the fish taking off...enough said. A quick hook set might be helpful but just let it go.

WINDING IN THE DOWNRIGGER TO LAND FISH

As soon as you see a fish on, get the downriggers up asap! Ideally you have a buddy and whoever is not fishing winds in the gear while the other one plays the fish. First priority is to get any other lines out of the water. Salmon swim like crazy and you don't want to lose a fish to tangles. You also must keep the boat in forward motion as long as you have lines trolling. If you are playing a big fish that is running away, this can cause you to quickly run out of line, especially if you have to chase it. As soon as the lines are in, you can go to neutral.

Secondly, wind in the downriggers. If you have electric downriggers this can be done as soon as there is no gear on the downriggers. If mechanical, first wind in the one on the side that the fish is on. Wind it in completely out of the water, i.e if your release clip is 5' up from the cannonball, take it off, throw it in the boat and wind the cannonball out of the water. Do the same for the other cannonball. Now you can land the fish properly and play it. Now you can even turn the boat and chase it if need be.

STOPPER CLIPS

The use of stopper clips can be useful for electric (auto-wind in) downriggers. What they are, are small black or yellow plastic beads that attach to the line. When the line winds in to where the release clip is, the stopper clip will meet the downrigger guide and stop the line at the desired location. This essentially eliminates the need to keep and eye on the downrigger and lets you concentrate on other things. This system is great for checking the lines. However if you are needing to completely take the downriggers out, don't forget to set the automatic downriggers on past the release clip. It will require a quick resetting of the system. (pressing the button again). It's up to you whether or not to use these. They're sold by Scotty as downrigger accessories.

STACKING LINES ON DOWNRIGGERS

 

It is possible to run multiple lines in the water. Typically what is done off Vancouver Island is 2 downriggers, one on each side, with possibly a surface kicker (or "whiskey") line off the center stern. The kicker just has a small weight and a spoon or something to attract the odd surface fish, usually Cohos or Pinks, in the summertime. So there is the standard 3 line setup. Each downrigger on either side of the boat has 2 rods on it and attached to the release clips on it. One runs deeper and one runs shallower.

However in Vancouver, typically, guys tend to run 2 downriggers, with 2 lines on each. (4 lines in the water). This is done by setting 2 release clips along the downrigger wire, with 2 different depths. The same principles as above apply but with a few exceptions.

Firstly, the 2 release clips must at least be 20-25' apart. I typically ran them between 21-24' apart. This is to avoid tangles.

Secondly you must lower them slower than normal, otherwise the lines will get tangled.

Thirdly, turns must be taken slower, again as to avoid tangles.

Essentially your lines will lower up and down together. So simply subtract the depth difference off the counter to set your lines. The benefit of this system is that you can, between 2 downriggers (with 2 lines each), for example fish, 40', 50', 60', 70, all at once. (Assuming both side's lines are 20' apart).

Setting Stacked Lines

To set the lines, there are differing theories. There will be 2 rod holders on the downrigger, one nearer to the stern (the inside) and one nearer to the side (outside) of the boat. I believe that setting the rod nearest to the stern, the inside rod, deeper, best. Set it first, lower it down 20'.

Then attach a second release clip to the wire (once you've lowered the first line down 20') at the 20' mark on the wire. Let the outside rod back 20' behind the boat and set it to this higher release clip. Now lower the system down, slowly. You will see the bottom line or cannonball on the counter. Do the math and you're set.

Winding in Stacked Lines

When you go to raise the stacked lines. Release the higher line first, always. It will get it out of the way of the incoming lower line. In my case this was always the outside line. I would release it, wind it in enough so it's out of the way, (i.e dragging on the surface), and then simultaneously raise the downrigger while winding in the lower line. (rod).

To Stack or Not to Stack on the Downrigger?

If you are fishing in an area where it is slower, and have the rods for it, why not stack. However doing this is best only tried once you have a bit of experience under your belt. Stacking 4 rods on 2 downriggers is fine. I have seen worse. There is one guide in Vancouver who has been known to stack up to 6 lines. It is simply ridiculous. Stacking is all about weighing your hit to tangle ratio. Yes you might lose more fish to tangles but you might also get more hits. It's up to you. When I guided in Vancouver I always stacked.

Put it this way, off Sooke and Renfrew, I have never stacked rods, and very rarely seen it done. It depends on the situation. If the fish are around and biting, it is not necessary. When starting out especially, don't bother.

CHECKING LINES

When checking lines, it is most efficient to reel the downrigger and rod in simultaneously if you can. If not, get a buddy to reel in the downrigger and you reel in the rod. Never have both lines out at the same time and always strive to have a line in the water. (rule #1 about fishing with worms when we were 5, remember!?)

END OF THE TRIP

Finally the last little tidbit on using downriggers is at the end of the trip. Release the lines and let them float up to the surface while reeling in the downrigger. Might as well leave the fishing catching device in last right? Get the downrigger all in and put away before touching the rods. This has two benefits to it:

First, the lure and flasher will start raising after it is released from the downrigger. If there is a salmon following the gear, sometimes they will be forced to chose to bite, 'now or never', and it will result in a hit.

Secondly, once the flasher and lure reach the surface, they will surf the top of the water when being dragged while you are still putting the downrigger away. Honest to god, I have seen many fish take a line skimming on top of the water. Not always, but might as well have that chance at a fish going while you are putting the boat and downrigger away to go home.

Leave the fishing catching mechanisms in use till the very end!

AFTER USE

As with everything after saltwater fishing, rinse your downriggers and cable down with freshwater. Between running your lines in the water, spray from the sea and running back into port through rough seas, everything in your boat will seem to be covered in a coating of salt. All it takes to get rid of this is a rinse with a hose. This will greatly prolong your downrigger, cables and the life of all your other fishing gear. Downrigger cables left with salt on them will fray and break.