How to fish for Salmon with Downriggers
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- čas přidán 25. 02. 2021
- Downriggers are the most popular and effective method to fish for Salmon in open water. If you aren't fishing with downriggers, you may be missing opportunities to hook more king and coho salmon. This video starts by explaining the absolute basics, but quickly moves into more advanced topics like braid vs wire, improving your hook-to-land ratio and optimizing your electrical current output (if you are using wire) for a specific salmon species. Also, we would love to hear from you what kind of questions you have about downrigger fishing for salmon, where could put out another video on the topic addressing your questions.
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Most helpful video on fishing so far great job. Just bought an 18 foot center console and will be fishing ucluelet all summer long
Wow, thanks for that compliment! I just looked up where Ucluelet is…now I’m jelly!
Good video and new subscriber. I just started to use my downrigger more for salmon and your tips really help.
Tommy, thanks so much for commenting. It’s awesome you are catching salmon on downriggers!
thanks for the informative downriggers vid. quick and to the point. i m a rookie and your tips will help a ton. subscribed!
Awesome! Love hearing that it was helpful.
*We tried this out finally yesterday and it worked awesome! **enjoyable.fishing** recommend it’s we put it on our 16 foot aluminum boat and trolled with it. We didn’t catch anything but it was still fun and worked awesome! Can’t wait to use this baby again and hopefully reel in a big ole fish! Very easy to install and set up.*
That’s great man! Once salmon season gets going you won’t be able to keep ‘em off!
I love using riggers. I use 2 manual Big Jon riggers, one that i spooled 300# braid, no sound, no electrical current.
One species that you didn’t mention is trout and I'm going to use it for Kokanee as well. I've used mine a lot with a DR and consistently catch 3 lbs plus rainbows. I've saved this video. Very good!
Nice comment, thanks!
Very useful information - well delivered. I am fishing for land locked Chinook next weekend in Couer d'Alene Idaho Lake. Using manual downriggers as they are running deep because of the heat. I am new to this style of fishing and am looking for tips and suggestions. Right now I'm going to use 360 Flashers and large squid and or Kwikfish/flatfish and Rapala's.
I don’t know a ton about that fishery, but I do no with fish that deep that both line diameter and cable diameter are really critical here. I know I talked a lot about using steel, but in that fishery I would be going with braid on the downrigger and fishing reel
Helpful video to some I'm sure. I have a ton of experience fishing alone for salmon in the ocean with Scotty electric down riggers and I have a tip for you. Don't waste any more money on rubbers snubbers. I use parrachute cord which about 10 cents a foot and works perfectly well if you know how to tie knots. Even close to the bottom I seldom lose balls. I also use the silver braid sold by Scotty as it lasts the longest and is easy to work with , also if you are good with knots. The most important thing I noticed in your video kept making me cringe. Your rods spend way too much time on the floor of the boat where they are easily damaged. A great Hawaiian fishing guide I used multiple times taught me a valuable lesson. " There are only two places the rod should be when you are fishing in a boat, in your hand or in the rod holder. "
Thanks for the tips man! Definitely still learning as I love to share what I think I know! I’ve upgraded to a boat with a tower and many more rod holders, so there should be much less of that. Ironically, with the number of trips I’ve done with many new people, the only time I’ve had damaged rods is when they were in peoples hands!
Good info thanks bud
Thank you!
Lol. Zip tie made me chuckle.
I'm close to getting started with a boat and fishing on Lake Michigan. Nice video!
Excellent!
Great video. You answered a few of my questions. One question…. Do most down riggers have a built in line meter? I know reels come with them but do most down riggers. Thank you!
Thank you! Yes, I believe they do, it’s a necessary part of operating them
Love to see the data on two pieces of metal creating enough current to repel fish
scotty.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Black-Box-Booklet.pdf
You need to use walker releases. They work sooo good.
How do they work? What do you like about them?
Hola amiguito usted me puede decir como se llama ese instrumento para poder profundizar el señuelo, acá en chile no lo venden hay que encargarlo a EEUU, ya que nosotros los pescadores de chinook no lo conocemos, saludos y gracias.
Thanks for the video.
Chuck
Whidbey Island
Thanks 🙏
March 1st can’t wait 👍
Yeah man! Looks like the seas will lay down too
Cool.
Hey I think I've seen you before.do u live in appletree? We just bought a boat and some down riggers but we can't seem to catch any salmon. This was super helpful..but what depth should we put both at..here at the sound in the everett marina
Actually, I don't live in appletree, I'm in the South Sound. Right now there's a lot of coho and early in the morning they tend to be caught from the surface down the 60 ft. When I'm trolling around for coho I run one downrigger at 45 and the other at 60. I also run a deep six diver at about 35' down (70 ft back).
Hi! Thanks for this video! I am going to go out in a few weeks and hopefully catch some salmon. I am in falucy, bay (Puget Sound). What do you recomend for the first downriger because i dont want to buy those expensive eletric ones. Also what reel do you recomend using for a beginer? Thanks for all of the info!
Checkout the links to salmon fishing rods on pnwbestlife.com/Puget-sound-salmon-fishing, also might provide more helpful info.
Why not checkout the Scotty 1085 for a manual downrigger?
@@PNWBestLife Thanks!!
Thanks for taking the time to comment and good luck out on the sound!
Do you measure current with the ball in or out of the water and if in the water are you measuring at depth and trolling speed? I used to go fishing on Lake MI. as a kid but I never paid attention to the details.
Measured with the ball in the water at a typical trolling depth.
What is your desired trolling speed for Puget Sound Chinook? Does it differ in other areas, like Sekiu?
You've asked a fantastic question! Let's assume there is zero current or wind pushing us along...In South or even Central Puget Sound or closer to a terminal area I might want to troll right around 1.5-2mph. In places like Sekiu or MA9, I may troll faster such as 2.2-2.7mph. Now if you are trolling with the current, you may end up trolling faster.
The reason why there's a difference has to do with lifecycle of the salmon. These fish are feeding quite actively around Sekiu and into MA9. Let's say this is a Nisqually king salmon we're talking about. By the time it's traveling through MA11 or MA13, it might not be feeding at all. It's ready to head upstream to spawn. That means it's not going to be chasing prey or expending much energy to chase down a trolled offering. However, if you put something big and enticing right in front of it, you may get it to strike still.
In Sekiu, trolling fast helps me cover water and these salmon can easily catch up to my offering and smash it. This is also why the catch rate is much higher out there. I've never seen as much salmon on my sonar in one location as in MA13, but they are sometimes tough to get to bite.
I'm surprised you found a difference in voltage with the zip tie as the downrigger ball is electrically isolated from the cable by the snubber. Did you have the snubber on when you ran the test?
I did! I’ve always used the rubber snubber, but yeah I tested it multiple times and the metal on metal puts out .65 vs metal on rubber / plastics is .58.
That blog post explains how to do the test as well, might be worth trying out, curious what other people find.
I thought same thing at first but I’m guessing the properties that make up the snubber aren’t completely isolating as it’s probably not 100% rubber
Can you give me a good recommendation for a moderately or slightly higher priced rod and reel setup? Also, what type and size line do you run?
I can…though I only have downrigger rod experience on the Okuma rods. I’m a big believer in not spending big on a downrigger rod. They take some abuse.
I run 50 lb power pro brain with a 100 yard top shot of seaguar 30 lb flouro connects with an FG knot. I want stiffness and I want to attach mono / flouro to the clip
That all depends on how you want to fish, for trolling and mooching I'm a fan of the Knuckle Buster from Diawa, it's not expensive but works well for hauling in Kings. Islander reels are the Cadillac of mooching reels though
Nice video - I liked the graphics, but it was hard watching your head mounted cam looking left & right all the time. I checked out your article on downrigger voltage and it makes sense except that you're showing your downrigger connected by a big rubber snubber. That rubber will prevent the connection between your ball & clip from making any difference. The circuit between the hull of your boat and the downrigger wire ends at the snubber. Perhaps when you did that test you weren't using the snubber? Further it kind of looks like both the ring and the clip are made from stainless steel. Those aren't dissimilar metals, so no voltage would be created. There is going to be a voltage between your boat & that wire due to the zincs on the boat creating a current, but your snubber makes the connection to the ball irrelevant.
Yeah, I’ve started filming downrigger trolling from a more fixed position because I do move my head too much outside of fighting a fish.
I will have to look back at my test…I’m pretty sure it was rubber snubber. I performed it multiple times with the same outcome…
Nice, new to using a downrigger and I find this video and need a damned electrician for a fishing buddy now lol. Is the current from the wire effected differently in fresh vs salt water? Maybe current is only something of concern is salt fishing those types of salmon. So much to learn.......
I believe it's salt water, but I'm really not sure tbh. I just know different ways of connecting my DR balls produced more or less current, and that certain current will attract or repel different species of salmon. Lots of people just ignore this and use braid and absolutely kill it, so I wouldn't overthink this one way or the other.
@@PNWBestLife
What about positive ion control? The commercial guys use it with their black boxes. Where do you get these?
@@bradleymonson2534 My understanding is that the black boxes are attempting to achieve what my boat was achieving naturally. That's the point of the test, to validate this. Some say that none of this matters, yet the commercials who make money catching salmon still use wire and ion control...Pretty sure Scotty makes a black box, but I haven't looked into it. I would want to seriously run the DR voltage test before going any further just to see where you're at.
But you have the blue rubber scrubber between your steel line and the weight, won’t that stop the electrical current? That way you don’t need the zip tie
I think it should, the test resulted included the rubber snubber
Do manual downriggers put off an electrical charge? I'm just getting into salt salmon and finally purchased some manual cannon products. Thanks in advance!
I think so, because of the dissimilar metals?
@@PNWBestLife thanks! That's what I seem to keep finding out.
Is there a best time of year when u can get lings rockbass and hali in seiku never been before always fished big blue out of oregon but now live in washington
Halibut will only be open until the end of the month. Ling and rockfish close around Sekiu by middle of the month, however a few miles west in MA4 it’s open later in the year. I think the early spring season is the best, but we’ve found lots of fish all summer as well
@@PNWBestLife thx love the vids keep em coming
Thanks man! 🙏
What’s your Rod/Reel combination?
Actually, I have a blog version of this information which covers this as well: pnwbestlife.com/downrigger-fishing-for-salmon/
Gloves? Do you clean/wash your gear?
I use nitrile gloves all the time while fishing, I don’t want my scent on anything. I do also clean and wash gear as well
What action rod do you use for your riggers?
H or MH, with being at least 9' in length. Creates a nice balance of backbone and flexibility.
Is there a way to attach 360 or triangle flasher to cannonball so one fights the fish instead of flasher?
Yes. Some attach the flasher directly to the downrigger terminal gear. This is more common with blackmouth fishing where lines are pretty close behind the boat. Could be done anytime though
I have same question gonna try riggers at bouy 10 this year
I love buoy 10! But I really love getting a brake from downriggers, lol
@@PNWBestLife ya I never use my downriggers but for kokanee on Merwin and yale I just love the fact I can see exactly where my gear is and hit em in the face with it worth a shot
Totally. I just love the direct connection in 20 ft of water. Especially after dragging downrigger balls around all summer
Wouldn’t the snubber being rubber fix your metal to metal issue?
I think so…the test results still showed a lower measurement with the zip tie…I may need to repeat the test, because I’ve talked to an electrical engineer type who couldn’t explain those test results…
@@PNWBestLife that’s interesting, thanks!
Where did u get that sweatshirt
The STLHD one? Oh man those are everywhere. Google it you can find one!
What length rod do you like to use for your riggers?
I like to use longer bendier rods from 9-10'6 with lots of power and slower action like this one: amzn.to/3H3wOUc
@@PNWBestLife thanks man. I see some people say use 7’ some days use 10’ lol I’m just trying to get fully prepared for my trip next month. In the past I ran a 6 dipsy spread but that gets hairy lol so I put two riggers on my boat..
@@jakejacobson2999 Yeah, downriggers are incredible fishing devices. There arn't many wrong answers when it comes to rods here, so I just share what I like to do...It's more because I like a rod that fights my target fish species really well which is typically chinook salmon.
Wouldn’t the snubber stop the current just like the zip ties..I wouldn’t trust a zip tie . Great video though.
Yes. I don’t know why the test consistently produced different voltages though… I’ve never had these big zip ties break.
How much weight and how deep are you fishing... thk you
In which instance? I typically use a 15 lb ball and prefer 45-65 feet of wire I’m 60-90 feet of wire. That’s pretty general though
@@PNWBestLife 60 deep 15lbs minimum? Thk
You can get away with less than 15 lbs, I just like the flexibility to drop all the way down if I want as well
What is CQ?
Actually spelled Sekiu. Wonderful place to fish!
20 or 22 foot boat?
That’s a 20 ft boat! My new boat is 23’ though
I catch a lot of salmon with out a down-rigger.
I love this comment! Yes, very true. A downrigger is still an incredible tool though for catching salmon and especially in some specific circumstances.
I just finished this long form blog page on downrigger fishing for salmon, check it out:
pnwbestlife.com/downrigger-fishing-for-salmon
Hey man what rod are you using (name)?
That Okuma 10’6 Herring Rod is my typical boat / trolling rod
@@PNWBestLife heavy or medium heavy?
MH
Good vid but the part when your on the boat showing how to rig the DR er was frustrating with the spastic left right left right so much I was getting sea sick! If its because you have a head mounted camera, well... don't!
Otherwise, good stuff.
Daryl, thanks for that feedback! I’ve started to learn that the head mounted camera is tough for showing trolling footage. Too much stuff to look at, so I will be using a lot more fixed mounted camera footage.
@@PNWBestLife That will help you a lot, ciao
@@PNWBestLife Right, Ive noticed many folks use the camera mounted to their chest. Might be worth it?
Yeah, potentially. Thanks for the tip!
Tried watching this video but when you switched to the camera mounted on your head I almost got motion sickness from all the twisting going on. Every time you move your head the camera moves. Not good for trying to watch what is going on. Yes this vid is 2. years old and maybe somebody has already said something about this problem, maybe not, Just my 2 cents. Other than that, what I could watch was good information.
Yeah, I’ve since learned to film from a more fixed position when downrigger fishing, because I move my head too much. Some people really have a hard time with it, so my apologies.
Inferesting video , but you really need to focus on what you're doing man! That whipping the camera back and forth and back and forth back and forth gave me a headache!
Yeah, sorry man. I’m working on a different solution for salmon trolling cause I move my head a lot!
What depths are best for each species?
That’s a great question that requires another video probably to answer. I’m working on one for chinook right now, but let me give you a few examples:
For chinook in places with structured depth lines like Puget Sound, Strait, I like to fish bottom 1/3rd of water column in 70-120 ft of water. Sometimes shallower, sometimes deeper.
For Coho, I’m out in 150-700 ft of water down 25 to 70 ft of wire.
In the ocean for both species, it tends to be 150-300 ft of water 80-150’ft down, but there are so many factors here.
Feeding salmon behave differently than migrating to spawn salmon