Question on DR release for Kokes

[Davy]

Fished Detroit yesterday for kokes . Not one of them released from my clips. SOme surprised us but I could tell when they were on there and we self released the clips. We got 3 over 14" and they didn't even release. Thats my question.

Every time I slipped the line in the clip only light enough , it seemed to me ,to me to release on a small koke it released while lowering the ball. With manual DR's this got very frustrating. Get 40 ft' down and release, haved to crank back up. Once this happened 4 times in a row. Got any magic tricks to share?

Fish were, indeed, at 50-70', northside of dam AM, southside of island PM. Koke killers and corn with white/chartruese dodgers.

[Salty1]

A trick for small fish or what I call shakers, is to use a rubber band release. The strike and the fish fighting the pull will show up on the rods at least letting you see them. Then it's just a matter of tripping the release from your end and fighting the fish. If memory serves, we'd use #10 rubber bands doubled once and cinched tight around the line at what ever distance you wish to fish back from the ball, then setting the tag end of the doubled rubber band in the release. Nothing is perfect, but at least you'll know there's a customer knocking!

[Davy]

Hey, Thanks Max! We'll give it a go the next cpl days

Davy

[fish-on-bend]

FallRiverGuy and I agree: Offshore brand ultralight (the yellow one) They work the best for us and are consistent and I've never worn one out. I use the black (medium) for macks and bulls with braid or mono.
Sometimes the fish releases it and sometimes not, either way is irrelevant.:twocents:

[jzell]

Da kine we use.....(per fish-on-bend)

www.vancestackle.com/clips.html

Might get um thru Sportsmans Warehouse.

John

[trollin4trout]

Sometimes the fish releases it and sometimes not, either way is irrelevant.:twocents:

FOB pretty much somes it up.

I think you are fighting mostly a losing battle. At that depth there is so much pressure on your line going down to the ball, that you have to set the line in the release quite firmly or it will release just from that line resistance in the moving water. I don't think the physics of the situation allow you to have small fish pull your line off the release.

Granted a 14 inch Koke is not really in the "small" fish category- but you also don't know which way those fish were going that day as they took the bait. Some days small 8 inch trout will cut loose from the clip- it depends on how aggressive they hit- and probably whether they pull away from the boat or go forward or sideways afterwards.

At 10-20 feet down you might get away with a very light setting to allow a small fish to trip it loose- but maybe not for the same above reasons.
It's a fact that a rod on a downrigger needs to be watched very closely- otherwise you could tow around a small trout/kokanee for an hour without knowing it. You might see one little wiggle on your rod tip when they first grab it- but then they'll just hang and drag with no further indication that you are no longer fishing!

I do way more trout fishing than kokanee but they seem to be just as variable as trout- some days they just wiggle your rod and some days they slam it. I'd say 80-90% of the time I have to manual release the clip- when I see the rod bounce, I jump outa my chair- if it's still moving when I get to the rod - I'll pick it up and pull it off the release. If it stops before I ge there I'll just wait- either it was a driveby and miss or a wimpy one is on the line. Keep waiting or pull it?......decision time! Just MHO's.

[Mister G.]

Hi,

Ditto on the Vance's Tackle release. I lengthen the line from the release to the attachment clip (just a regular snap, not the stacker kind) and then clip it to a ShuttleHawk. This way the Shuttlehawk takes the lure back down and I don't have to be cranking the downrigger ball up and down all day. With the longer line back to the release, when you get your rod loaded up into a nice curve, that line angles upward and gives you a good indication when you get a Koke strike. The rod bounces pretty noticeably. As you read above, most times I have to pop the line loose manually after a strike, but sometimes a rally aggressive strike will do it.:twocents:from DB

[LuckyStrike]

Go with an ultra light release, most manufacturers make them, I prefer Scotty, with a canon stacker.

Also adding length to your release will translate into more action on your rod tip making it easier to see when a shaker is on.

I have tried the red ones with ball bearing, canon, scotty, big johns, and walkers and have settle on Scotty Mini-Power with 3 feet between the ball and release.

This also absorbs more shock on the hard hits.

:twocents:

LS

[Davy]

Wow , thanks you guys, it was indeed my first time ever using sport DR's. And true, about the irrelevent part . I have Scotty's and was just using the clips that came with them. I know there must be a slew of others.