String of spinners attached to downrigger ball?

T. Money · 01-26-2010, 04:50 PM

I have trolled for the landlock coho in Riffe with good results, but hate the extra weight of dragging around lead and string of spinners for attractors.

I have never been to Merwin and plan on making some trips this year. My question is:

If I attach my string of spinners (ford fenders/pop-gear) to a downrigger ball, how far back do I let out my koke lure and corn before attaching to the release clip?

Do you keep it close to your ball and spinners, like 5-10 feet, or let it way back?

I would like to catch fish and actually feel the fish, not the lead and the pull of the blades. Thanks in advance.

T. Money

bassmann · 01-26-2010, 05:00 PM

attach your fenders directly to the ball, and run your spinners between 5-12 feet from the clip pending whats working for the day. hope this works for ya. bassman

Kokonuts · 01-27-2010, 08:03 AM

Early in the year when the fish are up closer to the surface, I run them farther back about 20 to 25 ft.
As they go deeper you can bring it in closer. I usually attach the release 5 ft. above the ball with the flashers.

Bassman.....Cant wait for Merwin, I'll bring my boat back to the Lake in March! Lets hook up again!!

Kokonuts

bassmann · 01-27-2010, 04:15 PM

count on richard

cant wait

moknots · 01-27-2010, 07:36 PM

I attach my release clip directly to the end of the gang troll when I use one on the ball. I like the least amount of set back that will work -- I've had very good success with 2', but sometimes do up to 10'. If you use 25' or more, you may actually be drawing fish away from your lure because the dodger is going to be running 5-7' below. Fish that come check out the spinning blades are actually going to have your dodger and lure passing beneath them. SO, if you are fishing shallow and use lots of set back, you might consider skipping the gang troll. The best way to approach it, IMHO, is to run a gang troll on one side, and not on the other. Until the fish tell you which they prefer that day.

Others are proponents of 25-50' of setback. I am too, in the right situation, namely when there are big (15+") kokes around. Those fish will turn and run, driving the hooks into boney places. Smaller fish tend to hang at the end of the line and trash, while opening and closing their mouth. This greatly increases the loss ratio with a longer setback, because the line of pull is OUT of their mouths.

My landing ratio goes way up on smaller fish if I am pulling UP on them, driving hooks into the roof of the mouth, so short setback, and aggressive lifting of the fish before it starts trailing back away from the rear of the boat (yes, I keep trolling after hooking the first fish). Good question!

Kokonuts · 01-29-2010, 08:58 AM

Moknots....
Do you worry about prop wash & motor noise when that close to the boat?

....Kokonuts

Kokanee Slow · 01-29-2010, 09:48 AM

Good info, nice post!

FallRiverGuy · 01-29-2010, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kokonuts

Do you worry about prop wash & motor noise when that close to the boat?

I think it depends on the time of day, cloud cover and water clarity. If the fish are being aggressive, I think the motor noise is not an issue. I wonder if kokanee are like coho?

Vance Staplin · 01-29-2010, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T. Money

I have trolled for the landlock coho in Riffe with good results, but hate the extra weight of dragging around lead and string of spinners for attractors.

I have never been to Merwin and plan on making some trips this year. My question is:

If I attach my string of spinners (ford fenders/pop-gear) to a downrigger ball, how far back do I let out my koke lure and corn before attaching to the release clip?

Do you keep it close to your ball and spinners, like 5-10 feet, or let it way back?

I would like to catch fish and actually feel the fish, not the lead and the pull of the blades. Thanks in advance.

T. Money

I have been a proponent of cannonball flashers (spinners/pop gear attached to the cannonball) for years. Particularly with Kokanee and King Salmon. I have seen King Salmon dive down over fifty feet on my graph from staggered lines at 40 feet deep to two other lines at 90 feet and hit when they got down there.

This is completely because of cannonball trolls. By the way....this totally blow's the old tale that Salmonids can't see down therefore won't go down for your lure. It is simple, they feel the vibration with their lateral line and investigate seeing the flash on their way down.

I personally found better results using flashers/pop gear with long lines for attraction when the water is cold and the fish are on top.

When the water warms and the fish get down to about 25 feet I then switch over to cannonball flashers with set backs from the release from 5 to 15 feet depending on the time of day and water clarity. This is incredibly affective because you can troll tight circles and figure eights through the fish after you locate them.

Back to big flashers on the main line, the trick here is to find flashers with a lot of flash and vibration without a lot of drag. I will stay away from mentioning particular brands.

Vance

SilverBullets · 01-30-2010, 07:23 AM

I use balltrolls when the kokes get down around 30' or deeper and only on one side of the boat until I see which rod gets more hits. The trolls I use are Vance's cannonball trolls with a set of smaller blades attached to the back. I attach the clip around 4' above the trolls, and let my main line out until the dodger is running around 2' in back of the ball trolls. Any farther up in the water column I shed the trolls and fish farther in back of the boat. I've also noticed losing more fish while long lining as opposed to useing a short set-back... moknots explanation makes alot of sense.
Going back to useing the balltrolls... has anyone attached them directly to the downrigger cable to extend the range of the black box farther back towards the lure?

samntrllr · 01-30-2010, 08:02 AM

I've thought about this many times. My question is: I always try and rewind the DR on the side it is caught after I have a fish on and usually put the motor in neutral. I do this to avoid getting line wrap from an active fish at the side of the boat. If you have trolls attatched to your ball how do you avoid getting wrapped up? Do you just leave it down so you are only dealing with the cable? Those rascals can go crazy when close.

twisted lines · 01-30-2010, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by samntrllr

I've thought about this many times. My question is: I always try and rewind the DR on the side it is caught after I have a fish on and usually put the motor in neutral. I do this to avoid getting line wrap from an active fish at the side of the boat. If you have trolls attatched to your ball how do you avoid getting wrapped up? Do you just leave it down so you are only dealing with the cable? Those rascals can go crazy when close.

I would leave it in gear, idle, ball down. but that changes about as fast as the bite

SilverBullets · 01-30-2010, 02:20 PM

[QUOTE=samntrllr;2954408]I've thought about this many times. My question is: I always try and rewind the DR on the side it is caught after I have a fish on and usually put the motor in neutral. I do this to avoid getting line wrap from an active fish at the side of the boat. If you have trolls attatched to your ball how do you avoid getting wrapped up? Do you just leave it down so you are only dealing with the cable? Those rascals can go crazy when close.

I think alot of this has to do with where the downriggers are mounted on the boat. Mine are 3/4's of the way back towards the transom, so this is how I do it...I leave it in gear and keep the ball down. If another rod is out on the other downrigger alot of times it will also get hit while trolling through schools. In my opinion while useing ball trolls your better off keeping them down to avoid getting them wrapped up in the prop...(don't ask me how I know this)

I work the fish towards the back of the boat away from the downrigger lines.

samntrllr · 01-30-2010, 02:26 PM

Mine are on the two back corners so I have to try and pull the thrashing silver torpedo past my cables first or try to hold them out to the side, which is a risk.

Buck · 02-03-2010, 03:59 PM

I've had pretty good success attaching a Jack Lloyd flasher to the downrigger ball and then hooking the release to the cable using an inline setup a few feet above the ball with about a five to ten foot setback. The dodger, which drops a little in depth because of the setback, is positioned behind the Jack Lloyd.

Vance Staplin · 02-03-2010, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by samntrllr

I've thought about this many times. My question is: I always try and rewind the DR on the side it is caught after I have a fish on and usually put the motor in neutral. I do this to avoid getting line wrap from an active fish at the side of the boat. If you have trolls attatched to your ball how do you avoid getting wrapped up? Do you just leave it down so you are only dealing with the cable? Those rascals can go crazy when close.

Hi samntrllr,

Your message say's that you try and rewind the DR on the side it is caught after you have a fish on.

Does that mean you have more than one DR?
If so, I highly recommend that you leave the boat in gear idled down and turn sharp to the side that the downrigger the fish hit on. Being that you are using Cannonball flashers your line should be no farther than 15 to 20 feet behind the release allowing for very tight turns which will keep you on the school of fish for double and tripple hookups.

Putting a boat in neutral with downrigger setups in the water can make for terrible tangles if the wind blows the boat backwards.

Vance