How to get set up for tying off to pile dikes in the Lower Columbia............

[Riverteeth]

Gents,

I've fished the lower river (downstream of Portland) a number of times. Sometimes we have tied off to the pile dikes (hope I am using a term here people will recognize) on the edges of the river, for the outgoing tide. But this has always been on other people's boats. I want to build my own set up for that (for my boat).

I have the hoop to drop over the post in the river, I have the crab buoy for the middle of the rope. Question is, how long (in feet) do I make the entire length of rope? At what distance from the hoop should I tie in the crab buoy to keep the rope afloat when I drop out to chase a fish?

[Starfish]

Chris, I generally like to be about 20-30' behind the piling but as always the real answer is to match up with the neighbors.

I like the float right near the end of the rope (just about 3' with a loop hanging past the float) so it's easy to pick up with the boathook.

One tip is to make sure you have your hoop (I like an electrical cable) rigged with a clamp that you can take apart if the tide drops far enough to leave your hoop hung up on the piling. I watched someone have to abandon their hoop because at low tide they couldn't get their hoop back up to the top of the piling overhead.

[fishkisser]

Make your rope short enough that if you over run it it will not go in your prop or jet ...

[budnate]

Originally Posted by fishkisser

Make your rope short enough that if you over run it it will not go in your prop or jet ...

make your loop end with a real climbing snap on the end, no gymnastics lifting over the pole just pull up flip around the pole clip it...and slide back