Downriggers with pancake weights and Spectra line and large diving planers like the Old Salty work for deep trolling.

 

I tried downriggers once, didn't do much for me. Sometimes I use a 16-ounce inline trolling sinker with an X-Rap to get a bit deeper; this has produced quite a few fish.

 

I had the opportunity to deep water tuna troll (DWTT) for Albies late season last year using riggers and multiple lines on a few occasions. I can tell we hooked up consistently and landed fish. The sweaters we knitted were very pretty. However the reset recovery time was long and we lost some expensive braid in the process.

We wound up stowing the DR's on both occasions and went back to conventional deep/surface trolling along with the run and gun to efficiently fill the vessel.

We are trying something unique and very different this year with respect to DWTT to arouse the BET, BFT's and other deeper water species. More to follow on that....

 

What was the problem? The only problems I've seen were caused by blue sharks.

 

I am looking forward to much more on this topic.....

I was thinking about it, but in my day dreaming I keep coming back to the issues of tangled lines.

 

I have used down riggers and after much trial and error, I found that stacking 2 or more lines per rigger is much more trouble than it's worth so I went to single lines on each rigger. Way too many tangles and lost braid and time on the water. I also found that pancake weights are good, but I have had much better success with the Z-Wing planers. They come in two different sizes for slow and fast trolling speeds and don't have nearly the blow back that the regular weights have while trolling. You will need to reinforce your downrigger base as they put a lot of stress but they work better than the standard weights or the pancake weights. Changing your wire line to braid is also a good plus. What I do is put a couple wraps of heavy duty duct tape over my wire leaving the snap exposed then add about 300 yards of 150/200# braid on top of my wire. The Duct Tape keeps the wire and braid from digging into each other and save your expensive braid for the next trip. I usually only do this when the fish just don't seem to want to come up and take a bait or lure in the conventional way. After I got it kinks worked out of the system so to speak, it has saved the day on several occasions when nothing else seems to work. The one drawback (or benefit if you like) is if there are Threshers in the area, you will tend to hook them which will take up a big part of your fishing time as they usually get hooked in the tail. I have never hood a large one off Oregon yet. Mostly just the Pups, but later on in the season, they will be there and you’ll have to deal with them.:twocents:

 

I have never used a downrigger but have used large old salty planers. They are very effective, especially when there is a fair amount of chop. You will need some dheavy rigging as they pull pretty hard.

 

You will need some dheavy rigging as they pull pretty hard.

A Old Salty #24 pulls 40lb-50lb at 5 knots according to Dave (Old Salty here). They can be used on handlines with rubber band releases. I'm slowly working on getting a pair of heavy planner rods. Most of the parts are here.

When using DRs or planers you do not have to troll at 6-8 knots, 3-4 works.

 

I tried my downriggers and used herring, figured since I've seen herring in the albies it would work. It might, but after 2 blue sharks, I stopped using the Drs. If I try the DRs again, it will be with a lure, not bait, probably a swimbait or a rapala.
ron m

 

I tried my downriggers and used herring, figured since I've seen herring in the albies it would work. It might, but after 2 blue sharks, I stopped using the Drs. If I try the DRs again, it will be with a lure, not bait, probably a swimbait or a rapala.
ron m

Shell squid work too.

 

I've caught several tuna on a DeepSix, but I don't recommend it with a broomstick. You'll just break your DeepSix.

I've used my downrigger, but haven't catch tuna on them and have used 2Rotten's recommendation of 16oz in line with my Xraps and have caught a few fish as well.

I think what works best for you will work. Tuna when in the mood pretty much eat everything in sight and they have really big eyes. :bigshock:

The real problem is they have small stomachs and easily gorge them selves and go off the bite. So matter how deep you go they're not going to bite.

 

I've caught several tuna on a DeepSix, but I don't recommend it with a broomstick. You'll just break your DeepSix.

I've used my downrigger, but haven't catch tuna on them and have used 2Rotten's recommendation of 16oz in line with my Xraps and have caught a few fish as well.

You can use Pink Ladies in place of the Deep Sixes. They dont have the clamp, so they hold up allot better. I even have one with bite marks on it. It still swims fine.

 

I have used the small Delta divers before with asst'd tuna lures. Worked OK but required a stiff rod and a reel with some drag. Plan on trimming one down to get the diver to have less pull so I can use my regular rod/reel set-ups. We caught fish on them, but have also done very well with X-Raps plain and with some lead. Getting deeper seems to work sometimes, and the more variety you have to offer, the better chance of figuring out what they want. I have not tried Pink Ladies as they seem to be weak in the hardware dept. I could be wrong but they just look like a tuna could tear one apart.

 

I have a short attention span. I get bored catching the little albacore we have here and dream of biguns that lurk below. You know, something different.

I use a pair of #24 old salty planers. I don't use them on a rod. I use tuna cord of varying lengths and cleat them off to the rear cleats. I then have two dozen or so large snap swivels with #64 rubber bands figure-8ed on the eye of the swivel.
This way you simply take the rubber band and figure-8 it to your leader with whatever lure you choose and snap the snap part of the swivel onto the tuna cord and free spool your reel and the water pressure will slide the swivel down the tuna cord until it hits the top of the planer. When you get a strike the rubber band breaks and you fight the fish without pulling in the planer. Take another of your rubber band swivels and do it again. At the end of the day you pull it up and all your swivels are there. You can use shower curtain rings with rubber bands also. You just have to put them on the tuna cord at the beginning of the day and bungee them to the cleat and take one off as needed.
I have never caught anything but the albacore and blue sharks using them though. Someday something different will come along hopefully.

 

"We are trying something unique and very different this year with respect to DWTT to arouse the BET, BFT's and other deeper water species. More to follow on that.... "

"arouse the BET, BFT's . . . more to follow ..."

I'll be watching for that post. Catching Albacore was such a quantum leap from salmon. I've been fantasizing on the next quantum leap to Big Eye, Bluefin, etc.

In my life, there is "Before Tuna" and "After Tuna", which so far has been pretty great. How much greater can it get? I'm eager to find out.

TC

 

I have had very good success trolling with Yo-Zuri #9 divers fished off the corners of my boat via hand line. I'm not sure how deep they would ultimately go but I have about 12 feet or so of tuna cord to the diver then another 6-8 feet of leader and a clone. Then five rods spread out on top. 90% of the time the divers get hit first then the rods usually get one. Nice thing is the divers shoot straight to the surface when hooked up and you can usually pull the fish in w/o stopping your troll. Here in La Push there is no live bait so trolling is the most popular method.

 

Thanks for the replies folks...
Couple things I'd like to be more clear about;
I have a pair of #9 Yo Zuri divers and a pair of High Speed Sea Striker planers that I used last year.
I saw quiet a few 'marks' on the sounder at 80-140' - so all my salmon behavior makes me want to lower the lure to the fish, not hope the fish comes to the lure.
I mean depths beyond the reach of divers/planers - 50+'
I went on one live bait trip out of Westport on a charter - it seems that speed of presentation is not necess 6-8mph? Deep trolling at 2-3mph - no bait -

About stacking lines on a DR - I found a long setback of 50-60' on the lower line and 20-30' on the upper line works OK - a fish hooked on the lower line is already 'behind' the upper line when the release lets go. Also the depth of each rrigger needs to be 12-20 apart. I'll prospect for salmon offshore at 190,170,150 and 120'
150lb braid and 15lb round weights w short fins is pretty clean thru the water.
If I'm prospecting for salmon offshore, I will

 

I went on one live bait trip out of Westport on a charter - it seems that speed of presentation is not necess 6-8mph? Deep trolling at 2-3mph - no bait -

Was the charter using downriggers for this? What lure were they trolling that got bit at those slower speeds?

I've never used downriggers to troll for tuna, but I've used diver boards a lot and they catch a bunch of fish. Albacore have incredibly good vision, if they're curious (not necessarily hungry, as we've caught fish on big clones that were absolutely stuffed full with baitfish and squid) they'll come up enough to check out your spread, especially diver board gear.

The other option is to stop and fish swimbaits and iron deep while drifting. That's a sure-fire way to get down to the depths you're seeing stuff on your finder. They will bite that gear even during the early troll show, too.


Aaron

 

We just use the x-rap lures 30, or 20, always work. Only run a few of them to prevent tangles. There is a lure called "Sebile" that is a 60ft deep diving lure we have, but have yet to try. Our problem with going deeper is getting it out of the water when a fish is on, if you hook a 35+ pounder then we have had it snag every line we had out. Fishing deep might get you a few fish, but getting everything tangled up is just not worth it for me. Also after a full moon, catching some tuna can be difficult no matter what you try since they are up eating all night. We won't fish after a full moon. Good luck.

 

We tried to use an Ol' Salty planer on a short broomstick rod/huge reel and a downrigger release clip. We were running large baits harnessed through the nose and Avet SDS 5/0 reels trying to get below the schoolies. This was a tournament so smaller fish weren't the goal. We wanted one big one or nothing.

The system worked pretty well but you had to stop the boat to retrieve/reset the planer. We didn't hook up but it wasn't the techniques fault: The Captain wouldn't stop chasing dolphins long enough to fish. At the end of the trip, after begging him for two days and finally seizing control of the boat to make him slow down and fish, he said: "You won't catch many fish that way but if you catch one it will be a big one." :doh::doh::doh: alm: