Downrigging- Tips and Tricks

Downriggers are designed to get a bait or lure down to where the fish are, in freshwater or marine situations.

Stripped back to basics, a downrigger is like an oversized, braked reel on which a heavy line or cable is spooled. This is attached to a short rod with a pulley at its tip. A heavy weight, normally made of lead, is added to take the line down. A short trace or drop-back with a line-release mechanism is connected to the ball, the line-release clipped to a regular fishing line with a bait or lure attached, and the ball then lowered to the desired depth, taking the fishing line with it.

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When the fish strikes, the release device does its job, and the angler then plays the fish on the line in a conventional manner.

Which weight is best?

There are three main options when it comes to weights or devices to take the downrigger line down: the conventional round ‘cannonball’ shape; the circular, finned weight; and the Z-Wing, a metal planning-board-style device.

The first two are made from lead and are available in several weights. My preference is for the circular, finned weight, as this seems to create less resistance and tracks nicely. Both models are ideal for shallower uses, such as trout fishing and game bait/lure trolling.

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The Z-Wing is probably the most efficient device to get the line down, but does create a huge amount of pressure, making quick retrieval difficult. It is adjustable, in much the same way as a planing board is, so it will run deeper or shallower. The Z-Wing is preferred by many swordie fishers because of its efficiency and rate of ‘dive’.

However, it is less forgiving when used for trout fishing should the skipper run it into shallow water, the Z-wing’s nose tending to dig in upon contacting the bottom, whereas the other options bounce along, especially if it is sandy.

A fresh water intro

I first used a downrigger when DoC allowed them for the first time in pursuit of trout on Lake Taupo, where they became an instant hit. It certainly changed my approach to trout trolling. In those days the downrigger’s cable length was restricted to 40 metres, but still meant I could run lures at lead or wire-line depth using light harling tackle. Gone were the ponderous multiplying or centre-pin reels loaded with 10 colours of leadline or 100 metres-plus of wire line. I could now catch trout on four-kilo mono, which made it much more sporting because the trout did not have a huge length of heavy wire or leadline to pull round.

It was also a boon for the tackle trade, which not only could sell anglers downriggers, but also a whole new range of tackle.

There were some tricks to deploying downriggers for trolling. The most obvious requirement is for a decent fish-finder. In addition to suggesting where the trout are mainly holding, enabling the downrigger to be set so the line and lure are held in that zone (even accounting for a few metres of ‘blow back’), it also alerts the helmsman to any bottom and structure changes, especially rises, allowing the downrigger’s running depth to be changed as required.

Skippers also have to be aware when turning behind another vessel trolling conventional gear. Turn too soon and you can catch their lines, which doesn’t make for great inter-crew relations.

Downriggers are most useful where there is a sandy bottom with only gentle rises and falls. When I first began fishing on Lake Tarawera, I soon found runs such as ‘Under the Mountain’ were a downrigging skipper’s worst nightmare. Other runs, such as the northern side up from Humphries Bay to the outlet, were far more conducive to downrigger use because of their more even bottom contours.

Like all styles of fishing, there is a skill set to be learned. When downrigging for trout, getting the release-clip’s tension right is one of them, as is controlling the descent of the downrigger and attached fishing line – too much pressure on the line and it will break out of the clip every time.

Two or more lines can be ‘stacked’ on the same downrigger cable. With four anglers on board and only two downriggers, it is not problem to stack one line a few metres above the other, but the trick comes in deploying the outfit to prevent early line releases. It takes a bit of practice!

All at sea

 

Downriggers have proven a useful option for those chasing broadbill out wide. ‘Catching a sword’ has suddenly shot to the top of many anglers’ bucket lists, and a downrigger can make deploying a bait 300-400 metres deep or more an easier task.

The skills required are the same as those needed by trout fishers. Getting the release right is important. Because far more downrigger cable and fishing line are required, there’s more water resistance to contend with.

Many swordie fishers using downriggers spool up with heavy braid to reduce water resistance as the bait is slow-trolled around the ‘bite’ zone. Even drifting baits from a dead boat will put pressure on the release mechanism, which can be a heavy-duty clip or a rubber band, with the latter used in conventional gamefishing release style, being wound around the line ten times to create a loop.

Having an electric downrigger makes retrieving the line and ball much easier, as it can be done at the flick of a switch, freeing up a pair of hands in the cockpit.

The first sportfish caught aboard a NZ Fishing News boat using a downrigger was a nice 15kg kingfish, which fell to a Rapala lure trolled 25 metres down. My cousin Craig was the angler, and he was well familiar with downrigging for trout, but was surprised to see one used at sea.

We had been snapper fishing at the Hen and Chicken Islands after launching from Waipu. On the way back I detoured to Sail Rock to run the sounder over a couple of 50-metre pins, looking for snapper, when kingfish showed on the sounder about midway in the water column.

One Rapala was deployed at the target depth, while another was run conventionally off the rod tip. A couple of passes over the pin, and we hooked up on the lure run at depth.

Overseas I have been on board boats that use downriggers to run live and dead baits for a variety of species. On one memorable trip aboard Jeff le Strange’s Vava’u-based charter vessel Hakula, we hooked some monster dogtooth tuna using rigged flying fish trolled on the downrigger. We landed some of the smaller specimens to 35kg, but the big boys dealt to us every time, despite fishing with 37kg chair rods!

With more Kiwi gamefishers running natural baits in their various forms, there will be a place in their armoury for downriggers to get these billfish enticements down to where the fish are. They won’t have to be run deep, as electronic tagging results tell us marlin spend the bulk of their time within 20 or so metres of the surface.

While I have yet to use the downriggers for deploying dredges (teasers), several skippers I have spoken to tell me this is a handy way to run them.

Snapper fishing

Downriggers also have a place in snapper fishing. I have used them to get the frozen berley down in a strong current, such as off Park Point on Waiheke Island.

A handy tip: run the berley bag back from the ball on a relatively light (15-24kg) length of mono. The first time I attached the onion sack filled with berley straight onto the ball and dropped it down, it attracted the attention of a decent bronze whaler shark, which took the bag, berley and ball!

Malcolm Dawson of Pure Fishing has been experimenting with trolling for snapper using a downrigger in much the way you would for trout. I look forward to hearing more from him on that front.

As you can see from the above, downriggers have a multitude of potential uses and may well give you an edge over your mates when it comes to targeting fish at depth.

A word of warning

Depending on the weight of the ball or diving device, a huge amount of strain can be placed on the downrigger and its base.

In recent years I have always had Extreme’s workshop team beef up the gunwale area where the downrigger base is fixed on the magazine boats.

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On the last boat the boys made up a removable base that allowed me to take the downriggers between boats. These bases fitted into a rod holder, but I found in many cases only the heaviest-duty holders were up to the task of taking the strain. The holders need to be either stainless or alloy at the very least, with strong pins to hold the gimbal nock in place, especially when the downrigger arm is extended sideways. Plastic and cheap metal rod holders won’t cut it!

We run a short safety lanyard as some security should a holder break or the downrigger bounce out when underway – I know this last scenario very well from bitter experience!

When gamefishing, don’t trust those expensive ‘goldies’ to the rod holders sometimes fixed to the downrigger themselves. They may be fine for trout gear, but won’t stand up to a decent kingfish or marlin strike.

Depending on where the downrigger is fixed to the gunwale, the skipper needs to take extra care when making a sharp turn, so as to prevent the cable or line from becoming tangled in the prop or rudder. Gentle changes of direction are required.

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