How deep am I ???

With a cutplug I troll pretty slow, usually lets the salmon totally inhale my bait instead of nipping the tail, I have yet to have a something grab it and not get hooked.

Its not how deep you fish, its how you wiggle your worm.

 

If you are good at determining what your line angle is, I think this chart can be pretty helpful. Then it won't matter if you have use DD6 or 8 oz banana or whatever, all you need is the angle of the dangle and how much line your have out.

BINGO!!! For guys like me that do not use electronics, I use the math in that chart. Or you can drop line vertically to get depth to bottom and you will have that, and get your angle, let line out, and if you want to know your distance back you have two lengths and use pothagrium theory to calc that out.

I run a fish seeker diver a little and feel it gives a pretty good depth control...Its similar to a deep six but you can change the plane angle, and they come with a pretty good chart. I taped the chart to the inside of my trolling box.

This is an excellent question, Kirk.  Knowing how much line you have out and how deep you're trolling are major points that I stress to anyone I'm guiding on a trolling mission - which is every trip for me.  I don't have any desire to 'jig' for rockfish and lingcod anymore - I just troll.

An excellent point was made about drift - some days it's so strong that your stuff gets toppled on itself because you can't troll fast enough to keep it laid out in a train.  On those days you might be getting down deeper when you're with the current, and you might be stretched out up top when you're against it.

Watching the angle of dangle and ALWAYS knowing exactly how much line you have out are the keys, IMO.

You'll get a real good idea of how deep you are when you snag bottom and lose expensive gear - that sticks in your brain.

The chart that showed 20 pulls/40 feet of line out...etc. is good info, but remember too that, especially with mono, your angle lies to you a little bit - your setup is a little lower than the angle tells because the line is resisting and 'ballooning' slightly toward the surface.

Is it really that critical? If they aren't at the depth you are fishing change your depth.

Is it really that critical?

Absolutely that critical at Shelter Cove because you're working around a reef with humps and pinnacles.

Also, even if you're somewhere without reef (like off of Humboldt Bay), you need to know how much line you have out and how deep your gear is.  When you aren't getting a bite and you hear the fleet on the VHF talking about how deep they're getting bit, you don't just start varying your offering and hoping to get a bite when it's at the right depth.  Bites from salmon don't come that easy.  You have to do everything you can the entire time to increase your odds of getting bit - there's nothing casual about it - it's about focus and dedication.

Trolling for salmon deeper than a hundred feet or so in a kayak without an outrigger is difficult. A pound of lead with spoon/bait/plug should let one troll effectively to that depth by looking at the line angle in the water. One can guesstimate the depth by amount of line let out and the angle. If fishing over sand, touch bottom and work the water column up by increasing troll speed. Good way to cover area while searching.

Geometry is your friend.
Just put enough weight so that when you paddle your line is about 45 degree angle. You are then running the hypotenuse in pulls.

Then just divide pulls by 1.4 in your head.keep it simple and make a pull= a foot

Gives you something to do while paddling.

50 is about 35 feet, 60 about 45.

The most accurate presentation is using a DR or sinker release with a LC reel and spectra. Depending on your transducer placement, you can confirm your depth using your sonar. A ball flasher will make your ball more visible on sonar. Diving planes are more difficult to know what depth you are actually at. I prefer fishing diving planes though and always start the day pulling a DD6. There are quite a few hard core OG's who fish sinker release only with 1-2.5 lead balls. If you are paddling, sinker release is easier than DR. I like to roll with a DD6 setup for trolling down to 75' and a DR or sinker release for trolling deeper than 75' or dragging mud at any depth.