New too NOR CAL Kayak Fishing

I'm not really new, but it has probably been five plus years since I last logged in, and doubt I made any posts then. Might have though.

I just spent the last week at Bullards Bar. Went Kokanee fishing,, for the first time ever, twice in my yak. I used a homemade jury rigged downrigger (and that is stretching the definition). Without really having a clue as to what I was doing, I managed to boat five over two early mornings. Lost a few at the yak when bumping the side of the yak. And had a few long distance releases.

Came back up to washington and am looking for kokanee spots up here now. Just need to figure out a reasonable diy downrigger.

PS the Coors is just what i had on hand. lol

Glad to meet you all.

Nate, You don't have to use a down rigger to fish for Koke's. Many of us just use a dropper rig. If the fish are 50' deep or more, that's when the down rigger helps. If they are shallower than that, try the dropper rig. Let me know if you need info on the dropper rig.
Good job on your first try. If you're not addicted to them yet, you soon will be! Hope you have a fat wallet!
Kevin.

Welcome back  . Thanks for the report and pictures Nate.

Nate, You don't have to use a down rigger to fish for Koke's. Many of us just use a dropper rig. If the fish are 50' deep or more, that's when the down rigger helps. If they are shallower than that, try the dropper rig. Let me know if you need info on the dropper rig.
Good job on your first try. If you're not addicted to them yet, you soon will be! Hope you have a fat wallet!
Kevin.

Tell me more!

I was using a carabiner tied to super heavy line, with a downrigger weight and the downrigger release clip. When I had a fish on, pull it off the clip like a standard downrigger, reel in, get lucky and land one, bump the kayak and lose it.

Then I would just haul the "downrigger" up, and start all over. Get my corn on the wedding ring, strip out 30 or so feet of line, making sure nothing got tangled, let the pole in the pole holder, clip the line, then loosen the drag, and do a slow drop down to 40ish feet, and start paddling.

and mostly remembered to retighten my drag. 

Nate,
My set up is as follows;
Rod: Eagle Claw Featherlight Kokanee Trolling Rod. $25 at Walmart. - Dont let the cheap price fool you. These are fantastic Koke/Trout trolling rods.
Reel: Abu Garcia Max Digital Line Counter Low Profile Baitcast Reel. $120. I have two of these digital line counter reels and love them.
Main line: Yo-Zuri Hybrid Fishing Line, Clear, 10-Pound.
Dropper rig: On the main line, add a bead, a small weight slider and another bead. Then tie on a bead chain swivel. I run 3-4 foot leader from the chain swivel to a 4" dodger. Then 6-8" back for a lure that has no action, like a Hootchie, Spin-n-Glow or Wedding ring. 12-18" back for lure with built in action like Spoons, Wiggle Hoochies, Cut Plugs.
On the weight slider, add 2,3 or 4oz Torpeedo or Cannon Ball weight depending on how deep the fish are.
You could use a snap swivel instead of the weight slider but it may wear out your line. The advantage of the weight slider is that when a fish strikes, it only feels the tension from the rod and the drag because the weight is sliding freely up and down the main line when the the fish hits and runs.  The chain swivel is a must. It keeps everything from twisting up.

Hope this helps. I can take pics if you need them.
Kevin

Thanks. Those eagle claws are the rods I have been looking at. my low tech solution to the reel counter reel was/is bobber stops. I was thinking the first bobber stop at 50 feet, then 100 feet, then 10 feet there after.... The rest of it, makes sense on your set up, but i would not have thought about the chain swivel until I learned my lesson. lol

Hey there Gentlemen, enjoyed reading what everyone is using. I have been trying the redirig instant downrigger lately and have had some success with it, still need to use it more to gauge if it is really good in all situations. It does seem a little easier to use than the standard downrigger set up. Still trying to get depth and release down. I am interested if anyone of you guys has any experience with this product, please let me know, happy fishing guys, Ron.

I had to look that up. And of course, I was seeing Ree Die Rig instead of ready rig.... 

Looks intriguing.