Rod or Downrigger First?

For those of you fishing a downrigger for ocean salmon, what is your game plan when you hook up? Do you leave the rod in the holder while bringing up the downrigger, or try to bring it up while holding the rod, or just leave it down and try to maneuver the fish to keep it clear of the cable?

So far I've been leaving the rod in the holder while pedaling to keep tension on the fish. This works most of the time, but definitely a panicked few moments before I can grab the rod. I mostly use a Scotty Laketroller, which doesn't have a clutch/ratchet, so if I need to pause in the middle of bringing it up I have to jam it with my knee.

If you don't grab the rod you will lose the fish most likely.

I have my rod on my left with a left handed reel. My downrigger is on my right. When the dr pops I start cranking the reel with my left hand (probably couldn’t do this with a right handed reel) while cranking the downrigger with my right hand. I usually don’t peddle forward because it always seems like I just end up in a circle if I’m not holding my rudder.

I'd play the fish and keep the kayak positioned with my peddles and rudder to avoid any entanglement.  Barbless hooks won't tolerate even a moment of slack.  If worse came to worse, I'd cut my downrigger line (80lb braid) and stay on the fish. 

I've since given up using a downrigger on my kayak when on the ocean though.  Just way too many obstacles to snag and swells that could flip me over.  I do use it a lot for kokes, macks and trout though.  Nice, safe mountain lakes. 

I don’t bring up my downrigger at any point of the fight, i try to stay composed,  tire the fish out from a distance and bring the salmon in when they’re exhausted.

I did tangled once a while back because It was my first fish of the season and I got too excited and brought it in hot. Here’s a video of HMB last season from strike to net.

dont mess with the downrigger until the fish is on the clip

I don’t use a downrigger very often (at all) these days, but if I did I would be focusing on the rod and fish 100%, and using my pedals and rudder to keep the fish clear of the DR line. I wouldn’t even consider leaving my rod in the holder to wind up the DR. And I definitely wouldn’t cut my DR line to save a fish. There will always be more fish...

I don’t stop pedaling until the fight is done and I’m ready to net the fish. They are behind the boat for the most part, and even if they misbehave and swim in front, you should be able to throw the rudder hard left or hard right and get them back behind you in a hurry.

But like I said, I don’t use my DR much these days. I much prefer the simplicity of a DD6 diver, especially when most fish are hooked in the top 15-30 feet of water (30-60 pulls). Most of the fish I’ve caught on the Marin coast and HMB have been at 42 pulls, which is about 20 feet down.


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Isn’t the downriver clip supposed to release?

Yes, the fish could then get entangled, but that’s a different matter than seems to be your question? Right Krishna??  I have to say that your post is kinda amusing, considering that you’re s regular Pink Slayer [emoji23][emoji23] already [emoji1360][emoji1360]


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I have to say that your post is kinda amusing, considering that you’re s regular Pink Slayer ...

I was thinking the same thing... whatever you're doing, keep doing it!

I haven't fished for salmon much since I got my AI (ironic, I know...), but the couple of salmon that I caught in kayak mode were both caught using a downrigger fished close to the bottom. In that case, I think it's critical to crank up the DR ball, at least part way--it would be easy to lose track of the depth while fighting the fish and that could be disastrous. What I did was to grab the rod and try to get control of the situation, then quickly give a few cranks on the DR to get the ball out of harms way.

My soul for a 12v battery powered lightweight compact electric downrigger

Thanks for the pep talk, ya'll. I'll try leaving the DR alone and have faith that I can maneuver to keep the fish away from it. While fighting small salmon recently (that I wasn't really focused on landing), I've learned that it's pretty easy for them to wrap the DR line, and once they do they almost always escape.

I don’t bring up my downrigger at any point of the fight, i try to stay composed,  tire the fish out from a distance and bring the salmon in when they’re exhausted.

I've watched that video quite a few times. 

I've had a couple of lake trout and kokanee wrap my fishing line around my downrigger cable, either way down below the surface or as the fish darts around next to my kayak, and that's such a massive hassle that this is what I do when I get a strike when downrigger trolling: I grab my rod out of its holder and get tension on the fish, reeling in line as necessary. At the same time, I pedal forward rapidly to keep the fish behind my kayak and away from my downrigger cable. Once I have steady tension on the fish, I continue to pedal forward moderately, keep tension on my rod with one hand, and reel up my downrigger weight with the other hand. Periodically I may need to stop cranking up the weight to reel in some fishing line.  Once the weight is on the surface, I stop pedaling, turn my kayak at right angles to my fishing line, and start playing in the fish.  Cranking up the downrigger weight is kind of a hassle, but it's way less of a hassle than dealing with a fish which has wrapped my fishing line around my downrigger cable.

I've had a couple of lake trout and kokanee wrap my fishing line around my downrigger cable, either way down below the surface or as the fish darts around next to my kayak, and that's such a massive hassle that this is what I do when I get a strike when downrigger trolling: I grab my rod out of its holder and get tension on the fish, reeling in line as necessary. At the same time, I pedal forward rapidly to keep the fish behind my kayak and away from my downrigger cable. Once I have steady tension on the fish, I continue to pedal forward moderately, keep tension on my rod with one hand, and reel up my downrigger weight with the other hand. Periodically I may need to stop cranking up the weight to reel in some fishing line.  Once the weight is on the surface, I stop pedaling, turn my kayak at right angles to my fishing line, and start playing in the fish.  Cranking up the downrigger weight is kind of a hassle, but it's way less of a hassle than dealing with a fish which has wrapped my fishing line around my downrigger cable.

I regard you as a grandmaster of kayak downriggering, pmmpete, so thanks for commenting. The Cannon Lake Troll you recommend would make this a lot easier since you can just let go of the handle without the weight going into free-fall. I love how small and light the Laketroller is though, and mounting the Cannon on the left side isn't practical. Maybe I'll eventually mount the Cannon on the right and then rebuild my whole fish finder and rod setup around that. Seems like the Cannon would be in the way of the paddle for surf landings though.

The Cannon Lake Troll you recommend would make this a lot easier since you can just let go of the handle without the weight going into free-fall. I love how small and light the Laketroller is though, and mounting the Cannon on the left side isn't practical. Maybe I'll eventually mount the Cannon on the right and then rebuild my whole fish finder and rod setup around that. Seems like the Cannon would be in the way of the paddle for surf landings though.

The Scotty Laketroller is a smaller and more primitive downrigger than the Cannon Lake-Troll, but it's a real small downrigger, and thus is an excellent choice for paddle kayaks, because you may be able to mount it in a location where it is convenient to use, but doesn't interfere with your paddle stroke.  I have mounted a Scotty Laketroller on my 13' Trident.  The base for the Laketroller is mounted on the outside wall of the right footwell (i.e. the inside vertical wall of the right gunwale), next to my right thigh.  The downrigger is convenient to crank up in this location, and I can reach across my lap and tighten the hand nut with my left hand while holding the crank handle with my right hand.  Because the downrigger is mounted next to my thigh, I can control the descent of its weight by leaning my thigh on the outside edge of the cable reel while paddling forward.  And when I get a strike and want to raise my downrigger weight to the surface so a fish can't wrap my fishing line around my downrigger cable, I can keep tension on my rod with my left hand while cranking up my weight with my right hand.  If I need to reel in fishing line to keep tension on the fish, I lean my thigh against the downrigger's cable reel to hold it in place while reeling in fishing line, and then go back to cranking up my downrigger weight.  When I get the weight to the surface, I hold it in place with my thigh while tightening the hand nut to lock the cable reel with my right hand.  Thus, if you mount a Scotty Laketroller next to your thigh, your thigh can serve as a "third arm" when paddling and playing in fish.  The pictures at the end of this post show where I mounted my Laketroller on my Trident.

Another place you can mount a Scotty Laketroller on a paddle kayak is in a flush mount on the outside face of the gunwale, so the downrigger is pointing out at a 45 degree angle.  It's a bit harder to lean your thigh on the edge of the cable reel in this location, but it keeps the downrigger out of the way of your paddle stroke.

When mounting a Cannon Lake-Troll downrigger on the gunwale of a pedal kayak, if you include the slide-in base as part of the mount, it'll be real easy to put the downrigger on and take the downrigger off your gunwale.  When paddling out through surf you can strap it securely behind your seat, or put it in a second slide-in base in your rear cargo area or your front hatch, and then slide it into its base on your gunwale when you're through the surf and want to start pedaling and downrigger trolling.  Similarly, when you get ready to paddle in through surf, you can easily remove the downrigger from your gunwale.  My Cannon-Lake-Troll is permanently bolted to its base, which makes it more of a hassle to put the downrigger on and take it off the gunwale.  I need to unbolt the downrigger's base from the gunwale, and then bolt it back on.  I wish I had included the slide-in base as part of my mount.

KPD- The Scotty Depthmaster brake engages when you stop cranking, and it can be mounted on the left rail with a few simple modifications (shorten the boom and move the brake lever to the other side).

I posted a thread a while back showing how I mounted mine - I could dig it up if you’re interested.

Here’s a short clip showing my Depthmaster in action (no fish were harmed in the making of this this video). It does get in the way a little when you try to paddle - I usually just kept it in the hatch while I launched then slid it into the base once I was out on the water.




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