New Downrigger, first salmon of 2018!

It has been a long time coming but I finally landed my first Salmon of 2018, and from the kayak! I just got the down rigger for the kayak and it worked perfectly! I am sure everyone here has more experience with it so feel free to shoot me any tips you have! I have heard switching the downrigger cable to braid helps. Is it worth switching out? Any advice is greatly appreciated! Here is the video!!!

Dude nice catch, sweet footage on the whale too that must've been pretty close.

Subscribing to this as I'm just starting out with a downrigger as well.

One thing I was curious about is how much line people let out before setting the clip.

Also - do you free spool, lower the downrigger, then reel up a bit to tighten/bend the rod ?  I used a 2.5lb weight and thinking it was a bit light for the ocean.

Cool video 

DieHardFishing, congratulations on nailing a salmon the first time you used a downrigger!

You were holding your rod in your hand while downrigger trolling, which is a lot of work and ties up an arm.  My primary suggestion is to put your rod in a rod holder when downrigger trolling.  I recommend that you mount the rod holder in front of you, so you can monitor its tip and don't have to constantly turn around to see your rod.  Mount it close enough to your seat so you can crank up your downrigger weight with one hand while winding in fishing line and keeping your rod under tension with your other hand.  I explained how I set up my Revolution for downrigger trolling with a Cannon Lake-Troll downrigger, why I set it up that way, and how I use it at http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=12575.msg138905#msg138905 .

I have mounted a Scotty Laketroller on my 13' Ocean Kayak Trident, which is a paddle kayak, and I have mounted a Scotty Depthmaster and a Cannon Lake-Troll on my 13' Revolution.  The Cannon Lake-Troll is by far my favorite setup.  Scotty Laketrollers are an inexpensive way to try out downrigger trolling, and they are small enough that you can find a way to mount them on a paddle kayak which doesn't interfere with paddling.  But they are a primitive design which can only handle about a four pound weight.  If you find that downrigger trolling is fun and effective, consider upgrading to a bigger and easier to use downrigger.  I run an eight pound weight on my Cannon Lake-Troll, and routinely troll down to around 200 feet.

The hum from a steel downrigger cable drives me crazy, and I worry that it will scare away fish.  You can hear DieHardFishing's cable humming in his video.  I replace the steel cable which comes with my downriggers with Scotty 175 pound low-drag braided downrigger line, which doesn't have any hum.

One thing I was curious about is how much line people let out before setting the clip.

Also - do you free spool, lower the downrigger, then reel up a bit to tighten/bend the rod ?  I used a 2.5lb weight and thinking it was a bit light for the ocean.

How much fishing line you let out before you clip into your release depends on how deep you are trolling, how close to the bottom you are trolling, and how much you are turning and maneuvering.  If you are trolling for fish which are close to the surface and may be spooked away by your kayak, let out a lot of line, perhaps 80 feet.  But with that much line out, you can't turn very quickly, because your lure will stall out when you turn and you may cross back over your fishing line and snag it, and because your lure will follow a line which is inside the track of your kayak, you may drag your lure over obstructions and bottom features while turning.  I usually troll with 25-30 feet of line out behind my downrigger weight, which allows me to maneuver pretty quickly, even when trolling close to the bottom.  If I cross over a school of fish, I turn and troll in figure 8 and cloverleaf patterns through the area where I spotted the fish, with the help of the GPS features of my fish finder.  Some people downrigger troll with as little as six feet between their downrigger weight and their lure.

I let out fishing line while pedaling forward.  When I have let out as much fishing line as I want to, I grab the line and put my rod in its holder, keeping the line under a little tension so the limp braided line doesn't get flipped around the tip of my rod.  Then I clip the line into my downrigger release, turn on my reel's clicker, release my reel's spool, and lower my downrigger weight.  The clicker will keep too much line from free-spooling out.  When my downrigger weight reaches the depth I want, I stop lowering it and reel in fishing line to bend my rod over like a bow.

The heavier your downrigger weight, the less it will get blown back, which means that you will be able to troll deeper before the weight gets blown back out of the cone of your sonar, and there will be less difference between the depth at which your weight appears to be on your fish finder and the true vertical distance between the surface and your weight.  I suggest that you use the heaviest weight which your downrigger can handle.  The Scotty Laketroller which DieHardFishing is using is only rated for a 4 pound weight, but I run an 8 pound weight on my Cannon Lake-Troll, which allows me to troll routinely down to about 200 feet.

Deffinatley switch out the cable for braid!
The braid will cut through the water creating less drag which equals deeper presentation, easier paddling /peddling. Also there is a safety factor ...with braid, if you hang up, a simple swing of the knife will set you free where as with cable and a big swell it could be epic disaster.
I would suggest 80lb for the braid.
;0)

Deffinatley switch out the cable for braid!
The braid will cut through the water creating less drag which equals deeper presentation, easier paddling /peddling. Also there is a safety factor ...with braid, if you hang up, a simple swing of the knife will set you free where as with cable and a big swell it could be epic disaster.

I wear a river safety knife on my PFD, but if I snag my downrigger weight on something, I can release the cable reel and let out downrigger line faster than I could get my knife out.  Then instead of loosing an expensive weight and downrigger line, I can head back in the direction I came from and try to pull the weight off the obstruction. Although I spend a lot of time downrigger trolling right above the bottom for lake trout, I have rarely hooked my downrigger weight on anything, and I've never lost a downrigger weight.

You can hook your downrigger weight on man-made obstructions which aren't visible on your fish finder.  For example, I once hooked my weight on a water skiing tow rope which had sunk to the bottom, as shown  in the picture below.  Apparently a loop of the rope was high enough to hook my weight.

Nice fish, quality video, and where were you fishing?

Thank you all for the advice. I think I will switch out the cable for braid. See you guys on the water!

Deffinatley switch out the cable for braid!
The braid will cut through the water creating less drag which equals deeper presentation, easier paddling /peddling. Also there is a safety factor ...with braid, if you hang up, a simple swing of the knife will set you free where as with cable and a big swell it could be epic disaster.

I wear a river safety knife on my PFD, but if I snag my downrigger weight on something, I can release the cable reel and let out downrigger line faster than I could get my knife out.  Then instead of loosing an expensive weight and downrigger line, I can head back in the direction I came from and try to pull the weight off the obstruction. Although I spend a lot of time downrigger trolling right above the bottom for lake trout, I have rarely hooked my downrigger weight on anything, and I've never lost a downrigger weight.

You can hook your downrigger weight on man-made obstructions which aren't visible on your fish finder.  For example, I once hooked my weight on a water skiing tow rope which had sunk to the bottom, as shown  in the picture below.  Apparently a loop of the rope was high enough to hook my weight.

Happy to hear the tow rope didn't sink your vessel.  I'm curious to know if down riggers have a drag system like a fishing reel?  I'm imagining some nasty sounding clicker to let you know you've hooked into a fiber optic line or something....

Nice going, Diehard!  I enjoy your videos.

You make it look easy, Adam! Great videos - keep 'em coming.

I wear a river safety knife on my PFD, but if I snag my downrigger weight on something, I can release the cable reel and let out downrigger line faster than I could get my knife out.  Then instead of loosing an expensive weight and downrigger line, I can head back in the direction I came from and try to pull the weight off the obstruction. Although I spend a lot of time downrigger trolling right above the bottom for lake trout, I have rarely hooked my downrigger weight on anything, and I've never lost a downrigger weight.

You can hook your downrigger weight on man-made obstructions which aren't visible on your fish finder.  For example, I once hooked my weight on a water skiing tow rope which had sunk to the bottom, as shown  in the picture below.  Apparently a loop of the rope was high enough to hook my weight.

Happy to hear the tow rope didn't sink your vessel.  I'm curious to know if down riggers have a drag system like a fishing reel?  I'm imagining some nasty sounding clicker to let you know you've hooked into a fiber optic line or something....

If you are fishing on a body of water with no current, hooking a downrigger on the bottom is not a big deal, at least if you can dislodge it.  I rarely hook my weight, although I spend a lot of time trolling very close to the bottom for lake trout.  If I do hook my weight, it often takes me a while to realize that it's happened.  My kayak will slow up and turn a bit towards the side on which my downrigger is mounted, the "V" of ripples coming off my downrigger cable will disappear, and I realize that I'm no longer moving forward.  Once I figure out what has happened, I release the cable reel on my downrigger, turn around and head back in the direction I came from, and after a while I put the brake onto the cable reel, and the weight usually pops right off and I crank it up off the bottom.

Hooking your weight on the bottom in current could create an instant disaster.  Your kayak could flip over and even get pulled partly underwater, and you could get washed away from it.  I don't downrigger troll anywhere near the bottom in current, and I keep in mind that submerged trees and man-made debris could stick well up above the bottom.  Current could wash you into those kinds of obstructions before you have time to raise your weight.  I recommend that you not downrigger troll in current unless your weight is far above the bottom.

If you snag your downrigger weight on something while trolling from a kayak in still water, pedaling or paddling your kayak won't put enough strain on your downrigger cable to make the cable reel slip.  I don't know if your cable reel will slip if you hook a downrigger weight when trolling from a motorboat; I haven't ever done that. 

Congratulations Die Hard really enjoyed this and most all your videos. See you on the water.

Thanks for posting!

Also read all this down rigger stuff (even though I don't own one) and kinda makes my head spin. Amazing how much information pmmpete has fit in so few posts. 

Also read all this down rigger stuff (even though I don't own one) and kinda makes my head spin. Amazing how much information pmmpete has fit in so few posts. 

+1

Very good info, pmmpete - you're obviously an expert with it.  Reading through all of it I am impressed for sure, but I think my overall feeling is that the ocean versus lakes leads to 2 different overall priorities.  Everything you do with a downrigger on a kayak in the ocean has to be approached from a safety first perspective.  Current, swell and wind would be the big issues for downrigger snagging in the ocean, and even if current and wind are mild, swell could really do you in if your downrigger snagged the reef.

I admire the folks that use a downrigger from a kayak.  More challenges lead to more fun in this sport.