Downrigger Setbacks
Island Fisherman Magazine
Downrigger angle and depth are both important to get those trophy salmon. Here are two tricks of the trade that can make you fish more effectively for salmon when you are out on the water.
Most people troll at 1.5 to 3.5 mph. How do you know if you are at the right speed? Sure, you can look at your GPS speed over ground readings, but you see your downrigger lines are almost straight at 2 mph. Here is a simple trick: Remember the days with steel downrigger lines, when you could hear the humming sound when you were trolling at the correct speed? That’s not the case anymore. With 15-lb cannon balls, the general rule is a 45-degree angle between the downrigger arm and line. With 18-lb cannon balls, it’s roughly 30 degrees. If you are looking for coho salmon, you want to troll faster, which means the downrigger angle will be greater. It can vary from 45 to 60 degrees on the downrigger for 15-lb cannon balls and 30 degrees to 60 degrees on 18 lb cannon balls.
All downrigger wire and braided cables give you blowback when trolling. You can use blowback to your advantage to find more fish. When you troll with the tide, you can control how fast the lure is travelling, judging by the blowback angle. When you troll against the tide, the tide current is already providing the lure action, but it causes more blowback. The more you try to push ahead (trolling faster), the more blowback angle you will have. Try playing around with downrigger angles with the tide; that might improve your success rate in finding salmon.
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