First timer downrigging for Kingfish

[Poly2096]

Hi all,

Ive just gotten myself a Scotty 1085 downrigger and a Hookem rod holder mount. I hope to take it all out for a spin sometime over the next few weeks. Problem is i have only used a downrigger once before. I understand the basics but need as much help as possible on all the little details. Things like, how far should i run the live bait (i plan on downrigging squid or yakkas if possible) behind the DR bomb? Can i use an overhead reel in the scotty rod holder which is attached to the boom? Do i free spool my reel as i am letting down the bomb? What speed should i troll at? I only have the one DR but some people have talked about attaching flashers to the DR. Does anyone have experience doing this? is it worth it?

Basically any tips anyone has would be hugely appreciated?

Thanks so much in advance

 

[JonD]

First thing I did with mine was change the wire to 150lb colour change braid.  The downrigger ball has to be pretty big if pulling big baits for kings, 5lb minimum. To keep the downrigger weight down low you may need to drop the engine in and out of gear to keep the boat speed down low. While in the water I've regularly seen kings swim right up to my teaser, so I don't think leader length is overly important. I use a light drag on my reel when letting my bait down with the downrigger weight.

You can use a rubber band as a breakaway or the plastic tension clip type. My down rigger also gets used to lower homemade burley cages to just off the bottom while bottom bashing, you should see it on your sounder pretty clearly.  Another use for me is to drop a big teaser of glitter floats ( drilled to sink) which works very well at attracting kings to the boat. The same teaser is used behind the boat chassing game.

Edited December 9, 2018 by JonD

[PaddyT]

100% on the braid- i just use 200lb braid, 6lb bomb with a large raider jig splitringed to the back of the bomb  and a meter of heavy nylon to a release clip. Usually flick the livie out the back of the boat 5-6 M ,leave the reel in freespool or bail arm open, clip the line into the clip, drop the bomb (under control, I usually wind it down ) , set it and then wind the line on my rod and reel tight so the rod tip is slightly bent. I use either an eggbeater or an overhead and I dont play with the drag while dropping- cause its too hard to reset correctly. I then watch the rod like a hawk, very often kings will knock the line out of the release clip without hooking up- if that happens immediately freespool or open the bail arm and 9/10 the king will come back and eat properly. As soon as you are hooked up wind the bomb up- cause hooked fish love swimming around the downrigger line if its left out. For livies i use heavy duty 8/0's (eg Mustad Hoodlums or Gamakatsu Live bait hooks) pinned through the nose sideways- for squid i use one of those and a 2/0 4x strong treble at the back.

[Poly2096]

Thanks so much guys. A couple of follow ups. I’ve read a lot about braid over wire. Is it really worth it? The guy at the shop didn’t carry the braid and said not many people requested it so wasn’t convinced. 

 

Whne you say you throw the livey 5-6m out the back of the boat and attach to release clip is this to say your live squid is travelling about 5m behind the bomb?

 

and lastly when you say you attach a raider to the bomb how do you do this without it tangling with the release clip or line? Is it worth having a teaser down with the livey?

 

thanks so much everyone. Anyone else with yips please feel free. 

[JonD]

Use the wire for now but if it gets kinked or damaged replace with braid. It's said that the humbing noise made by the wire attracts sharks but we don't get that many sharks to really tell if that's true. 

Kingfish tend to be quite inquisitive so the noise may even help, the kings certainly come in to check out all my rattle floats. Kings also check us out while on scuba, they seem to like the bubbles.

A proper downrigger ball has a fin to stop them spinning around which can twist your main line if it spins. I use a round lead ball with a fin I make out of heavy plastic and silicon to the ball. I did have a mold for making these but leant it to a mate who seems to of forgot to return it.

If you keep an eye on your sounder depth and the depth on your downrigger I doubt you will lose any weights.

I tend to have a belly loop in my line and my drag set quite hard but I'm sure PaddyT s way would also work with the same success.

[PaddyT]

OK- this will answer some of your questions but is also a train of thought on downrigging for kings; Braid doesnt rust, doesnt need crimps and crimping tools (even though I do have them on board), if a get a really bad snag or a really bad tangle I can fix it with a knife, wire tends to develop weak spots through corrosion and rust  and kinks really easily. I removed the hooks off a large raider jig, attached it to the rear of the bomb with a heavy duty split ring and then attached the release clip to the front split ring with about a meter of line between the split ring and release clip. I dont really worry too much about the distance between the bait and the release clip except when im running two downriggers- then one bait goes about 15 m back and the other anywhere between 5 and 10m back. I dont think the flash from the jig does any harm as kings are very curious (as Jon said), im not sure on the difference in catch rates between the wire line and braid- ive run them side by side and havent noticed a difference but the "hum" from the wire i find a bit annoying . I would suggest you find a nice snag free area on a calm morning and do a series of practice runs until you get the hang of it all . I generally dont get too fussy on how deep i run the bomb- i generally know the areas I fish pretty well so for example- if im on Long Reef- which has a couple of pinnacles that pop up to about 25ft I but most of the area Im fishing is around 60-70ft deep (and I use feet because the Scotty depth counter is in feet and also one crank of the handle on a Scotty 1085 is 2feet of line so I dont have to think much ). I will drop the bomb to about 30 feet and start chugging around , if i am running towards one of the pinnacles than I can simply increase my speed and the bomb will rise above and snags - using your sounder and GPS plot makes life much easier this way! Also I generally start my trolling runs in the deeper section of reef and work my way around. My first point of call on any kingfish mission is the "upcurrent" edge of the reef. On deeper reefs - say "Mugs" of North head the depth is around 100-120 feet deep- I will drop the bomb to about 80 feet and work the entire area-it doesnt really have any sharp pinnacles -until i hit fish. Just have a routine and you will be fine

[Poly2096]

thank you both very much 

 

[Welster]

I have only done a little downrigging but agree with the guys above.  Here are a few more thoughts.

Does your sounder read in the same unit’s ( metric or imperial) as the DR or are you good at converting in your head?  Otherwise a conversion sticker or changing the sounder setting may help.

I have mostly used a bait runner to drop the baits down using the secondary drag. A lever drag overhead is pretty good too.   This is probably not as important for the more experienced or if you have somebody else on board.

I am still running wire but the humming noise is annoying. 

I usually check the bait isn’t likely to spin. Before deploying it. 

Is your rod holder plastic, that didn’t go so good for me breaking it first go with an  8lb bomb.    I tried to change to an alloy one but it wouldn’t cover the old ones paint marks so ended up having a special one made that uses the plastic one as an insert. 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2018 by Welster

[PaddyT]

Oh yeah forgot to talk about the rod holder- DONT use the holder on the downrigger except for trout fishing- Scotty rod holders are great for light tackle but downrigging for kings on full drag will not end well!I dont let my down rigger bomb down at full speed- i wind it backwards- i have much better control, i hate fiddling with drags on the boat and baitrunner reels wont hack it, if you wind the downrigger bomb down with the bail arm open and the boat moving forward you will never have a problem.

[New Signing]

I've got a few questions as well:

- What hooks do you guys prefer for downrigging slimies and yakka's? (im not wasting good squid on kings)

- Do you bridle rig or just go straight through the nose?

- Locked up drag or free spool to allow them to swallow the bait?

- What is your preferred size of live bait?

I'm sure there are more questions that ill think of later on

[PaddyT]

look above- 8/0 live bait style hooks eg Mustad Hoodlums or Gamakatsu Livebait hooks, 

-hook through the nose, cant be bother bridle rigging 99% of the time

- i actually set my drag using a set of scales- usually 7-8kg of drag on my lighter outfits (40lb braid and 60-80lb leader), 10kgs on heavier out fit 65lb braid and  80-100lb leader. Some days lighter leader gets all the bites, but i leave the rod in the holder on full drag, if i get a knockout then i drop into freespool or open bail arm to get the king to come back

- whatevers in the tank, pike, yakkas, slimies, big baits get played with a bit more than little ones-little ones are straight down the hatch

[Poly2096]

When you say is out rod holder plastic do you mean the one built into the boat hull? We have a polycraf so it is all the one mould

[PaddyT]

no idea how strong those are , more referring to the one on the downrigger boom

[Poly2096]

Cool thanks. Lots of really good tips here thanks guys. Lastly any view on trolling speed?

[PaddyT]

chug along at idle in general which depending on current is anywhere between 1-3.5 knots in my boat

[Poly2096]

Thanks paddy