netic Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 This time last year there was only a handful of members that used downriggers, Obviously a downriggers popularity has grown considerably over the past 12 months. Just thought we could see how many of us now use them, how many you have on your boat(eg;1 or 2) and what are your thoughts on this tool. As most of you all know i do use them and love them, I have 2 on my boat and use downriggers to catch all my kings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankp Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 (edited) we have used it only twice now in the past week and have been busted off twice. you cant beat that even if we havent landed the fish. me and my brother are just happy that we are now giving ourselves the best opportunity to get amongst the good action thanks to the downrigger. we just have 1 by the way. Edited March 5, 2007 by frankp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trentski Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I recently got a Scotty 1050 for my birthday (what a missus! ) after reading all the posts on Fishraider. Only used it a couple of times now but was surprised how easy it was. First time out I went on the bay and couldn't get any squid on that day, so I picked up some yakkas, within 30 metres of putting the first bait down I got a big hit - I didn't hook him but was blown away by how quickly I was into the action. After that I put a much larger yakka on and nothing touched it. Admittedly I am still learning about them but how good is it when you know your bait is down where the action is. One question though which you would be able to answer Netic. When I troll live squid I go as slow as the motor will allow me to but when I troll stripped squid should I stay at that speed or go any faster? Any advice on this would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted March 5, 2007 Author Share Posted March 5, 2007 I recently got a Scotty 1050 for my birthday (what a missus! ) after reading all the posts on Fishraider. Only used it a couple of times now but was surprised how easy it was. First time out I went on the bay and couldn't get any squid on that day, so I picked up some yakkas, within 30 metres of putting the first bait down I got a big hit - I didn't hook him but was blown away by how quickly I was into the action. After that I put a much larger yakka on and nothing touched it. Admittedly I am still learning about them but how good is it when you know your bait is down where the action is. One question though which you would be able to answer Netic. When I troll live squid I go as slow as the motor will allow me to but when I troll stripped squid should I stay at that speed or go any faster? Any advice on this would be great. I still go as slow as possible even when i downrigging a strip, mainly so you can keep your bait in the strike zone for longer, you will find with kings that they may follow the bait for a while before deciding to take it. I will often take my boat out of gear when i go over a hot spot so it can just drift past the strike zone then put it back in gear about 10 seconds later, the down side to this is the fact that the peckers will get a better shot at ripping your bait off when drifting that slow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trentski Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Thanks for that. I never thought of taking the boat out of gear but it makes perfect sense. I will give that a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big_steve Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 U mate converted me i have 2 downriggers on my boat scotty 1050 and a strongarm 1085 cant beat the feeling when a massive strike has hit and the rod buckles... just sitting and waiting watching them WHAMMMMMMMMMMO tops steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I have 2 scotty 1050's and I use them all the time BUT... I have been getting more and bigger kings without the downrigger in recent months. The hook up rate is far better when the bait is not on the downrigger and you also don't give the kings too much head start when you hook them straight off the rod tip. I agree with some other fishos in that in water less than 15-20 meters deep, a downrigger can be a hinderance rather than a asset. I still use them every session but settle on weighted baits after the first 1-2 baits. Cheers kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 After reading a few posts singing the praises of the downrigger, got a new penn 620 recently and just learning how to use it. Now Kelvin is saying he has better hookups without using it. You guys are killing me Cheers Kurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishingrod Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 After reading a few posts singing the praises of the downrigger....... Now Kelvin is saying he has better hookups without using it. You guys are killing me Cheers Kurt I must be one of the few people on here who DOES NOT own a downrigger and fishes for Kings !! I normally drift in 10-20m of water over reef with Yakkas 1/3 - 2/3 down. Rod in the rodholder on lowish to medium drag. Sit back, watch the rod tip, when it starts to jiggle, stand up so im ready, wait for it to run (like a freight train), give it 2-5 seconds and then tighten up the drag to stop getitng reefed and the fight is on. I dont actually "strike" the fish by pulling on the rod. I land >80% of hits using this method. cheers Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrantHarris Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Had no idea what one was until I started reading this site. I have just picked up a new Scotty 1050 from ebay for $350 complete with 7 and 10 pound bombs and intend to mount it this weekend and give it a go. I have never caught a kingfish before and am hoping this will help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted March 6, 2007 Author Share Posted March 6, 2007 Had no idea what one was until I started reading this site. I have just picked up a new Scotty 1050 from ebay for $350 complete with 7 and 10 pound bombs and intend to mount it this weekend and give it a go. I have never caught a kingfish before and am hoping this will help. Sounds like a great buy, you arent Hangerharris by any chance are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 After reading a few posts singing the praises of the downrigger, got a new penn 620 recently and just learning how to use it. Now Kelvin is saying he has better hookups without using it. You guys are killing me Cheers Kurt Downrigging is a great way to catch kings and for that matter most other fish. But it is not a magic bullet. All a downrigger does is put the bait down to a certain depth. When you are prospecting, then downrigging is a great way to go as you can cover a lot of water. However, if the fish are concentrated in a particular area then you are wasting fuel by trolling a downrigger. If I can see the kings on the sounder, I sit right on top of them and drop my baits down. Often I throw a jig into them as well. You are spending more time over the strike zone this way. Of course when the fish are more spread out then the downrigger comes to its own but at the moment the kings are hanging around structure and they are pretty thick so are easy to pick up on the sounder. The hook up rate of a downrigger isn't as good as when you have a direct connection to the hook. A downrigger gets the bait down but the geometry of downrigging means that you will ALWAYS get slack line once the line comes off the clip...this is at the most crucial time of a strike. Most of the time the kings just wolf the bait down but sometimes they are very picky. Unless the boat is moving forward to pick up this slack then you can have a shocking hook up ratio. Often with these finicky fish, I just tie a large bean sinker to my line and troll them ..does the same job and results in a better hook up. The downrigger gives you more options but people have been fishing for kings without one for many many years successfully. I use floats, drift, anchor, sinkers, downriggers, unweighted, lures, jigs...everything! CHeers kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy0884 Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 I use my Scotty 1050 with fairly good results... however, i find a nice big no.5 barrel sinker or snapper lead works equally as well some times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrantHarris Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 you arent Hangerharris by any chance are you? Yep. But Hangar with double a on account of my flying. Have I bought something from you?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dano1 Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Just fitted a scotty 1050 downrigger to the boat this arvo . Can't wait to test it out heading out early friday morning in sydney harbour. hopefully pick up some squid(had no problem getting squid on sunday 6 in 40min) and then go out and exchange them for some monster kings. Any tips for the downrigger?? I am probably going to consentrate on the yellow markers and around the reefs!! Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Reely Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 however, i find a nice big no.5 barrel sinker or snapper lead works equally as well some times. You hit the nail on the head, in water to about 15m in depth, downriggers are a waste of money! Just my opinion. But alot of you have had great success using them, so you cant knock them. To me they are a waste of money! K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coollamon Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 I bought a Scotty 1073 the other week and installed it on my boat no luck yet but I will keep persisting When I am down rigging what should I be loking for on my sounder as I have no Idea I dont seem to see the kings just heaps of bait fish so I drop the bomb to just underneath them and troll through slowly is that the correct way to go? Coollamon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 (edited) Downriggers are great for certain things like prospecting an area but once you find the kings then a sinker or a float or even an unweighted bait will get you results. I find especially in winter when the kings are further apart in some locations, the downrigger gets them in, Last sunday, the kings were hitting baits on the downrigger in the morning and then stopped biting. There were several boats downrigging and all they got were a rat here and there. I just drifted my boat with squid strips and cleaned up with double hook up after double hook up. Hooked several monsters that bricked me in seconds. Never missed a hookup this way as you can allow the king to turn and swallow the bait. WIth a downrigger you are placing a lot of faith in pinning the king as it strikes. THose of you who have downriggers, it is an awesome technique but not always the best so keep your minds open! Cheers Kelvin Edited March 6, 2007 by namesay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted March 6, 2007 Author Share Posted March 6, 2007 (edited) You hit the nail on the head, in water to about 15m in depth, downriggers are a waste of money! Just my opinion. But alot of you have had great success using them, so you cant knock them. To me they are a waste of money! K. Mate definately not a waste of money....think you have to educate yourself a bit more on what has been happening recently...... Im not saying that other methods wont work because they definately will but my catch rate now compared to when i didnt have riggers has quadtripled....and there are other many benefits.... Things like less chance of getting your live (or just dead) squid pecked away at by smaller fish because the bait is moving. Downriggers are another tool in an anglers arsenal and a good one at that, may you be in 5 metres or 100 metres depth. How else to you propose to get your bait down 10 metres in amongst moorings without having a 20 metre set back If you fished regurlary in the harbour/bay. you would know these things. Edited March 6, 2007 by netic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Reely Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 (edited) Not gonna argue with you Netic, ive fished the Harbour for the last ten years at least, and have moved on from Kings to other fish. Ive caught that many kings and not rats, i'm sick of them. Once you burley them up and get them excited i can catch them on ciggie butts! Each to their own. ANd i mostly prefer to catch them trolling, i find fooling them that way is a task and a half! There is no fish you have caught on a dwonrigger that i have not caught in the past trolling. So to me they area waste of money, plus no downrigger is big eought to troll a proper hoodlum bait. Oh i come back to say this, you should re-read my post as i said that they do work, as you guys have had great success using them. I dont know where educating myself would help, Doh!!! lol. Edited March 6, 2007 by Reely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted March 7, 2007 Author Share Posted March 7, 2007 (edited) Not gonna argue with you Netic, ive fished the Harbour for the last ten years at least, and have moved on from Kings to other fish. Ive caught that many kings and not rats, i'm sick of them. Once you burley them up and get them excited i can catch them on ciggie butts! Each to their own. ANd i mostly prefer to catch them trolling, i find fooling them that way is a task and a half! There is no fish you have caught on a dwonrigger that i have not caught in the past trolling. So to me they area waste of money, plus no downrigger is big eought to troll a proper hoodlum bait. Oh i come back to say this, you should re-read my post as i said that they do work, as you guys have had great success using them. I dont know where educating myself would help, Doh!!! lol. Mate definately not looking for an arguement so please don't take it that way, just some healthy debate... from what i can gather you havent fished for kings regurlary for some time now, I have only been fishing seriously for 4 years now so in the area of experience im am lacking. But I do have friends of mine, good friends that run charters out of Sydney, Game charters and estuary charters and these guys have been fishing for many years. What they have told me is that fishing in the harbour has changed dramatically in the past ten years and many of them have had to alter there techniques, so what may have worked well 10 years ago may not work so well now, thats what i meant with the word "educate". Ten years ago Yakkas were a gun bait inside the harbour but currently there are a clear second to squid. 4 years ago nearly every king was taking a sluggo no probs, this year only a small percentage will take a soft plastic. Each year king fisho's have to alter there techniques on how to target kings as there habits change from season to season All im saying is that in todays harbour fishing a downrigger is a very effective oeice of equipment to use. And i understand that you have moved onto different species, I also love chasing the larger Gamefish...YFT...Marlin( still to capture one on a trailer boat) but because you havent chased kings for a while ( i presume) your knowledge of them can be somewhat outdated, especially when it comes to getting them inside our harbour. Hopefully i havent offended you in any way but im just stating the obvious from my observations and from those who are way more experienced then I, And im more then happy to let you know who my pro angler friends are that im referring too through a pm just so you know im not talking out of my ass. Edited March 7, 2007 by netic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankp Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Hi Reely What brand of ciggie butt ??? I smoke Holidays and if they work that good I might corner the market in em Cheers Stewy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingy Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 I use a Scotty 1050 and have done so for over about a year and a half. I usually run the downrigger 2/3 to the bottom and have 3 or 4 other weighted and unweighted baits out in the spread. Sometimes I would go home hungry without the DR!! Sometimes the fish hang deep and don't want to come up and hit the gear near the surface. Othertimes only the unweighted baits get hit. Othertimes the short weighted line keeps getting hit. I cover all my bases to try and get into the action. Downriggers are an essential part of the spread for kingy's if you ask me!!! It may slow down your troll to 1 or 2 knots, but covers more of the water column and adds another option for a potentially wary fish. The more baits/liveys you can get in your spread the more it looks like a school of fish which aint a bad thing! Kingy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Reely Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 You have not told me anything i dont already know, anyway, Good debate. And just because i have not posted any reports of Kings lately it does not mean that i have not gotten any? Ive actually caught about 60 in 3 trolls from Maroubra to Sydney Heads coming in from outwide just in that one direction, although most just under legal i have gotten a few 70cm models, i understand that many people have changed their styles to get the kings, but this year they are here in numbers so i dont think anything special has to be done to get them. And like i said Netic, no one except Kelvin has come close to showing me a King worthy of getting a downrigger? and how many of you guys are using them?, dont worry i bag my mates for having them too. But im not to say they are crap as last year Otto won a Marlin comp using a downrigger for the biggest MArlin for the comp! They work, and to some they work great, it is something i never denied, just think you could buy another rod and reel rather than a downrigger and use the cheaper alternative and still get the same fish. Stewy that was funny! I'll pay that one! By the way they were Winfield's! on a bait rod! K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james1990 Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 the second investment on the new boat is a downrigger, first is a chartplotter if it hasn't already got one, anyone got any recomendations to what is the best brand/ model to go for? It's got to be relativly cheap, easy to store away and not get in the way. Will be using it for kings maybe bit of outside trolling for marlin etc. cheers james Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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