tomahawk1999 Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 Hey raider's I have just bought a scotty d/rigger thru ebay in the states and I am keen to get into some middle harbour/harbour kings this year. I bought an 8lb fish bomb from Saltrix and it looks really good. I have read thru heaps of old posts and thev'e been helpful,but I still have a few questions for the guru's out there. Firstly I was wondering how far back you are fishing your squid behind the bomb and are you just putting the line in the release clip or using a rubber band on the line like we do with outriggers? What depth do you trawl at and how do you deal with the rise and fall of the bottom? Does anyone bridle up yakka's or slimies instead of squid? Do any of you guy's tow the large Gulp squids behind the bomb and have you had any success? Are jewies a regular bycatch or are kings the main fish caught? Thanx in advance for your wisdom; regards, Rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Assassin Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 Hey raider's I have just bought a scotty d/rigger thru ebay in the states and I am keen to get into some middle harbour/harbour kings this year. I bought an 8lb fish bomb from Saltrix and it looks really good. I have read thru heaps of old posts and thev'e been helpful,but I still have a few questions for the guru's out there. Firstly I was wondering how far back you are fishing your squid behind the bomb and are you just putting the line in the release clip or using a rubber band on the line like we do with outriggers? What depth do you trawl at and how do you deal with the rise and fall of the bottom? Does anyone bridle up yakka's or slimies instead of squid? Do any of you guy's tow the large Gulp squids behind the bomb and have you had any success? Are jewies a regular bycatch or are kings the main fish caught? Thanx in advance for your wisdom; regards, Rod. Hi Tomahawk, I guess everyone has their own ways of doing things, here is the way i downrig. If downrigging in 20 meters of water i usually set the bomb at the 10 meter mark, the bomb can usually be seen on the sounder so i adjust accoridingly to fish mid water. Or if i spot a school of fish on the sounder i will try to get the depth set at the school. I clip the line directly into the release clip - no need for rubber bands, and set the bait approx 5 meters behind the bomb, you dont want the bait to follow to far behind the bomb as it will start to float towards the surface. Make sure you have a little bit of slack between your rod and the bomb. As far as bait goes, i only downrig with squid as i have never had much sucess with yakkas or plastics. I run dacron instead of wire as i find it more user friendly, but each to their own. It is difficult to judge what the bottom is going to do, and if it rises from 20m to 5 meters in an unfamiliar area quickly then there isnt much you can do except wave good bye to the bomb. But this comes with experience and when you find your favourite downrigging areas you will soon learn the contours of the sea bed and adjust accordingly. 8lb bomb may be a little light, as this depends on your speed and the depth at which you want to downrig. Kingfish/cobia are usually the targeted species for downrigging i am not sure what the sucess rate of catching jews downrigging is- i personally have not hooked a jew downrigging. All the best with your new downrigger and i hope you pop its cherry with a hood. Regards Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomahawk1999 Posted September 21, 2007 Author Share Posted September 21, 2007 Thanx for the tip's Adam I'm taking it all on board. Here are a few more questions. I have an electric transom mounted so I was going to use this when trolling so i could go extra slow. (Don't know if this is a good idea or not) what speed do you troll at? Also what size bomb are you towing? Lastly what do you do if your bomb get's snagged, my downrigger has wire do you cut it or just try and break it off? Thank's for the advice, Rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbielites Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 Hi Mate, 8lb will be fine in MH. I usually have the bait about 5m behind the bomb, when you are trawling between moored boats you need to have it in fairly close or you are going to have issues with anchor lines and the like. As for depth, the rigger is not a set and forget thing, you need to pay close attention to your sounder and keep the bait 'in the zone" pulling it up and droping it a bit to get your bait where you think the fish might be. I always have my rod taught , with the line just about to pop out of the clip to give you a strike when the bait gets hit. This can take a few goes to get right but be patient you will get to know the point. Cheers. Robbie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomahawk1999 Posted September 21, 2007 Author Share Posted September 21, 2007 Thanks for the advice Robbie, one question though do you have your drag set on strike whilst trolling or do you give them a bit of line before setting the hook? I presume your running a stinger hook in the squid as well? Regards, Rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbielites Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 Hi Mate, Drag set to strike, give 'em nothin!! And yes a two hook rig, getting half a bait back will learn ya Cheers, Robbie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gretsch Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 Tomahawk We have a down rigger. We have used ot three times and always caught Kings. The only trouble is it can be a little bit anti social when you have a few guys aboard. My old man hates it as he is more of a bait soaker. Live Gar are prime baits!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomahawk1999 Posted September 21, 2007 Author Share Posted September 21, 2007 Thanx for the tip's guy's, all the little bit's of info i can get makes the learning curve less steep. Hey Ceph, anti social = rod grabbers heaven on my boat; first in best dressed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnno Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 With my limited knowledge of downrigging set drag to strike as you might only be 2-3metres off bottom when you are downrigging and you don,t want them to nail you on the bottom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingyfisher Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 Gday mate Have never been lucky enough to use squid on the DR as can't catch the bloody things Have used Yakkas and they work fine for me either bridled or through the nose and have caught many a King in the Harbour with them eg: 6 Yakkas = 5 Kingies and one small tuna I use a ten pound bomb and elastic bands, tried using the clips and hated them I set the bomb a third of the depth I'm in (fish can look up but not down) About 5 metres back from the bomb I use 200lb Braid on my DR not wire Hope that helps mate Kingy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomahawk1999 Posted September 22, 2007 Author Share Posted September 22, 2007 Hey kingy, thanx for the advice; a couple of questions though. Do you run braid off the back of your bomb and then a snapswivel, twist the rubber band on your main line and clip the 2 ends into the snap? If so how long is the braid off the back of the bomb? I like the idea of running the bomb only 1/3 the depth not much chance of snagging up I guess. cheer's Rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingyfisher Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 (edited) Hey kingy, thanx for the advice; a couple of questions though. Do you run braid off the back of your bomb and then a snapswivel, twist the rubber band on your main line and clip the 2 ends into the snap? If so how long is the braid off the back of the bomb? I like the idea of running the bomb only 1/3 the depth not much chance of snagging up I guess. cheer's Rod. Mate I run about a 40lb leader off the bomb for about a metre to a snap swivel and twist the main line onto the rubber band As I said before fish cant look down but they can look up It works for me Kingy BTW Will start hitting the Harbour soon so may catch up with you Edited September 22, 2007 by Kingyfisher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomahawk1999 Posted September 22, 2007 Author Share Posted September 22, 2007 cheers again kingy, I will have everything including live bait tank up and running in the next few weeks so probably will catch up with you soon. regards, tomahawk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Assassin Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 Hi Tomahawk, The electric sounds like a good idea, i have never used an electric but slow trawling will work. The bomb size i use ranges from 10-12lb as i often downrig outside the heads. I have never spooled my downriggers up with wire as I am told the wire hums whilst on the move, also a little harder to use, so i am unsure of what happpens when it gets snagged. I reakon downrigging is great fun and improves your chances of a hook up that much more. Downrigging will be all the go in the next few weeks.. Cheers Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted September 24, 2007 Share Posted September 24, 2007 (edited) Mate there are many downrigging tips already stated but always remember when downrigging in the harbour to stay well clear from the front of anchored boats... Some boats have a very low angle on there anchor rope and you can snagged up to it easily. In regards to wire vs braid i dont beleive it makes a difference, we run wire only and we caught around 300-400 kings last season getting 15 kings per trip. When you get to an area do a dry run first of your planned route to check the depths, if you have a GPS create tracks of the deeper waters so you can keep your bomb at lower depths, The bigger kings sit in holes and eddy's and most of the time need to be right in front of the bigger king for them to be tempted to take bait. A big king may noy even bother looking at a bait 1/3 in the coloumn and even if he did his rat mates will probably get to it first. Bigger kings are heaps harder to get on the bite and need to b worked alot harder, i have had a big king on the sounder at times that took 10-11 passes to get him to take the bait. I will scope out my area first and then plan my depth accordingly, if im working a wreck i will work it 1 metre above the wrecks shallowest point, If im working a hole i will usually work it to within 2 metres on the shallowest point. Always keep an eye on your sounder when downrigging and also keep an eye on your downrigger cable, if you see it angle then its snagged on something, dont panic, just whack it in reverse and unsnagg it. Working the various markers throughout the harbour can be difficult on a typical summers day due to all the anchor boats, anchor boats make downrigging a real pain and sometimes its best to not even bother as you dont want to keep snagging up to other boats anchor ropes. This season will see many more people downrigging then last and you will make a few mistakes but you will learn how to best use your downrigger in time. And dont trust the mounted rod holder also, that will fail you on a big king Edited September 24, 2007 by netic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomahawk1999 Posted September 26, 2007 Author Share Posted September 26, 2007 Thanx Netic for your suggestions and thoughts. All are taken on board, ask 1 question on fishraider and you save yourself 6 months of trial and error. What a great site! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owen Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 i heard braid is better then wire because metal makes a humming sound and braid brakes easier so if u get snagged its eaiser 2 break then metal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanger Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 (edited) i heard braid is better then wire because metal makes a humming sound and braid brakes easier so if u get snagged its eaiser 2 break then metal The wire can hum, but can be reduced with a dampener such as something like a cork float taped to the wire etc like the rubber donuts on a tennis racket. Kingfish are inquisitive creatures though anda charter operator we went out with suggested that they will often go and investigate noise so the cable hum isnt that big a deal.... for kings anyway. Edited October 1, 2007 by fishlexic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Kingfish will investigate noise so technically the hum can act as an attractant...the wire isnt good story is just a myth........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warnie Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 i heard braid is better then wire because metal makes a humming sound and braid brakes easier so if u get snagged its eaiser 2 break then metal Hi owendoble in regards to the wire humming there is no doubting it does but to get kingies to shy away from it most likely not.......i think maybe a fair bit of the conjecture stems from game fishing were wire humming...... and in strong current it can hum to the extent were you can feel it through the boat and is strongly regarded as off putting to game fish....... but probarly more to the point that no one likes to see a marlin jumping trailing line wrapped around the wire this in turn wrapped around the prop which happens quite often in game fishing circles.......... were as braid as a rule generally quickly cuts through if touching the prop resulting in only a lost bomb...... as opposed to what potentially could turn into a nightmare with wire wrapped around the prop..... Cheers Warnie....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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