Downrigger Question?

[TheDawgCatcher]

Is the humming coming from your rigger or the cable? I can't really think of anything that would make a manual rigger hum. Now the cable is a different story. The cable hums all the time. Depending on how fast you're trolling.

I thing the fact that the fish "disappeared" off your screen may have been a coincidence. You may have trolled thru & out of a school of fish. But you didn't leave the rigger down long enough to test the theory.

Give it another try. You should be fine.

I'll give it another shot. The noise was from the cable. I just wasn't expecting that noise and when the fish disappeared after lowering and then reappeared after I pulled it, I was concerned I did something wrong...
I did see some marks that looked like fish coming up to look at the ball....

[Crooked Eye]

Give it another try. We use riggers alot for salmon and they have cable noise depending on speed,current,etc. They also give off a disturbance trail cutting thru the water. Depending on the fish species and attitude for the day you may have them hitting a 5' lead or 75'. If they are coming to the ball try getting close with the bait so they have something to eat. I have had great success with the chamberlian releases (stacker type) I can put them on the cable where I want them and they adjust both for down pressure and bait pressure so they trip on the light hits (can still use bands if you want). Keeps you from dragging fish. I like the riggers in deep water to give a different bait presentation and I can run deep without snagging bottom. This gives me a chance to run divers and boards until I get a pattern and depth.
I still believe big fish find the bottom an attractive place to hang out during the day. Good luck! I will be on the water Sun & Mon if you need help Pm me.

Capt. Craig

[TheDawgCatcher]

Give it another try. We use riggers alot for salmon and they have cable noise depending on speed,current,etc. They also give off a disturbance trail cutting thru the water. Depending on the fish species and attitude for the day you may have them hitting a 5' lead or 75'. If they are coming to the ball try getting close with the bait so they have something to eat. I have had great success with the chamberlian releases (stacker type) I can put them on the cable where I want them and they adjust both for down pressure and bait pressure so they trip on the light hits (can still use bands if you want). Keeps you from dragging fish. I like the riggers in deep water to give a different bait presentation and I can run deep without snagging bottom. This gives me a chance to run divers and boards until I get a pattern and depth.
I still believe big fish find the bottom an attractive place to hang out during the day. Good luck! I will be on the water Sun & Mon if you need help Pm me.

Capt. Craig

Thanks for the advice! I'll be out on Erie Sunday so I'll give it another shot.
Maybe get really close to the bottom with a crawler harness?