Trolling with downriggers

[PRD]

For some reason this year trolling with my Cannon downriggers sucks, I did change to a bigger boat, Tiara 31 Open from a Regal 2100, but not sure what I am doing wrong, other than being a PPF what the heck, any suggestions?

Yes I've tried worm harnesses, Bandits, stingers (my steady eddy chicken wing, nothing)

Help

[sherman51]

without more info on where you're fishing and your speed water depth lead length off the balls how deep you're setting the riggers, it's hard to give you any info that would help you. when I troll Erie in the central basin during the summer months I have my best luck fishing in 72'+ water depth with my riggers set at 50' and 55' respectively. if one does better than the other then I will adjust them. I use around 25' to 30' leads with mostly bandits. the best ones for us have been sun spot, metallic blue crome, and perch. but if the bite is slow I will run a little deeper trying to get the fish on bottom to strike. we also might change the color of the bandits. but it has to be really slow before taking the sun spot off.

[West Basin]

Sherman51,

Just curious. 72 foot depths in the Central Basin in the summer have a thermocline. I've scuba dived wrecks out in those depths in August and the bottom is COLD. The upper layer of the water column temperature is in the mid 70's but under that thermocline it's around 45-48 degrees, from what I can remember. There is a HUGE differance. That being said, I would doubt there are any walleye down on the bottom out there, plus the high probability of anoxic water (low oxygen). Have you ever taken a water thermometer out with you and checked the water temperatures every 5 feet, especially down past 30-40 feet? If you are catching walleye at a depth around 50-55 feet or so, I'm betting those fish are just above or at the thermocline.

If you've never taken water temperatures out there, you should. Finding that thermocline line, knowing what depth it is, will help you find the fish. Setting your baits just above it would probably put them in the fish zone. The water clarity also can change around the thermocline which is another factor in where the walleye, and thier prey, might be.

[PRD]

Well put, yes more details helps, I am out of East Harbor, the past two weekends I was east of kellys, (north of kellys in 40 ft last weekend) I tried 20, 30 and 40 foot water trolling speed was 2-2.5 mph, Used a perch, carrot top bandit. I was only using 10 foot or so leads and changed to 30 ft or more, balls 1-2 ft above where I was making fish. Changed up last weekend and In 40 ft of water had balls at 30-35 ft and 1 at 20 ft.

I'm thinking I am not going fast enough, but that can't be all of it.

Next time I am out I plan on going north of Huron

Thanks for the comments

[verno]

just a reminder if your ball is one or two feet above fish there is pulldown if you are using bandits. If my lead is out 50 ft from ball the bandit will probably be down 10 to 12 ft deeper.

[sherman51]

Well put, yes more details helps, I am out of East Harbor, the past two weekends I was east of kellys, (north of kellys in 40 ft last weekend) I tried 20, 30 and 40 foot water trolling speed was 2-2.5 mph, Used a perch, carrot top bandit. I was only using 10 foot or so leads and changed to 30 ft or more, balls 1-2 ft above where I was making fish. Changed up last weekend and In 40 ft of water had balls at 30-35 ft and 1 at 20 ft.

I'm thinking I am not going fast enough, but that can't be all of it.

Next time I am out I plan on going north of Huron

Thanks for the comments

I have used 10' leads and still caught fish. but I do better with 25' to 30' leads. are you using shallow or deep diver bandits? you want the bait above the fish for best results. if the fish are being marked at 30' in 40' of water you want the lure at or better yet a few feet above the fish. if I was targeting fish at 30' I would want my lures at 25'. allowing for lure depth with a 30' lead with a deep diver I would set my riggers at about 18' to start and adjust if needed. and I would be trolling about 2.7 to 3.0 in warm water.

[Spider]

If the only thing you have changed is your boat and you are using all of the same fishing methods that have produced catching walleye in the past, then it could be your new boat! Maybe it's giving off some kind of electronic charge that you can not detect!

Just an amateur's guess or opinion! I have read some articles before about downriggers and electricity!

[PRD]

I truly appreciate the comments, based on what everyone is saying, YouTube videos and such, it is the boat, sort of, but only because my other boat had trouble getting slower trolling speeds, this boat is easier to slow down and I have not paid attention to my speed as I should. My my main conclusions are that I am trolling to slow and I am trolling/presenting lures and such at the depth I mark fish not above them like I should.

Live and learn and may the fish chase and bite your lines.

[centerpoint]

I truly appreciate the comments, based on what everyone is saying, YouTube videos and such, it is the boat, sort of, but only because my other boat had trouble getting slower trolling speeds, this boat is easier to slow down and I have not paid attention to my speed as I should. My my main conclusions are that I am trolling to slow and I am trolling/presenting lures and such at the depth I mark fish not above them like I should.

Live and learn and may the fish chase and bite your lines.

what i have learned is if you let the down rigger down to 30 ft your set back will be 15 ft always 1/2 of what you let the down rigger down works good for a starting point

[sherman51]

what i have learned is if you let the down rigger down to 30 ft your set back will be 15 ft always 1/2 of what you let the down rigger down works good for a starting point

you may be right but with a heavy weight or a dredge weight, I just don't believe you lose 50% of depth. I used 8# dredge weights on Erie down 50' and 55' and had minimal blowback. but I just bought 2 10# dredge weights to get even less blowback. I believe if I allowed for a diving crank of say 10' I would need to set my riggers at no more than 20'. at 20' or even 30', my riggers would be almost straight down. the deeper you run your riggers the more blowback you're going to get. if you lose 15' at 30' it would be a lot more at 50'. so if I'm fishing at 50' down my weight would only be down at the most 25' using your figures. when we're targeting fish near the bottom at 70' deep we catch fish with the riggers set at 50' and 55'. I figure I may be losing maybe 10' but the deep diving bandit will easily make up that 10 loss.

I first started using riggers for salmon on lake Michigan in 1976 and used them for yrs there and when we moved to Erie in the late 80,s I brought the riggers with me. with the transducer, we could track the balls down to about 40' and we only lost a few feet between the rigger count and on our fish finder at that depth. but we never even came close to losing 50%. if we use the rigger counter on Erie and were catching fish then were doing something right.

but this is just my thinking on the matter. I would never dispute what you're saying, I just have a different perspective on depth lost.