Hi Bob,
Oscillating means we have the down riggers programed to come up and down automatically between 25 and 30 feet. We can also control the speed of the rise and fall. Right now in this cold water we have them moving down to 30 slowly and pausing for 30 seconds, then rising rapidly to 25 and pause for 45 seconds. The rise often triggers a strike. We use the riggers like this to cover the water column. We have 3 riggers on the boat but only use 2 this time of year. Come summer we will work all 3 hard.

Also the Fish Hawk probe is on the rigger so we are always watching temps and currents down below. We will work it up through the spread periodically looking for warm/cold zones. This really helps.

Right now we typically run 5 short boards on each side and 2 riggers as the fish seem to be moving up and down allot in the water column do to temp changes. This way we keep baits throughout the water column looking for the more aggressive fish. When the temps stabilize we will switch to the big boards and add rods.

NOTE: Typically we use the lengths back on the short boards to cover everything down to 22 feet, one rigger oscillating 25 to 30 and the other oscillating 33 to 38/bottom to start. Then pull everything close to the target zone once the fish tell us, lol. We stay flexible and never try to assume anything, the fish have their own little pea brains and do some crazy things!

I hope this answered your questions. It is always good to hear from you.