Downriggers?

Why are they so seldom used for Walleye?

Actually here in NYS downriggers are used commonly for open water schooling walleyes. These are in lakes where the walleyes prime forage fish are alewives. Examples are lake Erie and Conesus Lake. They use the cannon ball to troll just above the thermal cline in summer.

Totally depends on the lake I think, you’d be hard pressed to find a launch boat on Lake of the Woods that isn’t running downriggers from late June – mid September on most years. And you’d be hard pressed to find amateurs who spends a lot of hours on that don’t have their boat rigged up for riggin’. It’s extremely popular on that lake.

Although there aren’t too many lakes in Minnesota that have such a large consistently deep basin to work with(or such a large walleye population).

My guess, when you have a sparkly $70k boat basking in your driveway, do you want your ugly downrigger plates showing? What would the neighbor think?

There are better and cheaper options to troll at depth.

And they are?

Fishing out West, we use downriggers from just under the surface to 100’s of foot of depth. Dragging inline weight is generally frowned upon. When I watch all the videos of mid-west fishing, I very rarely see a downrigger show and when I do, it is specific to deep fishing. I was just wondering if there was a technical reason for the lack of use.

Hi Guys
My Maiden post.
I use my Riggers as often as I can – exception being waves over 2′
Using 12lb weights helps slow the boat down just as good as using a bag – that’s running 2 riggers.
For walleye, if I’m marking deeper than 35′ I use the riggers and have had very good success.
My fishing lakes: Lake Erie (early) Bay of Quinte (late/like to see water temps at around 36F to motivate me)
Just as an aside, there was a 17lber caught a week or so ago out of the Bay of Quinte. Here’s a Pic Link and write up (some early doubts but I too know the fishermen and they were serious as to the weight)
http://forum2.quintefishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21861

bobby

SuperDave1959 wrote:

Fishing out West, we use downriggers from just under the surface to 100’s of foot of depth. Dragging inline weight is generally frowned upon. When I watch all the videos of mid-west fishing, I very rarely see a downrigger show and when I do, it is specific to deep fishing. I was just wondering if there was a technical reason for the lack of use.

I would only use downriggers below 20′ to 25′. Above that numerous diving stickbaits and crankbaits are designed to troll at controlled depts. anywhere from 10′ to 25′ without all the fuss of the downrigger. Much simpler, i.e.: just toss them out their and troll. Example, Rapala Magnum series.

I have downriggers too, but for depths of say 35 feet or less, snap weights, leadcore and although I don’t use them, something like dipsy divers, all work well to get lures to depth as also. They all work once you learn how to use them.
Where 2 rods/angler are legal, I often use snap weights and leadcore together in depths of up to 35 feet. They work well together.

philtickelson wrote:

And they are?

Lead core.

Thanks for the replies, it doesn’t sound like there are any reasons that a guy couldn’t use downriggers for all depths. I like knowing where my presentation is really at and not having to guess. All the posted alternative methods are best guesses, IMO.

Perhaps they are not used for walleyes that much BC of the depth issues?

Dragging certain species up from certain depths will be fatal. Its science. And if you don’t have certain bodies of water like Erie that are fish factories, most people try to find the biters in shallower water where it protects the resource we all value.

nhamm wrote:

Perhaps they are not used for walleyes that much BC of the depth issues?

Dragging certain species up from certain depths will be fatal. Its science. And if you don’t have certain bodies of water like Erie that are fish factories, most people try to find the biters in shallower water where it protects the resource we all value.

nhamm, where I was going with it was it is a great tool in shallow water. I’d rather fish a standard F or J Rapala in 10′ of water on a downrigger than wonder if my deep diver was actually diving to the correct depth, which is set back and speed dependent. Purpose for my original post was kind of a quest to see if there was something about how Walleye bite that I was missing.

chamberschamps wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>philtickelson wrote:</div>
And they are?

Lead core.

I’ll give you cheaper on that one(somewhat).

I think I’d rather down rig on lake of the woods though :).

There is definitely other situations/areas where lead core probably shines though.

SuperDave1959 wrote:

Why are they so seldom used for Walleye?

The simple answer is because you don’t NEED them. I’ve been fishing Lake Superior for about 6 years and still don’t have them.

Although I’ve now gotten to the point that it’s the only way to expand on my spread.

I think there’s also the perception that they spook the walleyes. I don’t know about that but I guess it’s possible.

I tend to agree with Biggill on most occasions. My exception being when the walleye are schooled up chasing bait that lurks just above the thermocline. Heck I can fish them at 8′, 10′ 15′ or etc. feet using conventional methods w/o the fanfare and hassle of downriggers and catch them. It’s also more fun (for me personally) to catch them w/o downriggers, I suppose it’s a matter of preference. But they do have a place as mentioned above.

BTW my boat is worth about 7K and has 2 downrigger mounts.

Another thing too is in MN lakes often times (but not always) walleye are near the bottom. I’m willing to lose a lure or 2 trolling, but not a downrigger weight..