Downriggers in shallow water

[artburr]

I like to fish for Chinook salmon in the Nehalem and Alsea bays (Oregon). Water averages about 10 to 16 ft. deep. Lots of boats when salmon are in. To help in crowded waters, I was thinking of using downriggers about 2 ft. off the bottoem. Has anbody tried this?

 

[DangerDan]

Re: Downriggers in shallow water

Here in Michigan we use riggers for Salmon everyday. I would imagine you could hold to 2' depending on the contour of the bottom... One thing to remember when setting your riggers depth.. Salmon can only see up. It's better to have the lures humming above them a little bit rather than below them where they won't see it.

 

[tomatolord]

Re: Downriggers in shallow water

There are some downriggers that can connect with your fishfinder and they can move up and down autmatically with the bottom.<br /><br />However what I never understood is how do you keep the tension on the rod? <br /><br />If the downrigger ball is moving up and down then the rod would be moving up and down as well.<br /><br />tomatolord

 

[woodrat]

Re: Downriggers in shallow water

ez divers work pretty good for keeping your rig in close to the boat

 

[fondafj]

Re: Downriggers in shallow water

In the Hudson river we use downriggers in the spring to fish the Striped Bass spawning run. Most water depths we fish are 20-40ft and we usually fish in the 12-18 ft range with the downriggers. Running them so close to the bottom will risk hanging up a ball and possibly damaging the downrigger or ripping it off the mount. EZ divers and Dipsy divers may work well but I find they require too much "tweaking" to run where I want them to.