While it's understandable that a backcountry angler wouldn't use downriggers while seeking tarpon in shallow estuaries, it's always been a mystery why more Gulf Coast saltwater fishermen don't use the relatively new invention to up their catches in offshore waters.
Anyone who trolls deep in the Gulf might be missing a good bet by not using a downrigger when going after fish that are unreachable by conventional trolling methods.
Basically, a downrigger consists of a weighted ball (about 10 pounds) that is lowered over the side of a boat on a steel cable. The fisherman attaches his monofilament line to a release clip on the steel cable and lowers his line and lure/bait to the desired depth.
When a fish hits, the line pops free and the bellicosity begins. A downrigger eliminates the need for heavy weights or those sometimes cumbersome steel or plastic deep planers.
Both manual and electric downrigger units come equipped with a digital counter telling a fisherman the exact depth of water in which he is trolling a lure or bait.
Less expensive manual units are raised or lowered with a crank. Electric downriggers that run off a boat's 12-volt battery system are convenient for those who fish deep water and don't want to crank the cable up and down by hand.
Downrigger units are mounted across the stern or on the side of boats and can either be removed when not in use or mounted permanently. On older or smaller boats, some fishermen have placed downrigger units on wooden planks stretching across the stern.
Our first experience with downriggers took place in the early 1970s while on a fishing safari to Lake Michigan.
We'd never seen such a unit in actual operation and admit to having been a bit skeptical when the guys aboard fastened our lines to a steel cable, lowered a steel ball to a depth of about 50 feet, and began slow trolling a plastic fishing lure almost within rock-throwing distance of downtown Gary, Indiana.
"Don't know 'bout this," we remarked. "But, when you're in Rome..."
It didn't take long before action began.
We had three strikes within 30 minutes but, unfortunately, the hook pulled each time.
Finally, we managed to bring an eight-pound coho salmon to net before losing three or four more.
Before the afternoon ended, another eight-pounder, plus a coho weighing nearly 21 pounds, were landed. In all, we got three nice fish and lost about 10 others for one reason or another, not the least of which may have been ineptness.
What tickled me most about this particular trip was the dejected attitude of our companions who apologized several times for the "slow" activity that day.
First use of a downrigger took place in Lake Michigan when George Bockelman of Toledo, Ohio, used a window-sash weight and a clothesline rope as a makeshift unit. While Bockelman's equipment was crude, it got the job done by putting a lure down to where the fish were concentrated.
Bockelman, now a consultant to Walker's Downriggers, also introduced the device to Lake Erie where it is now widely used to catch walleyes.
The use of downriggers has since spread rapidly throughout the country. Fishermen on inland lakes and reservoirs are now using them to catch salmon, bass, lake trout, walleyes, and sauger, while saltwater enthusiasts--particularly off the New England coast--have seen their catch rates soar on a variety of game fish.
More and more, anglers along the Texas Gulf coast, off the California-Oregon coast, and--to an increasing extent--off Florida's east coast are also using downriggers for such things as kingfish, Spanish mackerel, snapper, grouper, amberjack, dolphin, and other species.
"Anyone who trolls deep water should consider using downriggers," said Bockelman. "Some bottom structures (shallow, stumpy, or rocky bottoms) make downrigger fishing difficult, but in deep, open water, good concentrations of fish can be found that are impossible to reach by conventional trolling methods."
When fish go deep--and that can mean as shallow as 10 feet--a downrigger will make them more vulnerable to a lure. That goes for bass, striped bass, and chain pickerel as well as such saltwater species as bluefish, redfish, trout, and mackerel.
But, so far Florida's Gulf Coast anglers seem to be bringing up the rear in experimentation with this development.
Why? Your guess is as good as mine.
Copyright (c) 1996 Herb Allen. All rights reserved.
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