Making the most of a two rod spread??

[MarkNY]

i often fish by myself and it kills me to only be able to use two rods when trolling. i sure hope we get that 3rd rod next year! im trying to make the best of my two rod spread and could use some tips. in particular for salmon and steelhead. i was thinking about trying one rigger and always run a slider. dont even know if sliders will work for salmon but im gonna try it. flasher/fly on bottom, spoon on slider and then either a braid dipsey or stealth line off a board. either a leadcore, copper, flatline w/snap weight, dive bomb etc. with spoons. would appreciate any suggestions you have. best, mark

[bottom-feeder]

when i'm running 2 rods i start with a wire dipsy and a rigger w/ free slider

might change one out for a copper rod if its slow

more days than not when the kings are biting it ends up with 2 wire dipsies out

if salmon fishing its either 2 flasher/fly combos or 1 flasher/fly and 1 meat rig

[skipper19]

I don't think you want to run flasher fly combos together with sliders on the same line. A spinning flasher or S/D will give you a twirled mess when the slider goes down to the flasher on a retrieve.

I like to run what is referred to as the "MUP" rig.

Gives you four lures in the water on two riggers. Choose a Target spoon like a NK28 to run off the ball, and a fixed cheater above the target spoon about 10 ft above it running ahead with a larger mag spoon that is a little more flashy than the target but same color hue.

Let your target lead out about 20 to 25 ft off the ball and the fixed cheater leader be about the length of your rod, 8 to 10 ft. Running 10 ft above the ball. Lower the ball to the column of water that is holding bait or just above the thermocline whichever is easier to determine.

One of my favorites for the cheater is a big doctor spoon, silver, the chartreuse five of diamonds for steelhead, or the new walleye color (brown with gold cup). The doctor is a very forgiving lure for speed variations and has a really wide wobble that gets the fishes attention, which is what the job of the big lure is, and quite often it becomes the target lure, especially for steelhead that happen to be deeper near the thermocline.

The idea is as an attractor it pulls fish in to investigate a large bait and sometimes the large bait gets hit and sometimes the target spoon below and after it gets the second look as the fish drops back and down, and since smaller it usually will get the hit.

Fix the cheater with a rubber band half hitched to your rigger cable and clip the cheater leader swivel to the rubber band loop AND the main line from your rod. This keeps the cheater leader in a fixed position until a fish hits it. Just remember when bringing in the rig, the rubber band is on the cable and will have to be broken.... or retrieved as the rigger is raised.

Mark

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[Gill-T]

On solo trips in the evening I am fishing for big kings. One rigger deep, one diver way back 300' + with flashers/flies during the summer July-August. This time of year two riggers cheated ....all spoons. You can get crazy and fix a cheater with a rubber band 10' above the down line then throw a free slider on top to give six lures in the water. Usually here on the west end you can usually catch fish with two riggers cheated and have all the action a solo job can handle.

[rshubuck]

I never run solo but when I am with just 2 guys I am running 4 wire dipsy rods hands down. If things are slow or I want to hit shallow water then I will switch 1 to 2 divers for downriggers. Dipsy's just seem to out produce everything.

Diddo on what skip mentioned with free sliders and flasherfly combo's. Its a mess every time. I run fixed cheaters on my flasher fly combos. I will run free sliders over spoons but even then I really liked fixed cheaters. I can't remember who makes them but I use these fix cheaters that locks on your line and also pinches your line where ever you want to put it. Also, when it hits your eye lets it will release and slide down. Highly recommend them. I really can't remember who makes them.

[MarkNY]

thanks guys. not sure what you mean by fixed cheater. same as a slider(leader with swivels on each end attached to downrigger rod line) except it doesnt slide? never tried that but i like the idea. good point on the sliders with flasher/flies. today i ran just two spoons on the rigger and ran a flasher on the dipsy. got all hits on the slider spoon. ill look into fixed cheaters more. best, mark

[rshubuck]

You got it. Fixed cheaters stays where you put it. You can use rubberbands as well. Set up your downrigging rod the way you want it and send it down 10 to 15ft. Clinch a rubberband on the line and snap your freeslider on the rubberband and main line. The rubberband acts as and ancor. Small fish wont break the rubberband but some big fish will and it will just slide down to your other hook. This works very well but is a little bit more work.

[LongLine]

Ditto with Skipper19 & Gill-T.

A double flying solo is rough on the ticker.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[skipper19]

Double click on the image and get a big picture,,, then hold shift and R to get clear image, pardon my hieroglyphics I just been living under a rock for awhile.

This is my setup for a MUP rig. works well when solo.... is a bit of extra work but is worth the extra effort.

MOST IMPORTANT THOUGH......you must make sure the hooks are very very sharp. first strikes are a bit of a delay in the line coming taught to get a good hookup and be quick on the grab of the rod and do a hook set as well. Good Luck.

Mark

[jekyll]

Try half hitching the rubber band to the main line and not the cable. Same result and much easier to attach. Also try clips on your cheater leader such as Roemer clips or Elberta Clip'er from Legendary products. The white ones are stronger. The clips go on and off is a second and stay put unless a big one hits; clips will slide down on a big fish. Double kings on a cheated rig are always a treat!

Don't be afraid of using cheaters above flashers and flies. I was hesitant at first but, it's not a big deal. Fixed cheaters using clips will keep the cheater from tangling with the flasher. If you get a fish on the cheater, you won't mind any possible tangles. The fish usually always keep the flasher from tangling up. Retrieve your rigger without releasing the line when changing lures. Just reel it up at the ball comes up. Then detatch your cheater before opening the release. You won't get any tangles. After a day of using cheaters, you will learn the do's and don'ts.

[rshubuck]

Roemer clips is what use I had another brainfart

[MarkNY]

nice guys. i have some new stuff to try! thanks alot, mark

[ERABBIT]

Mark I fish by myself a lot also. I like to use this time to work out any bugs in my game. Like when I got my first wire diver rig I fished it by myself till it felt like a part of my game.

Personally I like to run just rigger and spoons when fishing alone.............

P.S.

I only fish alone on the finger lakes not Lake Ontario

[Big Dave]

fixed or a freesilder arn't that bad to strighten out when run above a flasher and fly. They are spinning together ,not braiding together. You need to run stluff thats easy to put out unless you have autopliot.

[chowder]

I also use Tim's strategy of raising the rigger w/ out popping the release when you want to clear a cheated line, it's a good tip. One pretty important thing I don't think I saw mentioned above is the need to respond very quickly to a trip on a cheated rigger rod. There is a lot of slack in a slider & you need to get that line tight quickly if the strike is on the cheater. In general I like to reel down on any rigger fish w/ the rod in the holder as long as it is located in a spot that's easy to crank on and then remove it from the holder just as I'm approaching a tight line. If you are king fishing I like this cuz sometimes I need to loosen the drag a bit on my rigger reels if I had em set too tight to keep them from creeping out line, and having the rod in the holder gives me a free hand. Mark, on the FLX, a lot of times a non fixed slider will out fish a fixed cheater, especially on LLs that are out of temp, and they are much easier to use if you are fishing alone w/out an a AP. On Ontario I usually use Roemer Liberators to fix the cheater so I can bracket temp zones precisely. Good luck & don't be afraid to experiment! -Andy

[skipper19]

I like to use a free slider when targeting a steely in the top water columns. Yes the free slider is much easier to deploy, no doubt.

When I fix a cheater, alone I like to keep it in the "MUP" form in order to target kings in every specific zone. The method I use by hitching the rubber band to the cable gives me a quick release when the band snaps. Then if a fish hits the ball release, the band snaps and the cheater slides down to the main leader, not requiring the rod tip to slide the band down on the retrieve when the fish is at the back of the boat. The cheater will already be behind the fish and out of the way of netting. Alone with one hand on rod and a 25 lb or bigger salmon, and net in the other dragging in the water aiming to get said big salmon in the bag....ya don't want anything extra in the way or have to unrig a cheater that didn't slide all the way down and flailing around by the net, in 3 to 5 footers.

Very very Sharp hooks and tight drag and rod bent, and very quick refex on the strike is imperative.

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[BP Swing]

I had the pleasure of fishing solo the other day and having both rods go off at once with Salmon. One got off and I landed the other 17 lbs or so. Like a Chinese fire drill. I was using a free sliding cheater and got lots of hits on the free slider. I guess it goes about 50-75% down to where the ball is. I was marking my cheater with my HDS5 and I had 40 feet out on the ball and the cheater was about 30 sliding down. I'd like to try the fixed cheater option but I need things real simple out there being alone. I may give it a whirl if its calm. Good stuff guys thanks.