Question About Lines Behind The Ball

[howitzer]

Hey everyone,

I've been downrigging for a long time now and have gotten a decent amount of fish but I'm just wondering if this should be improved.

When we put the lines out, I will throw out about 15-20 feet of line, and then hook the line up to the cannon ball if you understand what I mean. Does this sound too short? the lure I guess is only 20 feet from the cannonball and it seems way to short for me. I've heard of people throwing close to 100 feet of line out before hooking it up to the cannon ball. Any input is greatly appreciated.

[Tim Bromund]

Most of the really good fishermen I know and respect start at around 15 feet off the ball and adjust in or out as needed in accordance with the fish's preferences/aggressiveness on any given day. if you're fishing really shallow you might want to extend that back to 30-40 feet.

There is a long standing 100 foot rule out there where the depth plus lead should equal 100, but I have never found that to be necessary.

When targeting steelhead specifically, I'll sometimes only have a 5 or 6 foot lead off the ball.

Tim

[howitzer]

yea we normally fish in around 120 feet of water, I just always thought that if the lure was to close to the cannonball, it keeps the fish away. could be wrong though,

[Hullbilly]

I usually run spoons 50 and attractors 15. Hope that helps

[ Post made via Android ]

[ray koziatek]

question with many answers ...water clarity ,depth of rigger,speicies...

If ya want to chase the nucence fish steelies,small kings and choho and ya got little color run em tight like tim says..

if ya wanna target browns start at 30 ish to 40ish in shallow colored water (40 to 75 ft)

And if ya wanna screemer or two,,water clarity will determine that.in colored water ive had good slider bites to 100 ft out usually run 50 to 75ft back depending on the weather and rigger count...mood of fish time of day sunny ,cloudy...so ya see not one set rules is in order .

when i go play with steelies ill run em out 100 cause i like to watch the fish come outa the water before the rigger releases and guess what rigger will pop plus if their back 100 ft to start ant much chance of them gettin in a dypsy or rigger..also its a good speices to learn with cause its the easiest fish to target...

Good news is after a few thousand hours on the water youll be ready for every condition

the lake tosses at ya.bottom line ifya wanna shorten em up in colored water go for it but clear water and sunny ya might want some distance from the boat..

[rail bird]

When I was first starting out I would run spoons way behind the ball and now feel most of the time that was a mistake. First of all getting spoons to run at the right speed 50 or more feet behind the ball means you have to go in a straight line for longer periods of time. If there is a big current you can cross lines. On turns you can tangle, drag bottom or cross lines. I think in order to run things right it's best to keep down riggers close. I run about 10 to 20 feet most days, and then run lead core, dipseys or copper for the fish that don't want to be around a ball.

If the fish are active those cannon balls will not scare them away and many times will attract them.

[rocketman]

If I drop lines at first light, I only run 8-10 ft. leads behind the ball. Especially when you see fish streaking up to your ball. I believe they're attracted more by the cannonball than your bait. So I don't want them to be disappointed, & offer a close presentation. When that length stops working, I'll extend them to 15, then 25 ft. as the day progesses. Every day can be different, so experiment, especially when running 2 or more riggers. Try different length leads on different riggers, & see what length works best on that day.

[howitzer]

yea, 1 guy at my marina that does charters told us he runs close to 300 feet of line out his boat, this guy catches a lot of fish too.

[bigbrookie]

yea, 1 guy at my marina that does charters told us he runs close to 300 feet of line out his boat, this guy catches a lot of fish too.

i believe he's running copper if he's at 300.

10-50' from the ball is what i like, depending on time of year, depth, current, and fish agressiveness. we will run 100-125' sometimes is spring for the spooky browns. everybody is gonna be alittle different, so just take what we're all doing and tweek it to your program. gl