3 or 4 rigger spread?

[steelfire]

Just looking for some opinions for summer and early fall king fishing. Is it better to run just 3 riggers or 4 for kings. I have read that 4 riggers may be to much noise and scare off a lot of kings. I have been running 3. Two flasher flys and one clean spoon down the middle, and do pretty good. But I see a lot of boats running 4 riggers. Makes me wonder if I really should be running my fourth rigger?????

[YodaMage]

I personally believe it depends on the layout of the boat, the size of the boat and how many rods you usually need/want to have in the water. To get REAL deep and do it with 7+ rods it is tough to get there without the 4th rigger. Now that said, if you don't have a wide beam or an inboard powered boat, the 4th rigger might be so much of a disadvantage as to skip having it. What I mean is that, with an I/O or outboard the middle 3rd of the transom (or a corner if running a kicker) is already lost. Running two more riggers off the tail leaves zero netting room. If you have a wide boat and run off an inboard, you have the whole chute clear to bag fish. 

 

My rig is 9'8" wide but it I/O and has a kicker. I'm only going to run 3 riggers restricting myself to how many deep rods I can run, but making my live much easier. There is a lost art out there that many of those fishing today have lost. While copper, divers and lead are fine, they don't get you down 150'+ in the summer where the big pigs live. The lost art of stacking does, and for those that go back that far and mastered it, it allows you to safely run 12 lures off 3 riggers and 9 rods downtown without adding all the extra clutter and equipment. That is how I run in the heat, then in the fall switch out to divers and copper when the fish move back up in the top 100. 

 

Spring: Two riggers, boards, copper and divers.

 

Summer: Three riggers, a few divers.

 

Fall: Two riggers, copper, divers. (I try to keep boards out of the water as traffic makes them annoying..I also don't find a need to run more then 12 lines almost ever)

[steelfire]

IMG_0295

 

My rig right now set up in the "3" rigger spread. I usually run the 3 riggers, 2 dipseys, and 1 or 2 copper.

Edited June 4, 2013 by steelfire

[steelfire]

I'll try posting this picture again. My 3 rigger set up

[Justin B]

Yodamege sent u a pm

[The Scottsman]

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Edited June 6, 2013 by The Scottsman

[The Scottsman]

Run the fourth and consentrate on presentation,depth, ect.

[GAMBLER]

I went to 3 last season and love it.  I would rather run more coppers and 4 wires.  They seem to take more and bigger kings for me.  There are days when too many riggers will spook fish also. 

[Meals-On-Reels]

I'm too "old-school"... I always have 4 down and then some wires or lead. I'd mount 5 if I could fit one more.

[skipper19]

I had 4, now I have a spare for quick replacement. The base is still on the transom for extra rod holders to switch rods to when clearing for the net. Three is enough for me and stacking the outboard riggers with small directional dipseys known as down and outs gives me the ability to Target deep water kings with four lures right up behind the boat with four rods. The center rigger can run higher or lower in the set and if the deep riggers are taking fish I'll send it short lead 15 feet with a spoon to the deepest of the set with a fixed cheater 8 to 12 feet above the ball mupp style with a flashy mag spoon. Now there is 6 offerings for deep kings right behind the boat on five rods without too much fuss.

The fourth rigger I had was just too much in the way on an outboard powered boat with a kicker. Lost a ball once due to rough water swinging the ball in the water just under the surface at the same time the outboard was correcting course and the prop clipped it off.

Now the option to run divers or junk lines is open for what ever else may be in play, topwater steelies or whatever.

Noise is a factor with cables....sometimes less is more. There are days the riggers are dead..fish are turned off, doesn't matter if you have three or four or 10... they are negative fish.

When it is hot fishing the fish are aggressive...you can't use more than you can keep in the water and usually adding more lines leads to more fubarred line and missed fish.

I like three riggers for now.

Mark

[steelfire]

Thanks guys. Skipper19, I agree with you. I was running 4 but 3 seems to be a heck of alot easier and I have been running more junk rods. Last August in front of the salmon river in 150' of water, I could not get a rigger to fire. But as soon a I parked a dipsy and fly at 125' down....fish on. All day. Never moved a rigger and boxed out by noon. Its funny how the kings are like that. But thats what keeps it challenging and fun!! 

[jekyll]

I now run 3 riggers off a 10 foot beam versus 4 and am happy. I only use the center rigger when I run more than 6 lines and even then, I often leave the 3rd rigger stowed and run a junk line down the chute instead.

[brettsplace]

Talk to a bunch of folks daily.. The facts we have is downrigger fishing is defined as controlled depth fishing. If you wish to target fish in at a depth you see see them, refine your downrigger program. There is so many variables with leadcore,copper and dipsys  that we really just have an "idea" of the depth they are running. With the advancements in electronics I see controlled depth fishing being the most defined way of targeting fish at depth desired.

We all know Copper/Leadcore/Dipsy's create a spread and catch fish... Most Times more than riggers. Create a spread and do not discount the riggers. They have caught fish for 30+ years now..