downrigger flasher with no lure

[greenfish]

was wondering if on lake ontario ,new york side, 2 people on board ,can i run a 6 pole spread with no downrigger being used for fishing lines or lures ,and run my 4 downriggers ,1 with my fish hawk,and put flashers or hot spot attractors with no lure on my downriggers and run no poles  to DR , has anybody tried this and had success or failure or what is the law for doing this ,is it illegal , LOL, im asking for a friend

 

[Steve.e]

I don't see a problem using the riggers for attractors. As long as you use only 3 'baited' poles each . No law concerning that as far as I know. 

[greenfish]

thank you

[mlvn_prry]

Why would you not use your downriggers???

We only usually have 2 people on boat with no autopilot and run 6 rod spread.  Downrigger off each side then dipsy or 2 off each side depending if we wanna try to run copper off boards on each side.   We also run just a spoon off our downrigger rods and just attach a attractor 5-6 ft straight off the back of the ball, then make our downrigger release 3ft above the ball and let the line out at least 5-6 feet past the attractor sometimes 20 just depending what we wanna try.   I'm sure there are better ways to run stuff but it works well for us.   

[Luckydogie]

What do you use to go from release to your ball?

[greenfish]

i believe i heard it on reel2reel video ,but can not remember could have tangled tackle ,IDK,i have 4 DR on boat and really never use 2 of them i run 2 high divers on copper and 2 low divers 124's on copper and 2 DR,so thought i would try putting an attractor on those 2 downrigger, also i switched to braid on 2 of my cannon DR ,so i run my 3rd DR with steel cable for  my black box  ,so why not get another flasher out there

[mlvn_prry]

What do you use to go from release to your ball?

Not sure exactly what your asking. Our attractor is attached to the ball with a big swivel so it just stays on back of ball. We use regular Scotty release on line with only a spoon so it’s only spoon and fish hopefully. Haha.


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[Luckydogie]

mlvn_prry  I  would  like to try  this.  I am  currently  running a  blacks  release  snapped  onto my downrigger on the top and snapped on the ball on the bottom. My question is what would be best to use to make a 3ft lead, lb test, so I can move my ball down from my release? Right now my ball is snapped directly to release. Thanks for your input.

[stinger]

On 7/27/2021 at 10:53 AM, greenfish said:

was wondering if on lake ontario ,new york side, 2 people on board ,can i run a 6 pole spread with no downrigger being used for fishing lines or lures ,and run my 4 downriggers ,1 with my fish hawk,and put flashers or hot spot attractors with no lure on my downriggers and run no poles  to DR , has anybody tried this and had success or failure or what is the law for doing this ,is it illegal , LOL, im asking for a friend

 

That's a good question to ask your ECO or the DEC legal department.

 

Page 73 in the Reg book has:

 

Angling Angling means taking fish by hook and line. This includes bait and fly fishing, casting, trolling, and the use of landing nets to complete the catch. • Anglers must be in immediate attendance when their lines are in the water. ⊲ The use of set lines where the angler is not in immediate attendance is prohibited. • An angler may operate no more than 3 lines with or without a rod. ⊲ each line is limited to not more than 5 lures or baits or a combination of both. ⊲ in addition, each line shall not exceed 15 hook points in any combination of single, double or treble hooks. • Snatching, lifting, hooking, and use of tip-ups are not angling.

 

Would the downrigger cable be considered a line under those circumstances? What's to keep you from attaching a lure to the cable or weight? 

A quick call will set you straight.