How Many Downriggers do You Run ?

[Fins 2]

I recently bought a new boat with a 200 HP outboard. My previous boat was an I/O and I ran 3 downriggers one in the middle and 2 outdowns with 4' booms, A center downrigger is not an option on the new boat due to the height of the outboard. Should I buy a 4th downrigger, and run one straight back on each corner along with my existing outdowns ? Is this enought distance between the downriggers to avoid tangles? My other option is to eliminate the third downrigger and just run the two outdowns.

[sherman brown]

i fish lake erie for walleye. i run 2 riggers 1 off each corner at a 45% angle out the side. then i run lite bite slide divers out the side. these are about the same as a standard dipsy diver. if i still fished salmon i would stick with 2 riggers 1 on each corner out the side but set at a 45% angle to the back and 4 divers with 2 on each side. i would run a standard diver in the front then i would either run a magnum or a slide diver with the 7 oz conversion kit in the back. you can use the slide part of the diver if you want longer leads. but i tie to the front arm just like a dipsy then tie a 7' leader to the back. this way you have the front diver set on 3 for your high diver and the back diver set on 1 for your deep diver.

[bottom-feeder]

i fun 3 off my crestliner nordic with a 115 outboard

took a little extra support in the center but got it beefed up to work...cannon mag 10 with fully extended boom gets just behind the motor

[Force of one]

I have a 200hp outboard and a 9.9 kicker.

I run 2 Scotty riggers, 2 dipsy rods and 2 copper or leadcore rods on ninja inline planers.

I think that's a pretty decent spread for most days.

[tuffishooker]

Bottom line for us is the more you run the greater chance of tangles ! Until you sort out the new boat run 2 downriggers ,in deeper water & add 2 Dipsy's if you are good at it then " mix and match " ! [ plus stackers or sliders on the riggers ] IMO less can be more !

[spoonfed-1]

Four riggers.

[Yankee Troller]

We run 3 on the Trojan and 2 on the Lund. On the Lund we get extra board lines or divers in the water to make up for a missing DR.

[Sk8man]

I have 4 riggers but only run the 4 about ten percent of the time and that is usually in the Spring while in shallower water where i wouldn't be running divers or Seth Greens. I figure the more weights in the water the more turbulence and chance of spooking fish. Even when running four most of the action comes on one or two riggers so I figure maybe that is telling me something

[tuffishooker]

Ditto on " spooking " fish with more cable in the water !

[hard knox]

I always run 4 riggers 2 off the corners at 45 degrees and 2 off the sides at 90 degrees . The 2 off the sides have wingers that cause them to glide away from the boat . I can still add in dipseys and boards without issues.

[Missdemeanor]

Used to run 5... I got it in my head that the cleaning up of the lake made the fish more spooky. Went to 3 and haven't looked back...
Now the depths I run em in change as does the patterns of deployment depending on the baits I'm presenting...
I Definetly believe in the "Less is More" concept... Us paying attention to small details could mean the difference...

Sent from my VS996 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Richard]

I have 4 on my Thompson  Just because you have four does not mean you need to run all four but if you have two and something happens to one, you now only have one to use. Afriend of my fathers broke the cable on my boat once and trip was still all good because i still had three to use. it was a complete rigger bight that weekend.