First off, buy yourself a stacker clip. You can find them anywhere. It will open the door to more options on the downrigger.
If you have a plain ole round ball i would use the stacker 3ft up from the ball and run the bait or whatever 30ft or more back from the ball. Round balls tend to wander and spin without you noticing and you end up with alot of twisted line and over time, broken cables. The stacker prevents this. This also prevents false bites cause by DR wobble. You also have the option of putting a flasher right on the ball and then your line through the stacker 10-15ft out. This way you don't have to fight the drag of the flasher if you hook up. Also a stacker lets you run multiple lines on one DR. And/or multiple flashers.
Torpedo "shaped" DR balls are much better. They run true and strait. They also aren't affected by current as much so they tend to run closer to the actual depth the DR says it's running at. They swim rather than being dragged.
But if you can find a shaped weight that is cromed or has a reflective skin, you'll be that much better off.
As for tackle, you can run anything you want. There is no set way. Even flys aren't out of the question. Good luck.
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Occupation: I pet the fish.