I'm fishing the Sound for salmon, but have no downriggers. I've tried banana weights, but they don't stay down when trolling for coho. I've tried divers, like the LJ Deep Six, but there's so much force on the rod it's hard to tell when there's a strike, and I feel like I have my whole tackle box tied to the end of the line. I've tried jigging buzz bombs, and trolling flies at the top, with no results.

I know the fish are there, as the boats around us are catching them (with downriggers).

Am I just SOL?

Banana weights will not stay down???? do you have a flasher / dodger on??? You live close I might be able to help you. Just try a weight and a cut plug herring in the top 30 feet

KB,

At coho speeds (4-5 MPH), a 6-oz weight isn't going more than 15' down, I think, based on the angle of the line. Should I use even more weight? Yes, I'm running a dodger.

A friend of mine and his buddy got quick limits last weekend at 100' with squid. All the boats around us that are catching fish appear to be deep as well.

Is the upper 30' only active in low-light? I've been trying to avoid the 4 AM departure that's needed to make it out in time for pre-dawn.

Thanks, and regards.

Yes the upper 30' is low light when it gets lighter you have to go down after them. You can see on the fish finder what depth is the best. More weight no way. it takes all the fun out. Just bite the bullet and buy a cheap downrigger it will make fishing a lot nicer for you. When you get a release you are right to the fish no weight!

If you are using a diver ,don't worry you'll know when the fish hits, if using banana weights try motor mooching ,kick the motor in and out ,a lot of times they will hit on the drop,or you could just mooch,if targeting Silvers try a coho fly trolled a little fast don't worry If they want it they'll come get it

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Row Quietly and fish a Cataraft }<<(('>----<'))>>{
Release all Wild Fish

One more thing to try is fresh herring is 10 times better than frozen and if it hot you can brine them in salt water and a hand full of rock salt and WD-40

You can buy a cannon downrigger at sportco in Fife for approx $100.00 and that includes mount and release. This is a good price when you figure all the time spent out on the water. It will increase your fish catch and its more fun fighting just the fish.

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Sockeye

down riggers are for guys who don't know how to fish, learn how to mooch, you'll put those trollers to shame and have more fun doing it, works for me.

Hmm? I thought all downrigger fisherman were "challenged".

Yeah, kinda like plunkers.

Hey now! That isn't a very nice thing to say about downrigger fisherman. Comparing us to lowly plunkers? ? You can cover more ground, at more depths, more consistantly with downriggers. Perhaps when you are in an area that is loaded with fish, like the strait, or point no point etc, mooching can be the way to go. Mooching in Puget Sound can be really tough.
(to the tune of Rawhide)
Trolling, Trolling, Trolling! Keep those herring rolling ....

Good Luck
Guts

Thanks for the responses.

Here's what I do now -- rig everything up, put the motor in gear at idle, throw everything in with the reel free-spooling, count to 30, then lock up the reel. This puts about 200' of line in the water. I'm guessing that this puts the offering at between 20' and 80', depending on whether it's a banana weight, #0 Jet Diver, or #2 Deep Six diver. I'm running Spectra, so the line shouldn't be arcing too much underwater.

Whaddya think?

Finegrain;
Try counting your line. Pull out 30 feet to start, then 40, then 50 ... Eventually you will find the level that the fish are at, at that particular time. With 200 feet of line out, you are likely to be referred to as "a yellow pole long liner". These folks caused havoc on the LW Sockeye fishery. No way to tell how far out they are. Have you fouled a lot of other boats? You are likely to lose a lot of tackle fishing amongst those with downriggers. I would recommend that you keep it a little closer ...
Good Luck

Guts

Trolling with 200ft of line out when there are a few other fisherman around can lead to some nasty tangles. The extra line out does you no good at Coho speeds anyway. At 4-5 mph your 200 ft of line is still only going to be 20 ft down with 6 oz of lead. 60-100 ft is what is usually do. A white flasher with a green squid on one surface rod and a plugcut herring with 4 oz. of lead on the other. At the proper trolling speed (4-5 mph) you'll get them if there near the surface. If you can't afford a downrigger (most effective of all coho methods in my opinion) jig a chartruese-green buzz bomb or mooch a herring....they work!. Coho seem to like a lot of bait movement. The ligher stuff is more fun to catch fish but I find trolling with downriggers most effective in Puget Sound where the fish are often spread out. My $.02

Trolling with 200ft of line out when there are a few other fisherman around can lead to some nasty tangles. The extra line out does you no good at Coho speeds anyway. At 4-5 mph your 200 ft of line is still only going to be 20 ft down with 6 oz of lead. A white flasher with a green squid on one surface rod and a plugcut herring with 4 oz. of lead on the other both with 60-100 ft of line out is what I prefer. At the proper trolling speed (4-5 mph) you'll get'em if Coho are near the surface. If you can't afford a downrigger (most effective of all coho methods in my opinion) jig a chartruese-green buzz bomb or mooch a herring....they work!. Coho seem to like a lot of bait movement. The ligher stuff is more fun to catch fish but I find trolling with downriggers most effective in Puget Sound where the fish are often spread out. My $.02

Troll @ 4-5mph? Even with downriggers your lines will be sailing! The key is to use a lure that has lots of action at any speed.(coho killers, apexes, spinners etc.) I bet even our friendly moochers use a fast spin on their cutplugs

mooching?

I would rather not catch a lot of dog fish. That's why when I was 15 (a long, long time ago) my fishing buddy and I made our own down riggers from an old winch, some rebar and a pully. Mooching may work well in some ares, but not all.....all you do is lose leaders.

Yup, that's what happens as soon as we kill the motor -- Mr. Dogfish comes along and inhales Mr. Herring and the hooks.

Anyway, I'll be out Sunday AM trolling between Mukilteo and the shipwreck. I'll be scanning VHF 16 & 9, and will answer to "Wanna Be" or "Downrigger Challenged" ;-).

Tight Lines!

Say what you might about mooching, I contend that the moochers in general are better, more knowledgable and more experienced anglers than trollers. The learning curve for a moocher is much longer than for a troller. Moochers in general(not all) have a better grasp on bottom structure, tides, locations of bait and which areas to avoid during heavy doggie infestations which usually coincide with tide timing. Granted during these times with heavy dog populations the moocher must sometimes leave in order to save leaders and sanity, but a knowledgeable angler will know which hole to fish during just about any tidal situation.

Sorry balldraggers

Let me see....I caught ZERO doggies while mooching for silvers this year so far(knock on wood). Hmmmm not always a bad deal unless I wanted to catch the arfers. Hell you can tie wire leaders to combat the arfers if you can't out smart them. Nothing works better for kings/silvers because of the control it gives you over your gear...Live to Mooch, Mooch to live
Tight Lines

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Marty
Steelheader.net marty@steelheader.net