2 rod, 3 rod, 4 rod, more?

[Sir Reel]

I fish with 2 downriggers and sometimes fish with 2, 3, or 4 rods stacking 2 a side in the 4 rod combo.
My best fishing day ever we only used 2 rods at Otter Point(could not get anymore in the water!) and caught 7 - 25lb springs and lost 5 more in 4 hours. But everyone was catching fish and I don't think it mattered what you had out or on.
So my question is do you catch more fish with 3 or 4 rods? Should you just use 2 rods with dummy flashers instead? With 4 rods it gets a bit hairy getting gear out of the way especially if you get a double header.
Do 4 rods/flashers attrach fish better or do they spooke the fish with so much gear around. Is it better to have 4 rods and then have 2 with anchovy one with a spoon and one with a hootchie?
With 4 rods it makes checking bait and clearing weeds more time consuming too. Gear maybe isn't in the water as much.
Any ideas or comments out there?
Sir Reel

 

[Degree of Freedom]

Speaking about chinooks only...if I'm looking for fish I use 3 or 4 rods (more depth and lure combinations). If I know where the fish are (depth) and what is working, I use 2 rods only...alot more enjoyable.
I have a very small boat, so more rods is a bit of a pain...if you have a larger boat and a competent crew, 4 rods might not be that bad.
I look forward to hearing some expert opinions on this subject.

 

[teamchachi]

I think that you nailed it. It really depends on whether you're searching for fish or not. Why run 4 rods unless you have to?

The other issue is a competent crew (and a big boat certainly helps!). Every year up at Bamfield we see at least one guy runnning 4 rods by himself get into a big fish. What a cirus.

 

[Sir Reel]

I've seen one guy running 4 rods too. Some of them are pretty good at it. We try to have 3 guys in the boat. One guy drives and watches traffic. One plays the fish and the other pulls up gear. The most fun is when the fish comes up to the surface and runs toward the boat with 3 rods still down. Who needs drugs when you can have that kind of excitment!

 

[goodoutroo]

I've had up to 7 rods out, always pushing the limits!
4 rods seems to be the reasonable limit, more is just so much work.
I've seen boats that regularly run 6 rods without problems but these boats are always beamy.
As most guys, I will go down to 2 rods when the bite is on, and sometimes just 1. More rods is just for when things are slow and I am hunting for the fish.

I have a question for the group...which rod do you run deep on a side..I've always made the outside rod the deep one but recently had an experienced guest who did the opposite.

 

[Captain Dudds]

Keep the inside deep; you will tangle less. I think thats a pretty common theory.

If the outside is deep and your turning, it will go way under the boat while your shallow inside rod will keep strait down. hence, they might cross.

 

[Sir Reel]

Hmm that is interesting as we have always had the outside rod deep. Thanks for the tip we'll try it the other way around.
How far back do you set your hook on the deep rod and the higher rod?
I think we put both back about 25' but because of the angle of the downrigger cable I would think the higher rod's hook is about 5 to 10 feet in front of the lower hook. Should both be roughly inline with each other or is one in front of the other better? Also we stack them about 20' apart to avoid tangles.
Any other great ideas?

 

[TheBigGuy]

quote:Originally posted by goodoutroo

I've had up to 7 rods out, always pushing the limits!
4 rods seems to be the reasonable limit, more is just so much work.
I've seen boats that regularly run 6 rods without problems but these boats are always beamy.
As most guys, I will go down to 2 rods when the bite is on, and sometimes just 1. More rods is just for when things are slow and I am hunting for the fish.

I have a question for the group...which rod do you run deep on a side..I've always made the outside rod the deep one but recently had an experienced guest who did the opposite.

As the earlier reply mentioned, I believe the deep lines should be run on the inside rigger rods. Usually I run the upper stacked lines with a longer lead from the release clip. Twenty feet between stacked lines will rarely cross. You can go as little as ten feet apart, but that's probably going to tangle way more often. Fifteen feet is fairly safe, but will cross now and then. The current dictates how close you can have your lines from each other. The more current, the more crosses you will get, especially when trolling cross current or turning.

Depending on the beam of the boat, you can run up to seven lines without tangles once you are experienced with running multiple lines. I used to run four lines stacked on the riggers and two or three on the surface regularly. Surface lines can be spread away from the other lines by using directional divers such as dipsy divers. You don't want to attempt this many lines without a couple of very experienced helpers onboard. Four on the riggers is very manageable once you get the hang of it. Best of luck, good fishing.

TheBigGuy