To Stack Rods on a Downrigger ... or not??

First post for me. Thanks you guys for all the insight. I've been lurking here for a while and trying to soak up as much as I can. Just a question, if I wanted to run a plug on a stacked system would I be best off running it on the bottom? I find plugs catch less but bigger fish so I'd like to have one down more often but still want regular action.

Thanks,

G
 
Fm do you have a depth at which you won't? I find it hard to keep the cable angles at 45ish when stacking deeper than 120'

As you go deeper, if you are fishing Flashers, obviously, then you need to increase the spread. Anything over 150' and if the tide is running I use bigger cannonballs than 15 lbs. I used to have a couple of 24 pound balls which were awesome when fishing deep....and I was using the HP riggers. Unfortunately, after novice guide ran the boat, my 24 lbers became bottom fixtures... grrrr.
 
First post for me. Thanks you guys for all the insight. I've been lurking here for a while and trying to soak up as much as I can. Just a question, if I wanted to run a plug on a stacked system would I be best off running it on the bottom? I find plugs catch less but bigger fish so I'd like to have one down more often but still want regular action.

Thanks,

G

Top or bottom, Tomics dive.
 
I fished Alberni inlet with Ironnoggin one time for sockeye. Stacked rods galore, sometimes it was chaos with multiple fish on at once. At first I thought he was a nut job when he was first setting up but man, what chaotic messy fun it was. LOL He was dialed in on the procedure and we limited out in short order.
 
For those who stack, do you use the Scotty stacking clips, or stopper beads and regular clips, or other?
I fished Alberni inlet with Ironnoggin one time for sockeye. Stacked rods galore, sometimes it was chaos with multiple fish on at once. At first I thought he was a nut job when he was first setting up but man, what chaotic messy fun it was. LOL He was dialed in on the procedure and we limited out in short order.

Sockeye.....meat....get it done and get back to the dock for beers and eats and Vacuum packing. End of shift.
 
Sockeye.....meat....get it done and get back to the dock for beers and eats and Vacuum packing. End of shift.

That's pretty much exactly how it went down. It was a crapload of fun.

I personally don't like to stack rods though. I have lots of newbies on board, it's too much to handle in my small boat.
 
Stacking is great if your partner can run a rigger by himself. Trying to manage 4 rods by yourself is a lot of work.... Trying to manage 4 rods when buddy your with is trying to manage 2 rods with no clue is a pain in the butt!
 
For those who stack, do you use the Scotty stacking clips, or stopper beads and regular clips, or other?
Stacker clip clipped onto one of those yellow things of the scotty weight retreivers(or blue scotty fairleads as used by commie trollers, but those can be hard to find) I keep the top rod in the clip when checking gear. Obviously will stop stacking when the fishing is red hot at a certain depth
 
anorthern hunter,

When a fish hits ALL THE GEAR comes up. I fish Nootka, and the bites are not that plentiful, and sometimes there is a tyee on the end. Don't chance the chaos. you will have at least 10 minutes of fight on an average fish, and often 1/2 an hour on a big fish, so lots of time to pull the gear.

Also, the boat chaos in the pack means extra lines out are extra trouble. Get the gear up, turn and chase the fish so that another boat does not cross you and cut you off when the fish runs 80 + yards on the first run.

The reason for running all the lines you can is trying to find the magic combination. You can run two with hardware / hootchies, and 2 with bait and cover a lot of water depth. Keep changing until you find the pattern. One year it was a blue flasher with a blue anchovie head holder. It took 2 days to find the pattern, and an evening and a morning to limit on nice fish. No one else was hitting anything. Only rod that caught (only had one blue flasher and a couple blue head holders) was the blue on blue combo.

Another fun trick is to go as FAST AS YOU CAN with the gear down at 90 - 100 feet without tripping out of the release clips. The lines will come up to about 45 degree angle. Then cut the power, and let the balls slowly descend. As you approach 90 degrees, start hard on the throttle until the lines come back up again, then cut the power and let the gear settle back down. One year this trick had 6 good springs in a couple of hours with some amazing hits and huge runs. Everyone else was just wondering if we had engine trouble and watching the action.

Drewski
 
Drewski - thank you so much for the post. This forum is excellent for knowledge - even for those of us who have fished for a while.

Do you run the long line on the bottom of the stack and the short on the top?
 
anorthern hunter,

When a fish hits ALL THE GEAR comes up. I fish Nootka, and the bites are not that plentiful, and sometimes there is a tyee on the end. Don't chance the chaos. you will have at least 10 minutes of fight on an average fish, and often 1/2 an hour on a big fish, so lots of time to pull the gear.

Also, the boat chaos in the pack means extra lines out are extra trouble. Get the gear up, turn and chase the fish so that another boat does not cross you and cut you off when the fish runs 80 + yards on the first run.

The reason for running all the lines you can is trying to find the magic combination. You can run two with hardware / hootchies, and 2 with bait and cover a lot of water depth. Keep changing until you find the pattern. One year it was a blue flasher with a blue anchovie head holder. It took 2 days to find the pattern, and an evening and a morning to limit on nice fish. No one else was hitting anything. Only rod that caught (only had one blue flasher and a couple blue head holders) was the blue on blue combo.

Another fun trick is to go as FAST AS YOU CAN with the gear down at 90 - 100 feet without tripping out of the release clips. The lines will come up to about 45 degree angle. Then cut the power, and let the balls slowly descend. As you approach 90 degrees, start hard on the throttle until the lines come back up again, then cut the power and let the gear settle back down. One year this trick had 6 good springs in a couple of hours with some amazing hits and huge runs. Everyone else was just wondering if we had engine trouble and watching the action.

Drewski
Its funny you bring the speeding up and slowing down technique up, We have hooked several fish over the years while slowing down after a good hook up and the downrigger ball is just hanging straight down. Kind of funny when your playing a fish and look over and see the other rod going off.
 
Its funny you bring the speeding up and slowing down technique up, We have hooked several fish over the years while slowing down after a good hook up and the downrigger ball is just hanging straight down. Kind of funny when your playing a fish and look over and see the other rod going off.
Do you kick it into neutral when you get one hit? We generally keep the boat moving. And we usually leave all rods down unless we are checking bait or whatever. Even if the bottom rod goes off with a fish, we leave the top rod down and it usually avoids tangles somehow.
 
We put it in neutral when we get a good fish on and bring up the other rod. Just makes life easier and less chance of screwing things up, If its a little fish we just keep going.
 
I stack on my side and my dad runs a single rod, I have caught 4 to his 1 so far this season. We had one double header that ended up being a huge cluster F and we lost 1 that tangled with the other rod while out. In hindsight I should've cleared my top rod but we had to focus on driving with lots of boats around.
 
We always bring up the other rod and just leave the other gear down. Bring the downrigger up and swing it to the front of the boat out of the way. The top clip comes off and the other clip is tied at the knot so the end just stays right beside the ball. Keep the first on the cleared side and net or gaff it.
 
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