Fishing a 3rd Downrigger Advice

[Slabby20]

I've been fishing a 3rd, middle rigger for a long time. I've always fished the middle one shallower than the outside ones and go with a longer drop back on the middle one. Do you agree with that? Recently someone told me I should fish the middle one deeper and use a shorter dropback and that would cut down on tangles considerably. What has been your experience and what do you do? Thanks.

Slabby

 

[TheRock]

We run 4 riggers on our 22" walk around boat.. one on each side mid ship and one on each back corner... when currents are favorable we are able to run all 4 riggers successfully. Some tips we do that may help you out..
the side riggers we run 15lb. finned balls.. the trick is with the fin.. you bend the fin a bit in the direction you want the ball to plain out.. so we have the two side riggers planning out wards and deeper this allows us to fish the two back riggers with 10-12lb. balls. shallower or deeper if we'd like..The back riggers we do drop the gear farther back than the side riggers.. The side riggers with the 15lb. balls will generally have less drag in the water than the back riggers.. works quite well for us. When currents are to strong or to rough out.. we some times only run three riggers and some times only two.. For pink and sockeye fishing.. we'll fish all 4 riggers for sure and have even stacked our side riggers...

 

[Osama Bin Hopper]

Commercial trollers run their heavy leads forward, lighter to the rear.

Same for me on the third rigger. Lighter lead, further back, higher up.

 

[wolf]

YEP same as osama is what i do.

 

[hambone]

I fish with 3 downriggers and I find that fishing the middle one futher back and higher reduces tangles. I always bring the middle one up on turns as well to avoid tangles.