Trial Run Of My Scotty Downrigger Off Dana

[daperrin]

Bought a small downrigger for my Hobie looking forward to using it for big Colorado lake trout this summer. Figured I might as well try it out locally. Worked rather well as I got a few calicos and a big sheephead.
https://youtu.be/jQfU0ibXoHg

[Saba Slayer]

You’ll be happy with the downrigger in fresh water. It’s a great tool and a fun way to fish with lighter line and still get in the bite zone I usually use lead core line on the other side when trolling but even with 12# leadcore it’s still like fishing with rope
Soooo
this season I’m going to try snap weights. Roby and Scott have been using em and they’ve been pretty successful.
I’ll still use the downrigger on one side but I’ll troll the snap weight on the other side of the yak.
Here’s a video on how they work.
https://youtu.be/qNQk-T0aVpg

[daperrin]

I'll definitely give those a try.

I'm guessing you can't really 'set the hook' very hard or they would come off. Probably you just let the speed of the troll set the hook for the most part. Is that right?

[Saba Slayer]

The clips are similar to downrigger clips but where the pads meet there is a small pin/bump that keeps the weight on until you squeeze it to release it.
You can see it in the photo.
So, you can set the hook and not be afraid of the weight prematurely releasing.