06-16-2020, 12:27 AM
When I buy fishing gear I do ask myself what will be the most productive. But, I also ask myself what will be the most fun or add to the fishing experience the most.
Downriggers will drastically improve your fishing experience. And, most of the season, fish are deep enough to catch them on downriggers. They are also an investment in more fun because you'll be able to catch fish without the weight of a dipsy or a jet diver or weights or lead core or whatever else people use. In my opinion, those things are not "fun" for kokanee or trout.
Planer boards as made now are a giant pain in the butt. Clipping the planer board to the line, like you would with a dipsy or whatever just adds additional complication to your life and results in a lost fish when you are trying to reel in after you get a hit. With that said, a few modifications on the planer board and they are one of the best fish catching devices around. They are not "fun" straight out of the box. And, they are not "fun" clipped inline. But, if you can work around that, they are great tools.
Get some manual downriggers. Learn how to stack them. It isn't hard and it doesn't take that much. It's not a magical fishing rite of passage. It's just some common sense for what is happening underneath you. Getting an extra rod per downrigger is an easy price to pay for having to reel the downrigger up to reset it. For that reason, I don't use a shuttle hawk either. It takes less than a minute to reset gear with an electric. It takes probably 2-3 minutes with a manual. That's easy math - twice the fishing for a 20-30 minutes of resetting during your day.
I would say get some planer boards if they weren't all so awful to use as they are out of the box. For now, they are probably just a disaster waiting to happen.
Don't buy line counter reels. You don't need them on a downrigger. They won't get you anything.
I like Avet SX reels for downriggers. They are a lever drag salt water reel made for light salt water fishing. They are overkill, by a lot. But, the lever drag makes it so you can easily set two rods at once with one hand. It increases the speed at which you can get reset and they are tough, smooth, beautiful reels with excellent drag and capable of going practically anywhere for anything. I color code mine with matching rods (that I make) so I can yell which one of our 7 rods got hit and someone can get on it. "Blue blue blue" and someone goes to get it.
I guess what I'm saying is that if you put together a system where you think about what you do, what you want, and how it happens, you'll have better results and more fun/satisfaction in the experience. Build a system for how you fish. Think about what will make the experience more fun and do it. Then refine your system and upgrade as needed.
Downriggers will drastically improve your fishing experience. And, most of the season, fish are deep enough to catch them on downriggers. They are also an investment in more fun because you'll be able to catch fish without the weight of a dipsy or a jet diver or weights or lead core or whatever else people use. In my opinion, those things are not "fun" for kokanee or trout.
Planer boards as made now are a giant pain in the butt. Clipping the planer board to the line, like you would with a dipsy or whatever just adds additional complication to your life and results in a lost fish when you are trying to reel in after you get a hit. With that said, a few modifications on the planer board and they are one of the best fish catching devices around. They are not "fun" straight out of the box. And, they are not "fun" clipped inline. But, if you can work around that, they are great tools.
Get some manual downriggers. Learn how to stack them. It isn't hard and it doesn't take that much. It's not a magical fishing rite of passage. It's just some common sense for what is happening underneath you. Getting an extra rod per downrigger is an easy price to pay for having to reel the downrigger up to reset it. For that reason, I don't use a shuttle hawk either. It takes less than a minute to reset gear with an electric. It takes probably 2-3 minutes with a manual. That's easy math - twice the fishing for a 20-30 minutes of resetting during your day.
I would say get some planer boards if they weren't all so awful to use as they are out of the box. For now, they are probably just a disaster waiting to happen.
Don't buy line counter reels. You don't need them on a downrigger. They won't get you anything.
I like Avet SX reels for downriggers. They are a lever drag salt water reel made for light salt water fishing. They are overkill, by a lot. But, the lever drag makes it so you can easily set two rods at once with one hand. It increases the speed at which you can get reset and they are tough, smooth, beautiful reels with excellent drag and capable of going practically anywhere for anything. I color code mine with matching rods (that I make) so I can yell which one of our 7 rods got hit and someone can get on it. "Blue blue blue" and someone goes to get it.
I guess what I'm saying is that if you put together a system where you think about what you do, what you want, and how it happens, you'll have better results and more fun/satisfaction in the experience. Build a system for how you fish. Think about what will make the experience more fun and do it. Then refine your system and upgrade as needed.