DownJigger Fishing Tips 

Downjigging is an enhancement to regular downrigger trolling.  To best understand that enhancement compare trolling to an old salmon fishing technique called motor mooching.  Motor mooching is pointing the nose of your boat into a tidal current, speeding your motor up to get forward motion, and then cutting the throttle of your motor to idle or even putting it out of gear to stop a bait in relation to the water.  The action imparted to baits such as cut plug or whole herring was to cause the bait to speed up and rotate faster and then slowly come to a stop and stop spinning.  The cycle is repeated by the boat driver to give a continuous variation to the bait's speed. 

The action imparted to the bait by the DownJigger is about 20 seconds at boat speed, 10 seconds of faster (1 1/2 times that of the boat) speed, and about 10 seconds stopped in relation to the boat while you drive away from it.

The critical aspect of downjigging (and fishing with a regular downrigger) is setting the the proper amount of tension in your downrigger release clip.  The release clip uses the weight of your downrigger ball to "set the hook" in the fish's mouth and then releases your fishing line for an more unencumbered fight.  It is not a good idea to manually set the hook after the clip releases, especially with barb-less hooks, since you'll be more likely to lose the fish.  To set the release clip:  First attach the release to the downrigger line or ball. Second, let your gear out as far back as you intend to troll it. Third, clip the fishing line about half way into the clip and lower the downrigger until your terminal tackle is submerged.  Fourth, wind your reel down until your rod is flexed as much as it will be when trolling and then "set the hook" against the weight of the ball.

If the clip releases with less than your desired hook set strength, repeat the process with the fishing line inserted a bit further into the clip until the desired hook set level is reached.  On the other hand, if the "hook set" doesn't release the clip and a harder one breaks your line or even worse, your fishing rod, put your fishing line in a lot less and repeat. Make note of that setting of the line release clip, hook the release to the Downjigger and fish!  This process needs to be done any time you replace the release clip because even a clip from the same manufacturer will be slightly different.

The action imparted to your fishing rod by the DownJigger can be a little disconcerting at first.  While you're downjigging, you'll notice that your rod is bent to a degree and then it will slowly straighten up and then bend rapidly back to the original deflection. When the rod is at a steady bend, your lure or bait is traveling at boat speed.  When the rod straightens, the lure is moving ten feet toward your boat.  When the rod drops back, the lure is stopped in the water and you'll travel forward ten feet before it will begin to move at boat speed again.  You can use this action to fine tune your trolling speed:  If the majority of fish are hitting on the "speed up" part of the cycle, increase your baseline trolling speed, but if the hits are when the gear stops, then decrease your speed.

Using a large Flasher or other attractor such as the 11 1/2 inch O'Ki Big Shooter requires that you remove the sea anchor and attach the release directly to the jigging cord.  Let out the desired length of fishing line and attach the downrigger release. Since these flashers typically "ski" on the surface of the water when the boat is moving, you will need to manually pull the jigging cord from the body of the DownJigger.  When the cord is fully extended, lower your downrigger quickly to submerge the flasher.  A major convenience of fishing without the sea anchor, is that once the fishing line is off the release clip the jigging cord is retracted into the body of the DownJigger.

One or two DownJiggers? At Chinook Cove Lodge we use one DownJigger per boat, normally on the downrigger running deeper. The boats are 16 or 18 foot Lunds and tidal currents can be tricky.  Our personal boats are wider so we run two.

Once you use your new DownJigger enough to learn how effective it truly is, do like everyone else who's discovered that fact: HIDE IT!  When you fight a fish, leave the DownJigger just below the water surface so other angler's won't see it.  When it's time to resume trolling, turn your boat so the DownJigger is out of sight before you hook up the clip and lower it.  If another fisherman catches you using it, and wants to know what it is, tell 'em: "My wife found it on the web, thought it was really pretty, and gave it to me for Christmas!  Ain't it purty??"  They'll laugh so hard their eyes will fill with tears giving you the chance to lower it safely out of sight before they can figure out how it works.

Happy DownJiggin'!!

Larry Babb.

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