Just wondering what most people use or is a good rule of thumb for how far back your lure should be on the downrigger wire? Also for a slider about how long? thanks.
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When fish are aggresive, running lures tight to the rigger weight (4-12' or so) will often produce good results. When fish are pressured or are for whatever reason either neutral or negative, then longer leads behind the weight are often the ticket. Experimentation will tell you what leads will be most productive for the day.
As for slider lengths, most tournaments call for them to be 72" or less. Even if you don't fish tournaments I don't really see much advantage to making your sliders any longer than that.
Jim...I Fish Therefore I Am
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It should also be noted that depth of the set can give you a ballpark starting point for your leads off your riggers. A general rule of thumb is the "100' rule" that I and many others have used over the years. I can't remember where I initially read it, but it seems to work.
For example: Say you are fishing in 70fow running your riggers at 60'. Your lead should be about 40' or so (i.e. 60 + 40 = 100'). Deeper you go with your riggers, the shorter the lead. When fishing riggers down to 100' or so, I tend to keep leader lengths short, less than 15'.
In shallow water (<50')you need to run your lead lengths back farther. Two years ago at Salmonarama, BirdDog and I were fishing 35-40fow for an entire week, and if our leads were not at least 60' back..we didn't get a sniff. Point being, in the shallow water, you need to get your stuff away from the shadow/noise of the boat.
What I posted above is definitely a generalization, but it gives a good starting point. Another thing to note is that if your divers are getting hammered...shorten up the leads off your riggers as the fish are obviously in an aggressive mood. If your divers are dead and you are catching fish on your core/copper rigs on the outside of the spread, then lengthen the leads off your riggers and try longer leads behind your divers.
The fun in all of this is trying to figure out "Why" the fish are hitting a particular presentation at that time. Establishing a pattern is key to filling the cooler. Do not neglect the fact that oftentimes many guys struggle after the early morning bite slows (i.e. sun gets over the dunes)...so be flexible and willing to try new things. Granted, there are a million variables that come into play when one attempts to entice an animal with a brain the size of a pea to bite, but if you can standardize your setups with a few general "rule of thumb" type modes....you should be able to figure things out in a relatively short time.
That is..assuming you are over fish, trolling the right direction, speed, using the right colors, etc. etc.
BFG
Official Ohio Delegate to Team Heavy Super-Sized Fishing Specialists bfg@educatedangler.com
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I agree with alot of what you said Clark but I don't see much point to the 100' rule of thumb. At 40' and more back from the weight you are eliminating the value of the weight as an attractor. They will zero in on your weight long before they will your lure, cruise in to investigate and soon lose interest and break off pursuit having never seen the lure. I agree that there are certainly times long leads of 40' or more are more productive but personally I wouldn't use that as a starting point.
Jim...I Fish Therefore I Am
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Yeah I have never heard of the 100' rule either - it's interesting and I'd stick with it if it works.
I rarely will run long leaders in the neighborhood of 40' or longer, and if I do it's situational and not based on a formula. For instance running plugs I will run long leads or perhaps with a big paddle down the chute. But in those cases I also expect to be less maneuverable with the boat and to have additional tangles bringing fish to the boat.
I would say that on average we run leads in the 8' to 15' range for most situations.
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Wow! thats allot of knowledge to take in for a rookie, but thanks for the information. Say just wonding how many of you guys are fishing the Grand Haven off Shore Challenge, I will be on a friends boat all of us for the first time in any competition?
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The only thing I would add to what was said already….what I'm running also dictates how long I can run my leads. When running rotators’ or flashers you are only going to be able to go back so far b-4 it's tangle city. Spoons on the other hand we have stretched back pretty far if the lead core keeps firing. One of our Favorite late morning/afternoon set ups when it dies down is Rotators on the Corners with a spoon on the center rigger running below the rotator/flasher's run the spoon about 2 to 3x further back then the stretch on the other riggers.
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