TOPIC:

First off going to apologize for the long winded post. But, wanted to throw out some history. I am looking to do some updating to my current boat, and looking for some recommendations as to what some of you guys would do. Just now seriously getting back into Lake Michigan fishing after a long break, and this is not the same lake from what i remember. I grew up fishing for salmon and perch, from around '89 through '03. Every weekend the weather allowed we would be out there, whether it was the whole family or just my dad and I. After he passed in '03, I inherited all of the equipment, with the intention of buying another boat right away. Well, life happened, I bought a house, found other interests, and outside of kayak fishing for steelhead(which is a RIOT), i was out of the game completely until 2011. Got the itch one day and bought my current boat, and started fishing, but really only got out a few times a year for the first few years, then the last five have been barely once a year after we had our daughter, and those trips were more just to keep the boat from just sitting. We caught some fish, but nothing to write home about.

This year that changed. Daughter is five now, and my wife really wants to spend more time on the water, so i did a bunch of work to the boat, and we put it back in the water in Hammond Marina. We live an hour away from the lake, so having it there ready to go makes after work and early morning trips much easier. Unfortunately the lake also appears to be a little different from what i grew up fishing. Water is clearer, and the color has changed. Yes, patterns are somewhat similar, time of year, but we have been out quite a bit, and are just getting our butts kicked trying to put fish in the boat. The tactics that we used throughout the '90's and early 2000's seem to have evolved, along with how to rig a boat.

Back in the late 90's and early 2000's, we had our boat rigged with 4 downriggers, two off the back, two off the sides. Dipsy's existed, but we never used them because our setup worked so well. In summer months we would run at least two rods per downrigger, toss out a slider or two, and maybe run a couple planer boards with either a keel weight, or just flat line, and that ten rod spread worked fantastic. When i picked my current boat up in 2011, I went back to what i knew, 4 downriggers and a couple planer boards. Well, we have had several mornings where we are fishing right along side a couple charters, listening to them on the radio, running same colors, at the same depth, same speed, and we can barely raise any fish. But, i am doing the math on either the lead core, or dipsy's they are running, and trying to match it with a downrigger. This tells me that as the lake has cleaned up these last few years, the fish seem to be more afraid of the boat. Or maybe all my old gear smells, don't know. What i do know is that I don't even see the charters running 4+ downriggers these days, when it didn't used to be uncommon to see guys running upwards of five 20 years ago.

My current boat is a 22' Grady White Seafarer. I have a T8 Yamaha for a kicker, set up with a Trollmaster. Lowrance Elite 7 GPS/graph. Four Big Jon downriggers, two off the back, two off the sides. Have 8 Ugly Stick down rigger rods with Penn 209's, a couple Penn trolling rods we originally bought for dipsy's with Penn 320's, and a handful of browning's and shimano's, again all with Penn 209's. Everything is between 8' and 8'6", most being 8'3", but not a line counter among them. The last two trips out i started experimenting with longer leads off the ball, which did seem to start helping, however my tangles went through the roof. Doubling what i was used to increased hits, but i also lost more fish. I think i finally understand dipsy's and lead core, if the fish are a little bit more easily spooked that is.

So, what i am looking for a little advice on, is what move to make? Right now i am thinking hard about pulling two of my downriggers off, and just running one off each corner of the boat angled out. This would free up the gunnel mount for additional rod holders, or i could run a couple gimbal mounts in the forward flush mount rod holders if space was too tight in the rear. If i swapped the rear downriggers for two three rod ratcheting setups, and picked up 4 dedicated 10'+ dipsy rods, i could run 4 rods off the downriggers(plus sliders if needed), and then have space freed up for up to 4 dipsy rods and/or a pair of planer boards. Dont think i want to go lead core quite yet, unless someone convinces me otherwise.

Am i crazy for wanting to pull two downriggers off the boat to change to dipsy's?
Would i be better off keeping low mounted rod holders right on the gunnel, or a pair of trees?
Do i need to set up with at least a pair of lead core or copper rigs? If so, what is the preference?
Or, do i just leave it set up as it is, and just enjoy being on the water.

Feels great to be back out on the big pond with some regularity, but at the same time frustrating. Appreciate any advice.

Wow, I'm contemplating the same question. I've got 4 DR's across the back and its rough to net nice fish. I have double rod holders on each rigger, Big Jon adjustables. I run the outside riggers at 90 degrees and use the holders for planers, slide divers or dipseys. I run the the rod for that rigger in the outside holder of the inside rigger. Since I have 8 holders across the back and DR's are hard mounted, I've thought about taking the booms off of two of them and using them just as holders. I have yet to use all the riggers, just two with cheaters. I only get 6 rods.

Very similar setup for me as well. All are hard mounted on swivel bases, the two outboard ones have double rod holders, the two rear have singles, but then i still have the 4 flush mount free, and have two other flatline rod holders mounted further forward. I suppose i could run dipsy's off of those, before i start making serious changes, it just feels like i need to get more lines away from the boat. And yes, eliminating two down riggers would definitely make netting a whole lot easier, along with dealing with the kicker. If my daughter is on the boat we can run 9, but as soon as i push up to 8 on riggers i seem to start getting into tangle city. At least when i start running the longer leads that seem to be needed now on the lake.

Keep the downriggers on. You don't have to use them all the time.

Go get a couple copper rods and leadcore rods. My best producing rods this year has been copper line!

You might want to look into the “newer” weighted stainless trolling wire instead of the copper and lead core. Stronger than either of the others and is kink resistant and should last for years because it is 304 stainless steel. Supposed to have a sink rate equal to 32# copper. Costs a bit more though. I have a reel coming my self for the weighted stainless.

Sounds like you have most of the right equipment. Just do single rod per down rigger with slider should help with tangles and not hurt production. You can count count level winds for your dipsys until you pick up a couple line counters. Try snubber on 1 side and none on the other and see which works for you. Set up 2 and 3 color lead cores for swr rigs or shallow boards. Braid might let you do a 5 color board rod with those 209 Penns.

Slack is right on the braid with leadcore. I start with 30' 20# fluoro leader to the leadcore, 30' 20# mono between the leadcore and the braid to attach the planers. I bought 1200 yds of 80# Powerpro for muskies a few years ago and used that for my leadcore reels. 50# would be better. The mono holds up really well to the side planers.

One tip to perhaps help your catch rate on downriggers is to set yourself up a "swr" rig.
Generally, that's add one or two colors of leadcore to the end of your line, then a 20 to 30 foot leader of mono, , fluoro...your choice, then your lure.
Let out the line until all the leadcore is out, then attach to your rigger. Lots of info on this I'm sure with a google search, it's been pretty effective since the lake has cleared.
Maybe run that off a third rigger off the back, and traditionally that would be your deepest set rigger

You didn't mention a budget - so budget aside:

Everybody fishes a little different, but it's pretty crucial to have divers and long lines these days. If I was running 9 lines, my starting place would be 2 riggers, 2 or 3 dipsy divers, and 4 or 5 lead or coppers on boards.

Leadcore and/or copper lines are pretty indispensible IMO. Sometimes they account for the vast majority of silver fish caught on any given day. In terms of lead, good to have flexibility, such as a 3, 5, 7 , 10.

I'd get a couple line counter reels for dipsys. Okuma Convectors are pretty entry level and perform well. I can't imagine running divers without line counters, they are pretty useful for repeatability and remembering where you are running the divers.

You can set up a 1 or 2 color on one of your downrigger rods, and a 3 color on another. That way you can run them as high lines when the water is cold (coho/steelhead on top) or run off the riggers if the fish are deeper. Although be mindful of tangles. Usually only 1 SWR as they are referred to, like Reel Fun said.

You are right, no budget was set yet, still trying to decide if i want to pull and possibly sell off one pair of downriggers, that could offset cost potentially if i wanted to really start making changes. Counter reels and a couple long dipsy rods are definitely going to come pretty quick, the Okuma seem to be well recommended so i will look at those first. I figure i can re-purpose a couple of my existing rods for lead, and start with a 2 and a 3 color for now. I do have a couple more rods and some more reels that i can rebuild and run, they just didn't make it into the rotation. Two more 209's, and a couple Shimano's that i can set up with more colors.

I think for the sake of keeping things going this season, i am just going to pull two downriggers and bring them home for now, and keep the rod holders on the swivel bases for dipsy or lead core on boards. I'll set up a couple rods for lead, and see if i can track down 4 longer rods and line-counters for the dipsy's. I think part of our issue when trying the divers so long ago was that we were just counting the levelwinds, which while it works, its not 100% accurate and tough to repeat at times.

Tangles i am definitely used to at this point, looking forward to starting to spread things out from the boat.

Appreciate all of the advice, I will update this as i make changes and see if i can get some more fish in the boat.