Got my second Penn 600 yesterday. I am a firm believer of controlled depth fishing. Think of it this way, would you want your line near where the fish are, or do you just want to kind of guess (like the guy on the 'In-fisherman' show that says "That looks like a good spot over there!"). You can certainly catch fish when there are lots of fish around without a downrigger, like Shillshoal, but when you are targeting one or two blips on your finder that you see in a day, winter blackmouth, I'd go for the technology every time. They are also very helpful when targeting fish that hang out at specific depths, like sockeye. Fish them too deep or too shallow and you get no bites. Fish it right, and you have a blast.

I go fishing with the intention of bringing something back, and while downriggers don't guarantee it, they ceratinly increase my odds.

Andy