Put it this way... how many commercial fishermen do you know that mootch? Those guys need to make a living, and short of just plain netting fish, what do they do?... they troll for them.

Trolling with downriggers is more effective than mootching because downriggers allow you to cover more water, and present your lures at exact depths. When you mark fish on your depthfinder, you can precisely target them with your downrigger depths. When you cover more water, you present your lures to more fish... it's that simple.

Don't be mstaken, though... it's an entirely different method of fishing. You won't be "setting the hook" like you do with mootching... and there are some very small pockets and places that mootching is the proven method, but overall, trolling catches many more fish.

I'd highly recommend Scotty downriggers. If you look at all the specs and talk to fishermen that use them year after year, you'll figure out that the Scottys have faster retrieve speeds, can lift heavier cannon balls, and use less power than all the other brands.

I just heard that Scotty is doing some sort of deal this year where they are giving away a free swivel base when you buy a new downrigger. This is great, because you really will want a swivel base if you don't get one when you buy your downrigger.

-N.