We regularly use three or four rods on our boat when fishing Sekiu or Neah Bay. Two rods are on down riggers, one on each side using plug cut herring, flasher & hootchie or other gear. One rod is rigged with a 1 to 2 oz banana sinker and a plug cut herring, straight out the back. Finally we run an Eagle Claw "yellow rod" (10-25lb rated) with an ABU 6500 C3 loaded with 60lb braided line and a deep six. This rod is regularly fished at 25 pulls out the back.

With a set-up like this you have the ability to cover all of the depths that the silvers are at, from 3 feet down to 80 feet, and you can put each rod into play quickly without having to reset two rods at once when you have one trip off of the downrigger. Seldom will you need to go deeper than 50 feet at Sekiu or Neah Bay.

When you hook two or more fish in a small area, mark it as a waypoint on your GPS and troll through again and again until you stop catching fish. Why find other fish when you have already found a school?

The "yellow rod" sees as much action or more as all of the other rods combined on my boat. I know the set-up may seem a bit heavy, but there is a lot of drag and a light graphite rod rigged light would eventually break, or you may have a line faiilure that causes you to lose your fish, and the deep six.

For your boat, unless you are experienced at handling three or more fish on at a time, I might suggest limiting yourself to three rods. Fish one off of the downrigger, a deep six rod out the back at 25 pulls, and a third rod with a 2 oz sinker off the other side.

Our primary bait/lure was brined plug cut herring. Yes, there is some additional cost and effort to fish this way, but the ratio of hook-ups to landed fish has been higher on my boat with a mooching rig (2 hooks), when compare to Coho Killers or Coyote Spoons with a single siwash.

Out at Buoy 10 the diver that most folks use is a "delta diver" that does not "trip" unless you have a fish or salad on your line while a Deep Six releases and greatly reduces drag.

The drag cause by a tripped Deep six rarely gets in the way of fighting a silver, while a flasher has caused more lost fish within sight of my boat than any other single piece of gear. I own a few flashers, but rarely use them.

There are a number of people here who have fished on my boat who know the effectiveness of the "deep six yellow rod." Other folks have given you some good suggestions, and mine is that you should be prepared to try it all and find out what works best for your style and your boat set-up. 350+ fish have been brought to my boat so far this summer, fishing this way, but it took a few years to get it dialed in.

Finally, if you plan is to fish PA, drive the extra 50 miles to Sekiu instead. Start fishing from the 400 foot line out to 650. Don't be afraid to follow the boats here, they are usually right, and bring a GPS and VHF when going out into the shipping lanes cause that fog can be a beyotch when it rolls in.

Have fun! Try it all, and if you need some more help, send me a PM with your phone number and I can help you out.

Andy