Brazin

You are right, it makes for a lot of cranking especially if you are fishing for blackmouth. That is the reason to go with electric downriggers or always take a young, strong guy fishing with you. Another tip is to bring up any shakers (very small salmon that don't release the clip) with the downrigger rather than pulling the line off by yanking on the rod.
This will get the fish in much quicker with less stess and get you back fishing sooner. I always take all gear (rods and downriggers) out of the water with a fish I definitely do not want to chance losing. With small fish you can usually control them enough to keep them away from the other gear. I usually turn my boat as the fish is coming in to keep it on the side that I want to net it on.

Deepwater