Depth being one of the criticle details in a successful day of Sockeye fishing I am curious as to the success rates of those using downriggers vs. other methods.

my boat went 14 for 22 and all but one fish was on the downrigger.

We went 6 for 9 all on DR's. And thats with three of us.

Really pretty useless to fish without a DR and electronics. In the 115 foot deep hole I fish, in the middle of the day when I prefer to be out there, the sox are holding right at 85 feet, and there's no way you are going to stay in their face without a booger ball and wire. Besides, the flatliners really make life tough when they cut in front of you with a couple hundred feet of line out at a 30 degree angle - pretty much always get on your wire and bust off while yelling at you to stop and undo their line when by the time they notice another 3 boats have crossed it :rolleyes: . With all the effort you expend to get out there, wouldn't you flatliners like to bring home some fish once in a while? Get a cheap downrigger and get with the program

Two people 4 fish, all on DR's. Caught one boats lines (both of them) that didn't have DR's. My buddy saw the pole jumping and thought it was a fish but when the DR came up it had a K16 Kwik fish and 0 dodger along with another set up. We got it loose before it broke off. My vote stays with the DR's.

Hooked 20 landed 12 from 5:00 am to 10:00 am,all on down riggers.We also hooked up with two flat liners who lost both battles.I ended up with both set up's as they really didn't pay attention to what was happening to there lines.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

We C&Rd 1 flatliner who was using a diver. The same guy got tangled with 2 other boats before we moved on...

It's a DR show, that's for sure.

For all you guys that can't afford a DR
You might try this,

Get the bottom half of a bottom fishing rod with a big level wind reel loaded with bradded Dacron,attach a 6 to 8lb ball,add a release clip and you have a home made DR .

When I was young and poor this got lots of fish for us

We went 1 for 3, all three hits off the DR. Nothing on the deep six diver. Got a little shallow on one pass and pulled up someones former marine electrical system on the ball.

I built my own DR from a 16" pulley and misc plumbing parts, cost about $31, including all the terminal hardware (release clips, etc).

Of course, Parker wouldn't been seen in my little redneck boat and opted for the nice ride instead.

6 for 7 with dr

Gee, I don't know why? :rolleyes:

Not only was in a nice ride (23' Arima), but we launched from a private "boating club". I couldn't say we were the only one's launching at 5:00 am, because one other boat was leaving the dock as we pulled up. I think I saw 3 boat trailers in the parking lot when we returned! Those damn crowds!

Manual downriggers? What are those?????