Sockeye w/out Downriggers?

[acnewman55]

I'm going to try getting after some Sockeye on Lake Wenatchee this year.

I don't have any experience trolling for Sockeye, just wondering how to setup for them and get deep enough w/out using downriggers?

Thanks!

[quadrafire]

MY FIL is catching them right now about 35 feet. Not sure if he has a downrigger now or not, but he used to jerry rig one with a weight of some type  and some line/string and just tie it over the side of the boat. Of course you would still need a way to release your line from it.

[206]

Did Baker a few years ago and the wife's 3-4 oz banana weight outfished my electric/expensive downrigger.  I contributed this to the bounce of her rod tip which created more action on the terminal end.   Seen the same with pinks in the salt once in which she killed me.

You troll very slow for sockeye.  I drag a wind sock to slow down my slow trolling boat even more.  Because of this, you can easily get down 35 feet without a downrigger.  I put the banana weight bout 4 feet above the dodger.

Just be realistic on the amount of line going out.  More is not better and can cause others problems when in combat.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Either get a inexpensive line counter that mounts in front of your reel on your rod or get a line counter reel. Then use previous advice on tackle and speed. If you don't have a fish finder either ask other passing boats what depth or figure it out? Good Luck!

[WSU]

With no downrigger I'd run a cannonball dropper. 

[101521]

Great post.  This will do the trick.  This is all we used to do for them on Lk. Wash and it a killer combo...and bare red hooks

Did Baker a few years ago and the wife's 3-4 oz banana weight outfished my electric/expensive downrigger.  I contributed this to the bounce of her rod tip which created more action on the terminal end.   Seen the same with pinks in the salt once in which she killed me.

You troll very slow for sockeye.  I drag a wind sock to slow down my slow trolling boat even more.  Because of this, you can easily get down 35 feet without a downrigger.  I put the banana weight bout 4 feet above the dodger.

Just be realistic on the amount of line going out.  More is not better and can cause others problems when in combat.

[winshooter88]

Lots of people fish Lake Wenatchee without downriggers, I've seen guys use all kinds of things including old railroad spikes rigged on a release. Right now I would start at 35-40 feet and then if you didn't get any bites work my way down to 70-90 feet. Most of the fish are caught at the north end of the lake. Good Luck, we are planning to go up on Thursday.

[L-ofalab]

At Brewster we fish only 13 feet deep. We use a flasher and pink hoochie.  Do bare hooks work at Lake Wenatchee?

[quadrafire]

Bare red hook a foot behind the dodger was the ticket today according to the FIL. He says his fish finder is black with fish on the north end. They are healthy and firm and bigger than he was catching at brewster. Guess they had 66K fish come into the lake.
Man I want to get over there this weekend.
Not many boats fishing yet either

[h2ofowlr]

Banana weights 3-6 oz depending on current.  You can rig up a line with release to a 3-4 lb cannon ball weight.  Tie off to gunnel and mark in 10' increments.

[LipRipper!]

I use a Luhr Jensen Deep Six Diver or Pink Lady Diver and they both work great.  You can also get a decent chart for them that tells you how deep you are depending upon how much line you have out.  I feel more confident on the depth of my setup when I use either one of these. Good Luck!

[bear]

We slayed the sockeye on the Columbia last weekend with 2 downriggers and 1 rod out the back with 2 oz of lead.  The rod out the back with the lead sinker caught more fish than any of the other poles.  In fact, one boat took his downriggers off and fished all 3 rods with just lead sinkers.  Don't need downriggers to catch fish.

[Stein]

I use a Luhr Jensen Deep Six Diver or Pink Lady Diver and they both work great.  You can also get a decent chart for them that tells you how deep you are depending upon how much line you have out.  I feel more confident on the depth of my setup when I use either one of these. Good Luck!

 

Just don't be the guy to put a 1 oz sinker on, let out 1,000 yards of line and troll through the pack at 5 mph.