Downrigger with weight or planer on a sailboat ?

[f2zubac]

Hello

I'm a newbie here, hoping somebody will give me some insight about troling techniques on sailboat.
We're planing to run a sailboat in Greece about 4-7 knots, and we're expecing tacking/gybing. I'd like to setup some troling lines, so I was wondering if it would be more suitable a downrigger with a weight ball and release clip or a planer setup ? The second is more eaiser to setup etc., but I'm afraid that planers won't be effective in case of tacking/gybing and they might switch from diving mode to uprise mode ?
How much tacking/gybing affecting planers ?

Sincerely,
Dragan

[kapnd]

You could attach a weight to the mainline with a hook or clip secured in a loop on the mainline. It can be detached when it comes to the surface, and the mainline can continue to roll onto the reel.
It must be kept simple and self tending, so I don’t think a planer would do.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Dragan.

[f2zubac]

[QUOTE=kapnd;2916265]You could attach a weight to the mainline with a hook or clip secured in a loop on the mainline. It can be detached when it comes to the surface, and the mainline can continue to roll onto the reel.
It must be kept simple and self tending, so I don’t think a planer would do.[/QUOTE


Thank you.
I'll try a couple of ideas and report the most efficient one.


Cheers,
Dragan

[roverhi]

On our boat between 0 and 6 knots had no problems using metal head skirted lures. No need to add extra weight as they would run below the surface. Faster than that would possibly need something to keep the lure from skipping but we never did. Had pretty good luck till the lures got so chewed up that no self respecting fish would bite them. The charter fishing boats here use resin headed skirted lures up to about 10 knots. AFAIK they don't use any weights on the lures even at those higher speeds.

Suppose if you're fishing for a specific fish species that feeds deeper might have to make some special adjustments..

[dansand]

Have a look at a zwing or boat planner vs inline, downrigger or trolling weights. We have a zwing and the main issue is getting it back up at the end of the day as you basically have to be stationary. They definitely help when targeting deeper species such as Wahoo on lighter tackle.

[a64pilot]

Never ran a downrigger, but have trolled a many of a Mann stretch 30, which according to its name will run at 30’ deep. Real effective on grouper.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by roverhi

On our boat between 0 and 6 knots had no problems using metal head skirted lures. No need to add extra weight as they would run below the surface. Faster than that would possibly need something to keep the lure from skipping but we never did. Had pretty good luck till the lures got so chewed up that no self respecting fish would bite them. The charter fishing boats here use resin headed skirted lures up to about 10 knots. AFAIK they don't use any weights on the lures even at those higher speeds.

Suppose if you're fishing for a specific fish species that feeds deeper might have to make some special adjustments..

I suggest you go with above. Planers, down riggers, etc can get messy quick if tacking/jibing a lot.

Also, do you know what species you are targetting and how they fish for them in the Med? Do they use planers/downriggers? Ive never fished the Med so dont know, but you should research.

[alctel]

Also think about running diving plugs/lures

I used downriggers for salmon but that was at under 3 knots, I imagine trying to run them at faster speeds can lead to a huge mess pretty quickly