"Cheaters for Salmon"??

[Mac Attack]

 I've always run 4 ft of Dave Davis spinners directly of the balls with release 2 ft. above the ball.   Ive also considered them horizontal because thinking that the cable was vertical and the water surface horizontal?      When the salmon are near the surface I often set the lure or bait 5 to 15 ft deep and 10 to 15 back.   Exciting when a  salmon's first jump is directly beside the boat      

When a salmon hits the cheater does it often release the bottom lure?    I'm still trying to anticipate 15 to 20 ft. of leaders coming together at netting time??    

Dick

go back in this thread and look at the illustrations boon showed.
if you only use a 3-6' leader on the cheater, and it slides down to the main lure after everything releases, you only have 3-6 feet of leader when netting.
if you reel up to the main lure.

[dickbaker]

   Thanks for all the great advice.  I'll get back to you after I get to experiment on the water this spring and summer!
Dick

[boondox]

Funny thing is we say on top and most of the bait is on bottom this time of year.. cause waters stratified were it's warmer on bottom then on top but fish are shallow like 15 to 20 fow  trying to use a down rigger in 20 fow is a little hard you would be better off flat lineing lures or running #10 jet divers or similar dipseys and run less line out even on a big planner boaRd you can run the jet and dipsey divers.. thing is predator fish their eyes are on top of thier head so you got to get their attention by presenting the bait above them..and finding were the fish are hanging is another thing.. no problem on the advise by the way.. that why were here is to help out..

[Mac Attack]

We run riggers in shallow water all the time boon.
Easiest way to troll spoons and get them under the surface.
Do it for eyes and also browns and cohos in the spring.
In 6-10 FOW.

[boondox]

 good for you..

[dickbaker]

In April and early May I don't bother with the riggers.   The outside rod holders handle lead core while the two on top of the rigger handle flat lines.
My lead core are portions of lead core with backing.   One has just one color while the other has two colors.   If I have to go to three colors or more I will resort to the down riggers.  Maybe cheaters this spring?
Dick

[boondox]

Your exactly right on how your running it.   if you need more depth out of a shallow running lure you could run some thing like a 1/2 to 1.5 ounce weight like a snap weight..  if lead is illegal were your at try some tungsten bullet weights..  use a bead aND s barrel swivel to stop the weight from sliding all the way down..  then use a 6 foot leader off the barrel..  if me I would run shinners on a long line off a planner boaRd but that me on some thing like this or small yozuri pins minnows same size as your regular minnows your catching fish on.. some thing like blue/ silver or black /silver. In a pin's minnow.. those pins minnows don't dive very deep maybe 2 foot on 100 feet back that's were a snap weight will drag it down to the desired depth a little better faster..

[crayfish2]

Hi Dick,

As PB said, we run sliding cheaters later on in the year when we are going down 20' or more.  Just a 3-5' leader with a swivel on one end and snap on the other.  Hook lure to snap and hook swivel to your mainline.  Give it a toss so the lure is behind your main line and it will slide it's way down to the midpoint.  When a fish hits on the cheater, the rod will go crazy but it won't trip the release.  Crank down, give the rod a yank to trip the release and crank like a madman until you catch up with the fish.  We usually run 50' back, so there could be quite a bit of line to take in before catching up with the fish on the cheater.  As Fishfarmer said, there are no tangles at that point since the cheater swivel will slide down to the main lure and then the fish is 3-5' behind the main lure.

You can also use rubber bands to hold the cheater a certain distance above the main lure.  I will run the main lure down 5-10' with the rigger, then half-hitch a rubber band around the mainline.  Put the swivel from the cheater leader through the loop in the rubber band and clip it to the mainline.  Continue dropping the rigger to the desired depth.  Now you have 2 lures 5-10' apart on one line.

Early spring, Perchbait and I will run 2 longlines and 2 in-line planer boards.  Usually with a mix of spoons and small stickbaits.  I will typically put a splitshot or 2 above the spoons and shallow sticks to get them down a few feet.  I do have snap-weights, but haven't tried those yet.

Good luck!  Hopefully we'll be getting out there before summer.  This weather is going to set us back a while!

[boondox]

When a salmon hits the cheater does it often release the bottom lure?    I'm still trying to anticipate 15 to 20 ft. of leaders coming together at netting time??   

Dick

Use Common sense here!!  Hope your not reading in to what i am saying to much??  about 15 to 20 feet for leaders.  the cheaters are more 5 to 6 foot long but in between the last clip and lure is 20 foot aprox on the last clip..  last clip does not release always..  that's were reeling fast poping the clip and reeling again.. saying 15 to 20 foot messed me up.. the 15 to 20 foot is for the main line off the ball the cheater leads are 5 to 6 foot long.. trying to net a fish 20 foot out from the jam up point at the rod tip mainlly the spoon stop point  is impossible.. unless your net handle is 20 foot long lol's..  in other words common sense.. with a 5 or 6 foot leader you can walk back words if boats big enough or you can point rod tip behind you and spread arms and net fish with other hand not holding rod.. that's if by your self .. that's why we use 6 foot leads for every thing.. our personal wing span when arms are spread eagle is no more then 6 foot usally .. that's why no more then 6 foot for dipsey leaders , jet diver leads , and stuff that wont fit threw guides like s bullet weights.. hope this help clarification of this..

[dickbaker]

    Wow!  You guys got me all excited about this and now there is 3 ft. of snow at the boat launch
Dick

[boondox]

Worst thing is walleye are going to be in the rivers for a while cause water Temps really cold around michigan..  the ice breaker went out and ice is starting to come down threw the st clair river right now..  two more weeks and it's  steely time..  just got a phone call that told me about it from port huron lol's

[dickbaker]

    Fished a Conn. River Reservoir today!   Sunny, but spindrift filled my tracks as fast as I walked?    I'm not seeing "last ice fishing" for a couple of weeks.   Headed to the southern Maine coast to watch sea ducks in "open water"?
Dick