Downrigging for reef fish

[Wazzup]

Has anyone ever fished for reef fish with a downrigger. #I am toying with the idea of slow trolling livies over the deeper reefe in the central QLD area. #Anyone got any ideas on what type of setup I should be using.

Thanks
Wazzup

[bigmack]

Hey Wazzup - we troll mostly close reefs for Spanish and always have two outfits fitted with a trolling sinker to get baits down deep as part of the variety that we troll. We have been amazed at the amount of xos snapper that we have pulled and sweetlip feature as part of the catch as well. The deep baits still go off to Spaniards and Spotties as well.

Dont necessarily need a downrigger - just keep it simple. Need to watch your speed and amount of line out otherwise you get snagged & remember to get the leaded rig in if one of the others goes off.

Cheers

[dazza]

hi wazzup,
have had a bit of a tinker with the downrigger in 50meters, trolled livies, got plagued by undersize reds, didn't matter how big the baits were the little reds would beat anything to it. a livie pinned to the bottom over the same country produced good reds, finally gave up on that theory.
quite often get good sweetlip and snapper while trolling near the bottom for spaniards in about 30meters of water
have a crack at it, it is a bit of stuffing around but the results should be rewarding
a few things to remeber, a standard bomb will give you a fair bit of drag, you can buy a "pancake bomb" which work very well, i made one using an old round jaffel iron as a mould and screwed it to a fin made of aluminium, it is a bit light, but does the job depending on the current
if you drop your bait too far back, you wil get bricked before you start, keep it pretty close to your bomb.
my downrigger is nothing flash, made out of an old alvey deck winch, but it does the trick.

cheers
dazza

[A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE]

WAZZUP,
i've used downriggers for many different fishing applications. Many good points have been mentioned already by bigmack and dazza. Trout ,cod, emperor, and other reefies will pounce on a properrly rigged dead or live bait, or lure. constant depths need to be sourced for single man downrigging applications as quickly varying depths can see your down rig bomb snagged up etc. shoal grounds are great for down rigging as depths often don't very too much too quickly. i've trolled big dead squid around wrecks(after marked with a buoy) that lay on sand and targerted big cobia. i've targeted cod on isolated smallish shoals in 70 feet of water trolling dog macs or big mullet(both rigged as swimming dead baits),55ft below. targeted spanish mac that weren't in the mood to leave the bottom, even in only 50 feet of water, using mono lines. cord or wire lines would have done the same thing when weighted correctly, but the fish wouldn't bite this day on heavy gear. i have trolled and caught fingermark in 40 feet of water with shallow running lures attached to a downrigger only because i couldn't buy a 40 ft diving lure. downriggers do have a place on a fishing boat for certain fishing applications. there are other methods that can have better results if given the same fishing scenario, but all the same, they are great fun! I'd certainly give it a try mate, you are obviously willing to experiment, and by doing this you only increase your knowldege and experience!!
ONE major point- when your connected to the downrigger via the release clip, your rod must be loaded up(bent slightly). this means you have a tight line between your rod tip and your release clip, not 20 extra feet of slack that tangles everywhere and everything. a bent and loaded rod allows instant hookups when the bait/lure is taken.
best of luck
johnny M
mine is also home made, timber, alloy arm, pulley, thin stainless multi- strand cable, steel school shot put(funny) and 2 lead cord line sinkers all bolted as 1. etc