How to Troll Without Downriggers: Simple 6-Rod Spread

Can you troll for Great Lakes king salmon without downriggers? Absolutely. You don't need thousands of dollars in gear, downriggers, specialized diver rigs or miles of leadcore to put fish in the boat. If you fish out of a smaller boat, want a budget-friendly setup, or just want a clean deck with zero heavy cranking (double core with a board?…yuck!), running a lead hanger weight spread is incredibly easy, affordable, and effective.

The Simple Spread

I start my spread with 6 identical rod setups:

-Rods: 6-foot trolling rods

-Reels: Small line-counter reels

-Mainline: 20-25lb braid (cuts the water with minimal blow-back)

-Leader: Tiny Spro swivel connected to 15-20 feet of 17lb mono leader

Why Run Identical Setups?

If all your rods are identical, you never have to fumble around finding your board rods in the dark—they can all be board rods, or they can all be deep rods. Every rod can drop into any holder and function however you need it to; all you do is swap out the weight for the depth you want. There is no searching through a pile of rods for the "5-color core" or the "300-foot copper."

Why Use 6-Foot Trolling Rods Instead of 8+ Footers?

Why run 8-footers? Mostly because that’s just what everyone has handed down for the last 40 years. I did it too-I used to run 8-foot noodle rods for kings and 9-to-10-foot diver rods.

Wrestling a 9-foot rod inside a 18-foot (or smaller) boat is ridiculous and practically begging for a broken tip. Every time you get a tip-tangle or fleas jammed in your top guide, an 8-foot rod has to be laid clear across the deck, creating a tangled mess and a breakage opportunity.

With a 6-foot rod, you can easily reach the tip from inside the boat to clear a knot or flea jam without hassle. And try handing a 9-foot rod with 400ft of copper to your 80lb kid...Torture!  OK moving on...oh hey...check out this video about short rods: Short Rods For Kings

Set the Spread

Here is how I lay it out (set them out in this order to reduce tangles until you get the hang of it):

• 2 rods: Outers (Planer Boards)- Spoons trailing a 4oz/8oz hanger weight (drop weight or snap weight) to pick the stealthy, high-active fish away from the boat.
  
• 2 rods: Corners- Spoons/plugs behind 16oz cannonball hangers.  These can be divers if you have em.
  
• 1 rod:  Up the Chute-Shallow-  Clean Flatfin or FishGunn plug if fish are shallow…200ft back.  Or hang a 4/8oz on her with spoon/plug.
  
• 1 rod: Up the Chute-Deep- A heavy 16-32oz hanger weight (cannonball) sent straight down the center of the transom, running a Flasher/Fly or a hot glow spoon right in the prop wash…75ft can be killer even when temp is down.  This can be a diver too.

Why hangers?

Why not just run snap weights?  You absolutely can and they work ok.  it's just that they blow-back pretty bad.  You'll easily loose 8-10ft of depth...or more.  The thin wire hangers I developed have a VERY small profile and pull thru the water easily.  And they are cheaper.  The snap clips also tend to slip on thin braid.  Here's a couple videos of hangers in action: Salmon on Pound Balls and Trolling with Cannonball Hangers.

Catching Fish
Ok so you have your lines in.  There's a couple tricks I like to do that can really help put fish in the box. 

The 1st is simple speed change.  Trolling with weights is VERY speed dependent.  If you think about it, at the extremes of speed you can reach from 0ft down to bottom.  At 40mph the sinkers are skipping...at 0mph they are straight down on bottom.  Ok, were not gonna fish at 40mph, but we can do 0...or near to it.  I usually start at about 2.4-2.7mph.  Try a direction that's good for the waves (goin with em) and then maybe into them.  Then start with speed changes.  If you are in deep water you can throw the boat in neutral.  Give her about 15-20sec and then pop her back up to speed.  This drops your lures 10-30ft...then raises them back up.  Something the fish rarely see.  Speed up for a bit to 3mph...give her a minute or two then back.  Again the lures go up...the lures go down.  The lure gets pulled away from a following fish and triggers a hit. 

You can also let line out or reel some up.  I like to cycle around the boat dropping each back 10ft every 10min or so.  Then go back thru and bring em in 10-20ft.  Repeat thru day.  It's amazing sometimes how many hits you'll get right after a change.  Here's a video showing how moving lures can cause salmon to strike. 

Zigging and zagging works well too.  Turns will cause the baits to rise and fall as the slow side becomes the fast and vice versa.  If you have a pilot and it has a zig-zag feature it can be killer.

Fighting and Landing Fish

• If a board goes, clear the chute rods...bring fish up chute.  
• If a corner goes, slide the deep chute in the open corner holder and bring fish up chute…they will usually stay below the shallow chute.  See video HERE. 
• If a chute rod goes, clear the other chute...if needed.  See video HERE.

Adding Lines?

Let's say the boards are going...temp is shallow and bait/fish are on top.  Super easy to slide 2 more boards out and run 8 lines if you have people.  Or pull the chute rods...switch the corners to 8ozers on your corner rods and put em back a bit further.  Now you're still at 6 rods...4boards and 2shallower corners.

Let's say the deep lines are going...temp is down.  This is a little more difficult and one of the reasons I have outriggers on my boat- so I can run 2 more heavy drops when needed.  But you can put 8ozers on both boards and the high chute and let em out 200-250ft.  You can also try to run 10-12ozers on your boards if they can handle it.

Random Info

I should mention I fish often by myself....3 lines.  Corner/Chute/Corner.  I get a few limits every season and catch plenty of fish.  Usually 1lbers on the corners and an 8ozer up the chute to start then adjust as needed.  ANY boat can be rigged to run this way pretty quickly and cheaply...you just need rod holders.

You can take any part of this spread and use it...maybe just skip the boards.  Or if you fish pierheads run 2 corners and 2 boards.  Just get a few 1lbers and some 8ozers to start.  What ever is best for you. 

Once you understand getting the lines out it's very tangle resistant.  You can make SHARP turns.  Especially if you are running all spoons.  Flashers tend to drag and lift more on turns (as they do with other methods) so you need to make slower turns with them.  As you fish deeper and more line is being affected by the water/currents you need to be softer on your turns as well.  I'm baffled at how many fisherman (who have never tried this method) believe its going to tangle.  That's not the case in my experience of nearly 3 seasons running all weights.

There's a retired charter captain I know that doesn't fish anymore.  I gave him some hangers.  While out cruising he occasionally sees some fishy water and drops a few 1lbers out and trolls along.  When his gear is put away you only see a couple flush-mount rod holders on the deck.  

Another benefit to ditching the core/copper is that you no longer have 300ft-600ft of line to reel in every time you change a bait or worse- catch a fish.  And you'll worry less about boats sliding too close behind you...your spread will be much shorter.  I think an 8ozer 150ft out runs pretty close to a full core...but has 150ft less line out.  And the reel can be much smaller so you're not wrestling a monster Penn 340 that gets heavier and heavier as the line comes in.  We've all been in the boat when a 15 color goes...or a 400 copper- everyone pretends they don't hear it...:)

Yet another benefit of weights is even the heavy's (16-32ozers) don't seem to spook fish.  They cut the water with no whining cable and have a tiny profile.  I think we've all had days where the riggers and/or the divers are dead.  The belief is fish are boat shy, so get the lines away from the boat...enter core...copper...steel.  It may not be the boat itself, it may be the whine of cables and divers.  I believe these are days when weights can really shine.  

This setup is super easy to run, doesn’t take a big investment, and lets you react to depth changes quickly just by swapping weights or adjusting line out.  And you can go from trolling to tubing/cruising pretty quickly.  Mama will appreciate that!

Here's a Youtube vid of the process in action: Salmon on Pound Balls