Salmon Fishing with Sliders
I am not sure how often this is used depending on the size of your boat, number of lines you can fish, number of down riggers in the water etc. Lately a lot of people are asking about putting an extra line off the down rigger line as a “slider”.
I have run free sliders (A 6 foot piece of mono with a swivel on one end and a spoon on the other) Free sliders are fine and will catch some fish, but to be able to repeat the presentation a “fixed slideer” is the way to go.
This is how I do it and its simple, cheap and effective compared to buying another $75 dollar setup if your on a budget or out of room in a small boat for more rods or gear.
Here are the basics.
1. Take a 6 foot piece of mono and put it through the bottom hole of an Orange or black Offshore release.(Don’t use red for this presentation)
2. Tie swivels on each end that mono and attach your spoon. The offshore release should be able slide up and down on the 6 foot piece of mono.
3. Lower your regular down rigger bait into the water as far as you want this “fixed slider” to run above it, something like 10 to 20 feet is fine.
4. Grab the mono line from your main lure you just put in the water. Clip the empty swivel to the mainline from your downrigger pole, then under it pinch on the offshore release and throw the spoon in the water.
5. Lower your downrigger to the depth you would like to fish….say 1oo feet. Now you have a lure running at 100 feet and a spoon running at 80 feet with just one pole in the water.
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Tips
1. If a fish hits the “fixed slider” the offshore release will pull free and the 6 foot piece of mono will now slide down the mainline towards the downrigger release and will release that line from the downrigger ball. It will slide down to whatever you had on your mainline and your hooked up now.
2. If the fish hits the mainline just reel the fish up like you always would and somewhere between 50 and 100 feet ahead of the main lure and the fish you will see the offshore release. Pinch the release and open the swivel and your free to real in your fish.
3. Percentage wise “fixed sliders” are better, because you know exactly what depth you set them at, and there is some resistance to set the hook before the offshore release pulls free.
4. From time to time the slider will tangle up a bit and you spend a minute untangling it from the mainline. If your on a red-hot morning bite just skip the sliders until things calm down after sunup. Same rules apply to fishing them at night into the last hour of craziness. Just take them off if you’re getting enough bites to keep you busy and get the hot bait back down as fast as you can.
I run a small boat and at times will take a 3rd crew member but not want or feel the need to run more than 6 lines. This is an easy way to add an extra bite or two to you trip without more rods on board and more gear to complicate your spread.
Here is a good video showing how its done. Skip to 7:00 to get right into the “fixed slider”