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downriggers on Island Lake


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I heard from a friend's cousin's sister's boyfriend's ex roommate's dad that people use downriggers on Island lake. Anyone here do it and what would I need to knoe if I decided to give it a shot?

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

At first thought someone might think its to get deep and thats somewhat and sometimes true. There'll be a time when the eyes are in deep water, most of the day its with bellies on the bottom. A downrigger with a stick bait will get you there and let you cover water faster but at those times that isn't the best presentation to get them to commit.

Sometime during that day they become active and will rise off the bottom. Now the downrigger is at its best, why because you set the depth they're holding at, so its a matter of precise depth control via downrigger and not so much to get deep. Thats what I heard from a friends, husbands, wifes, brother.

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I've run riggers on Island and I will testify that it is a pain in the butt. Island has a deep channel and some deep flats, but contained in the channel and flats is lots of structrue that create lots of problems for riggers. When I want to run deep cranks I stick to banna sinkers or bait walkers.

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Guys that run riggers up there clip the balls on with 8-10# line so when they get hung it will break off and not break any of their equipment. Im with Down Deep. If I want to get more than 25' deep I run snap weights. Im no Island Lake expert by any means though. The guys that really know the lake well have put in many many hours over the years and were fishing Island back when I was still in diapers. Right Ripstick? wink.gif

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I really dont like dypsies too much. I only use them when I need to get away from the boat. They would work though.

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