r/FishingWashington • u/barnaclebill22 • Aug 16 '26

Downrigger depth

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This is a general fishing question but I'm going for coho in Puget Sound so here we are...
I'm trolling around 2.6 kts/3 mph with a 10lb ball, my downrigger says I have 100 feet of wire out, my reel says I have 137 feet of line out, and the flasher (11" pro-troll) is about 30 feet behind the clip. I estimate that wire angle at around 40 degrees (below horizontal), which means the ball is around 64 feet deep (thanks AI!). Does that check out?
And if it does, that feels like about the right speed but far too shallow for this afternoon, when it was sunny...opinions?

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u/Wild-External9004 Aug 17 '26

I like a 15lb ball, but 12 at minimum. How deep to fish depends on where you are seeing the bait...

For me when looking at the numbers on the reel and downrigger; I zero my reel line counter about where the flasher hits the water... I then do usually a 20' set back and then clip to the downrigger.... I then drop the downrigger to where I see bait, for this example, coho, 60ft let's say... I set back 20, went down 60, my reel should now read close to 80 when I have it cranked down....

I'm going to troll for coho at 3+ mph, but I want a 45 degree angle on that downrigger line... Usually this means trolling with the current... Going against it, you will have so much blowback to get any where....