Then I drop the weight down somewhere between 10' and 30', and add the next line. Now the distance between the bottom and upper line is up to you. If you want to cover more of the water column and you are going to drop your bottom rig to 240', then attach your second bait at 180' feet. This is up to the individual.

The second rig I use is usually a fresh mackerel on a Crow Bar hook. I use this because it doesn't have a lot of drag and I can send the entire rigger deeper with less blowback. Now I will rig the other side the same or I might use a different color Hoochie. One side I will send to the bottom and the other I will put half way down to start

Release tension:
Very important! You want just enough tension to allow you to hold your line back (so that you don't get too big of a bow in the line) while you're dropping it down, but also you don't want it so tight that a small fish won't pop it off. In general less is best.

What you use during the course of a day will vary as the day goes on due to what you hear on the radio, your gut feeling, the way the wind blows, what you got your previous fish on and if you haven't been bit yet

Check your lines at least every 30 minutes or less depending upon the sea trash in the water. Watch the poles at all times; a small fish will only shake the pole once when it first strikes. If it doesn't pull the line off the release the only other time you know that you have a fish is when a sea lion bags it or you are changing tackle.

Trolling:
Remember when you are trolling that your boat is the combined length of the boat and the lines in the water, so no sharp turns. Also remember that as you are moving your lines are being blown back. The more tackle and seaweed you have attached to them the worse it gets and the farther back they are.

Now you are trolling along trying to avoid other people, watching for nets and other types of sign and so on. And you see your rod pump. Now if you haven't over-tightened your snap and it has released, the fish is being drug to the surface. You have two choices at this point: stop and bring up all of your gear (if you stop and don't bring all of your gear up you will have the worst tangle known), or slow down.

Don't panic, unless you haven't discussed this with the rest of your crew, then, go ahead and panic. If you discussed it beforehand, you had two choices and you picked one.

If you stopped and fought the fish it will be close to the same effect as mooching providing you haven't dragged the fish and drowned it. If you have a good crew on the boat it can be easy. The downside is that you have just stopped fishing entirely until you get that fish in.

If you slow your troll, you keep fishing. You need to only run up the rigger that the fish came off if you want. I do that to clear one rail. This is the best way if you are meat fishing (like most people) because no time is lost.

While all of the above decision making is being done and at the same time that the call 'fish on' goes off the driver needs to punch in a way point on your GPS. He should if he can, turn the boat (without screwing up the catching of the fish) slowly back into the area that the fish was caught. Also in the midst of the confusion someone needs to start bringing up the rigger that the rod came off of so that you don't waste any time and there is one less cable to foul your fish.

Net the fish off the back or on the side that doesn't have the rigger on it any more (the one someone hopefully thought to raise after the fish was hooked). Very importantly people should remember that when the person with the net reaches for the fish to slack the line so that they don't lead the fish out of the net. (I can't imagine how many times that has happened to me.)

Now before you beat that fish to death make sure it is legal. Check before you go out as the Fish and Game has a propensity to change regulations when you are not looking. Then on the head above the eyes goes one sharp blow (some people think this is the best part). The next thing is to put the fish in the fish box and get your gear back in the water.

Now gill and gut the fish. First open the belly and remove the guts, then cut open the blood line and clean it out. Last cut at the base of the gills and slice around the gills cutting them loose. Rinse it all out and ice the fish.

In conclusion, if you have the boat, the terminal gear, the downriggers, bait, and three of your best buddies (none of which will give you gas money) what do you do now?

Go fishing!

Captain Mark Wagner

Part 1
Part 2