How Do You Fish Shallow Water?

[Moby Dick]

I've read of much success of guys fishing in 16 FOW and less. What type of setups do you guys use? My problem has been getting 6 lines out. Can only use 2 of my 4 downriggers. 2 flat lines can be a disaster for tangle ups so I usually run only 1. I also can run 2 walleye boards so I'm at 5. Dipsy Divers would be close to boat I think. Any suggestions?

[gmfishon]

I would say more boards. Divers can still work. Could give a better answer knowing what kind of boat,how many rod holders, gear, target species, etc., etc., etc.

[Gnarf]

Lite bite slide divers work otherwise you have to spread your boards and run more of em

[hypovolemicshok]

My shallow water coho spread is 1 downrigger, 2 of the smaller size dipsey set on 3, then 3 lines with keel weights on boards on each side.

[danthebuilder]

https://vimeo.com/33719366

[Moby Dick]

Enjoyed the video. They were fishing just North of Cook Nuclear Plant. Thanks!

[SUPERTRAMP]

I have fished up to 8 rods off of a 16' boat no problem, 3 boards per side and down riggers or dipsy presentations. The downriggers are kind of un necessary when in 16 Fow. or less, but riggers set 5 to 9 feet, clean mono with any rapala or bomber long A or jointed minnow, small spoons on 1, 2 and 3 color and you have an 8 rod presentation. It works. be sure to run your deepest (3)color closest to the boat, and your clean mono furthest out, u can run spoons on that too with a small pinch on weight. I now fish a lot more rods on my big boat, but we get into single digit water and catch browns weather permitting.

[fishmunkee]

If conditions allow we run up to 8 inline boards (4 on each side), 2 slide divers set to run wide & high then 2 down riggers if sand bottom and not rocky. If enough crew in the boat we can run an additional pair of dipsey divers but that is rare. We pare this down if boat traffic or other things makes us want to do tighter turns, etc. Usually I fish with two or less crew so we are limited to 9 lines total. Depending on conditions less can be so much more.

[Moby Dick]

What is a slide diver?

[Far Beyond Driven]

A diver that the line runs through instead of being attached to. You can set any lead to the lure, but the diver trips and slides at the hit, so netting is not an issue.

Around the piers I run two slide divers and two riggers so I can turn on a dime and stay on fish. For coho and browns down the shore it's up to 4 boards per side. I prefer my 14' when fishing close.

If targeting browns recall the holy trinity of conditions: clouds, waves, and stained but not dirty water. The more of those you have the better.

[fishmunkee]

Slide divers are a valuable weapon to have in your arsenal. They are more of a pain to set than dipsies but you can run the bait any distance behind them. I typically do 12-15 pulls of line (so about 20-30' of line) before locking them down and putting in water.