Downrigger Yes or No?

[WanaGoFishin]

I just bought a boat and have been wondering if it is worth the money for a downrigger. My father hates them because, 'you can't feel the strike.' But I would like to be a little more productive on my outings. Just thought I would get the general feeling from you all.
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[cableguy]

I own 2 downriggers and use them all the time. If you like to troll for trout they are great for finding fish deep when the water warms up. I also use them for kokes at the gorge because they are usually fairly deep. I prefer downriggers to leaded line and divers because I know exactly how deep my line is. Also with downriggers you can adjust the depth very fast so you can follow the bottom easier. Feeling the lighter hits is a downfall but if you set you clips to the lightest setting possible you still get a chance to set the hook pretty good. I wouldn't be on a trout pond without them.

Cableguy
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[Kent]

The trade off for not feeling the strike, is that one gets to fight the fish without all of the weight, or other gear, necessary to get the line down to the fish without a downrigger. I prefer a downrigger because of the ability to fight a fish with minimal weight on my line and the ability to get it to the exact depth that I want.
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[Fish-Dog]

I use downriggers all the time. I can catch deep kokes on 6lb line and light gear. I can see the ball on the fish finder, and can raise or lower it in response to a school of kokes that might be at a differant depth than I thought.

Also If I pull a fish out of a school I can I can turn fairly sharp and get back down to depth fairly fast.

The first and only time I used leadline was with my buddy at the gorge. My son was out 7 colors when he hooked a mack. He thought he had a monster on. By the time he got the 3lb Mack to the boat he couldn't hardly reel anymore.

fdg
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