Getting Started

[Tiara]

If you was on a limited budget, and getting started in salmon fishing, how would you rig your boat for fishing? Remember, every piece of equipment and tackle will need to be purchased. You can leave out the electronics. How much money would you need to rig your boat. This includes rods, reels, and tackle.

Do you start out with riggers, or do you start out with lead core and pick up the riggers later?

[DIRTY DOG]

in expensive? 2 useed manual riggers for the back corners $200 /egeal claw rods 2 $60 /2 penn 209 reels $100 /2 dipsy rods diawa heart land 10ft $80/2 diawa line counter reels $180/ 2 lead core combos $225 /2 inline plainers $40 /1 long handel net $50 /1large cooler $50/ 6 good rod holders $175/about 40 assorted spoons $200/4 or 5 royater and flys $80 tolal close to $1500

[Midway97]

If you was on a limited budget, and getting started in salmon fishing, how would you rig your boat for fishing? Remember, every piece of equipment and tackle will need to be purchased. You can leave out the electronics. How much money would you need to rig your boat. This includes rods, reels, and tackle.

Do you start out with riggers, or do you start out with lead core and pick up the riggers later?

I would suggest joining some of the outings listed on this site as a rider, get out with a few different people, get an idea what/how they are running equipment used etc. This will give you some different views on brands, models and rigs before you put out a lot of $$. Then I suggest prowling around the equipment listed on various sites and ebay for the things you want and maybe save a few bucks. For the new stuff, I recommend contacting the FISHDOG guys, they can get pretty good deals and have access to almost anything.

[Adjusted3]

A better question is what your intentions are. If your looking get out on the water and have a bit of fun, about $250-$400 will do it. (2 rod combos-100.00, 2 rod holders- 50.00, 2 dipseys- 25.00, line- 10, doz spoons-60.00 and assored swivels-10.00) That will get you on the water.

Now, if you want to be effective on the water......that is a whole different ballgame. I am well over 15k in tackle on my boat with rods/reels and lures and I still purchase about 200.00 a month in gear year round. It never ends...

Mark

[CaptLevi]

Thats cuz yer rich Mark! Or just lure krazy like most of us! Gotta have it! Gotta have it!

I would guess that "just getting started" would mean you want for you and say.....one buddy to fish.
Two manual riggers w/rod holders.....6 quality rod holders.....4 inline boards....4 dipseys......2 rigger rods.....2 high line rods....4 dipsey rods.....2 full core.....2 half core....basic spoon selection.....basic attractor and fly collection. This will cover bout anything that you might chase. I figure if you go low end but workable gear.....about $1300.00.

If you check the various fishing forum classified ads, you can either save some bux, or get some decent used gear for the same price.

Course once you get started, it's like an addiction and you'll just waste all yer money on it. So why start small?

[Tiara]

It appears this will end up an expensive habit. I hope the wife does not mind ;)

[Midway97]

It appears this will end up an expensive habit. I hope the wife does not mind ;)

Not at all, unless you plan to spend money on something other than fishing. :) Buy her somehting nice once in a while and maybe even take her out on the lake, never know, she may want to spend money on stuff for ya.:cool: :cool: :cool:

[caznik]

Well this took me awhile to think about but what I have learned in this type of fishing is that it is exspensive. I have been doing this type of fishing in a boat since I was probly 25 years old. I started learning with my dad and then going on my dads friends charter boat in Manistee. Well the first thing that I learned is not to get cheap equpment like what I did, alls you will do is trash the cheap stuff later and buy your self the best stuff. While you are fishing with friends start and buy your stuff little bit at a time while still learning how to fish this way. Then you can go out and buy the best things for you to fish with. I started out with walker mannual downriggers and now wished that I have got power downriggers. Them hand cranks are a pain in the a:eek: :eek: to crank back up when fishing deep. Also while learning how to fish this way is what kind of boat do you want and need. I learned alot on my first boat that I a big mistake by buying. My first boat was a 16' Sylvan with a 40hpr motor. That boat didnt have a widsheild, the boat was to small, and didnt have enough power to get me off that lake fast enough just in case of a storm was coming. Make sure your boat that you will want has a full windsheild, lots of power to get you off that lake if needed, a good trailer to is a big thing, and the last thing is a big enough boat to feel safe fishing in.

1st thing is a boat ( my choice)

17' Lund with a 115- 4 stroke and a Eagle trailer
Cost- $24.000.... WOW Better start saving

2nd thing is power downriggers (my choice)
Walker power downriggers with 2 rod holders
Cost- $800.00 maybe?

3rd thing is cannon balls (my choice)
12lb. balls- have a friend off the web site make you some and it will be alot cheaper for you than buying them.

4th thing is a downrigger board
I had Trout Tracker make mine and it cost me $300.00 but I will not lose my downriggers off a snag in the big lake. Such as a indian net out there.

5th thing now are your downrigger rods ( my choice)
Start out with 2- 8' Heartland downrigger rods with Okuma Convector 30's for your reels.
Cost is- $85.00 each

6th thing is Dipsey rods ( my choice is)
start out with 2- 9.5' Hearland dipsey diver rods with Okuma Convector 45 reels.
Cost is- $85.00 each

7th thing is Fishing line ( my chopice is)
20# Maxima for your downriggers and 30# Maxima for your dipsey reels.
Cost- $75.00 for each big spool

8th thing is your lures
12 dozen reg. size Dreamweaver spoons $32.00 at the fishing shows
12 Dozen Mag Dreamweaver Spoons $36.00 at the fishing shows.
2- Dipsey divers- Size 1 $9.00 each
2- Spin doctors - 8" size $11.00 each
12 dozen flies - Make your own for really cheap

9th thing is a fishing net
Cost- $32.00 ? for a exstended handle

10th thing is a big cooler for your fish
Cost- $40.00 at Sams club

11th thing is a fish finder and a marine radio
Fish finder- What ever brand you want $600.00
Marine radio with antenna and mount- Brand ? $100.00

12th thing is a must
GPS- cost $300.00 hand held

This is all what you should start out with if you want to fish on the big lake. Remember not to buy cheap fishing gear because at the end you will get rid of the cheap stuff and buy the better stuff later.

There is so much you can use now to catch fish that it isn't funny no more. Such as Downrigger rods, Dipsey rods, wire rods, lead core (full), half core, SWR rods, planner board rods. Its hard to make a choice what to use anymore.

Caznik

[GLF]

Yikes :eek: Are you trying to scare him away Rich?

[Tiara]

I better hit the lotto if I am going to rig up like Rich suggests :p

[caznik]

Sorry but thats the way this type of fishing is. Somedays I wished that I stuck with bluegill fishing.

Caznik :D

[Steve Arend]

Unfortunately, Rich has a point! Not trying to scare anyone away, just making everyone face the facts. This is an expensive hobby, but there are ways to lessen the burden of the expense. The one thing that I did was share the expense with a fishing buddy. I had bought the boat and we each picked up are own rods, reels and tackle. So now I started out with all the tackle needed at half the cost and over time I started to replace his gear with my own till now I have all of my own stuff on board. We still use his equipment and he continues to add more but now he’s just getting everything that he’ll need for when he buys his own boat, so it works out for both parties involved.

[Take Six...]

Fortunatly, my dad was collecting a lot of it before I started. However, I think we all make do with what we have and dream about what the next piece of hardware is going to be as soon as we have the money to spend on it. How many 14' foot aluminum boats running just two rods do we see around the harbor mouth or along the shoreline in the Spring catching Coho, Steelies and Browns? Start with three rods and three holders, more than that can lead to circus if your new. Ask everyone what their three favorite lures are for Spring? Then buy two of each one. In the spring, fish are generally in tight and shallow. Next, a couple of used manual down riggers as the water warms up. Then, its a never ending exodus of cash...

[silver one]

hey all
I would start with ebay. My Dad just rigged His 15 footer with rodholders, 2 Penn manual longarms six new fishing rods with line counters by okuma and a couple of roddys by penn lead core rigs. I think he has less than $1,200.00 into all of it. Add another 5 to 6 hundred for a graph and gps and your good to go. then just buy what you can when you can. I started with just a boat, 221 Islander. bought 4 fishing rods two manual cannon downriggers and two rod holdes. Just ran 4 rods for the first two seasons I owned it. Little by little im up to 4 walker captains pac electric with auto shutoffs, new graph, gps, marine radio, 9 additionl ram mount rodd holders and now own approx 20 different down rigger,lead core and surface board rigs. this has taken appox 6 years. Now I am looking at installing a fishhawk. Just takes time. all you need is just a few to get started.
Just remeber its alot more fun to fish with just what you need rather then not at all. Over the years My dad And i have rigged four different boats and found the same thing It just takes time
Joe: boat name (silver one)

[DangerDan]

It appears this will end up an expensive habit. I hope the wife does not mind ;)

Now this is an area that will need both diplomacy and something I call (verbal gymnastics) and to be honest, if your wife minds the expense, and you worry about that, you've already lost some very precious ground. :D

Just say these three words over and over. She'll never know, she'll never know

Dan: boat name (Zero Balance) :D

[caznik]

Now this is an area that will need both diplomacy and something I call (verbal gymnastics) and to be honest, if your wife minds the expense, and you worry about that, you've already lost some very precious ground. :D

Just say these three words over and over. She'll never know, she'll never know

Dan: boat name (Zero Balance) :D

Dan,
Trust me, when the visa bill comes she will know. :D

The woeds to: She will know, She will know

[silver one]

like I said little by little, and yes she was mad when she looked at the visa bill last week and saw that I purchased a new subtroll 900. However a week later she is over it.

just say those three little words to her. ( Ill work overtime )

Joe: boat name (sivler one)

[DangerDan]

Actually the subject on my spending on the boat came up just the other day. My reply was: OK, lets do this, I'll take your Suburban (a 2500 loaded complete with tv,dvd,vhs yadda yadda) and you have my boat. We'll sell them and both of us buy better you a better truck and me a better boat... she got real quiet then.

[spoonfed]

its not that bad. i bought a new pursuit last fall, and with a new gps/sonar, 2 new downriggers and of course cant go to the store and not get a hand full of spoons!, this winter has only cost me $5500! My wife loves me untill she see's the cabelas card statement!!!!!!!!!1

[DangerDan]

I hear ya. The UPS truck rolled up, my wife looks at me and goes What now??? Just a couple spools of line dear.:D

[GLF]

I hear ya. The UPS truck rolled up, my wife looks at me and goes What now??? Just a couple spools of line dear.:D

They must be at the wrong house honey :D

[McFly]

Tiara,

I can feel what your going through. It takes a good amount of money to get on the water fishing. I ran the first season with 2 half cores and 2 dipseys. We put some good fish on the boat too. Just went out and started to fish the best we knew how.

If you are willing to do some of the work yourself things like rigger boards and tackle can be made for a good price. I made my own rigger board for the back of the boat and a lot of spoons I have are blanks that I rigged. I make all of my own flys also. Look for equipment on the swap areas also. If you know what you want you can find some good deals.

Try to get what you need to get out on the water fishing! That is the important part. It is easy to get caught up in all the rigging and equipment taht one could use. After you get going you will figure out what you want and need to consistantly put fish in the boat.

Try to get out on the water with some experienced guys and see what you need to run a good program. One day of good knowledge is worth a lot IMO!

Good fishing!