Downrigger Weight Retriever

[BadPhish2]

I'm wondering what everybody uses for downrigger weight retrievers.

I have 60" booms on my downriggers and run long release clips (60" +) so I can retrieve them with a stick and not have to lean too far over the gunnel. This works fine, but the thing that worries me is that my gear is too high above the ball when fishing. At mid-water depths I can drop the ball a few feet below where I'm marking fish to make sure my gear is in the zone, but if I'm bouncing bottom, my gear is actually fishing pretty close to the length of my release clip above the ball (5 feet or more).

Should I be concerned about that? It seems I could get away with a shorter release clip if I used the downrigger weight retrievers made by Scotty or Cannon. Always looking for a way to put more fish in the box!

[Nelly]

Hey B,
I use releases as long as my boom for ease of re-rigging and for the very reason that they ride up in the water column.
Salmon general attack from below and behind your gear so the two or three feet above your ball keeps you in the strike zone and out of the snag zone.
Cannons Weight Retriever keeps me from leaning over the gunnel and is always attached to the downrigger is I never have to look for that darned stick!

[BadPhish2]

Good point Nelly. I'll stop worrying about my tackle flying overhead. I like to stack rods for kokanee as well and that's where it gets tricky. My stacker releases are only 18" long so I usually have to lift the boom to set those ones.

I'm sure the first time I go overboard, I'll be telling myself those dang weight retrievers would have been worth the money. And if that stick gets tangled in my net one more time....