Vertical Attraction

Salmon trollers are finding that three to 10 spinning attractors attached to the downrigger cable above the cannonball can bring aggressive gamefish into the trolling spread. Put these vertical attractors on two, three or four downriggers, and you can create the impression of a baitfish school, possibly drawing silver predators from afar.

The vertical attractors have been especially well received in salmon fisheries on the Pacific coast as well as the Great Lakes. Traditional attractors—plastic flashers and metal dodgers—have enjoyed go-to-lure status among the salmon crowd for decades. Anglers clip these to the fishing line ahead of a salmon fly, spoon or piece of dead bait. The theory is that these attractors imply a salmon or trout attacking prey, and induce other gamefish to strike the lure or bait trailing behind.

The first vertical attractors this writer saw were made by Jimmy Piano of Hammerhead Tackle (www.hammerheadchartersandtackle.com), and consisted of three large spinner blades stamped out of aluminum, and taped. Two other manufacturers also make these: Tamiron, (www.tamiron.com), run by Jim Martino, uses spoons on clevises and stacks five on a wire cable that attaches between the downrigger cable and downrigger ball. Bechhold & Son Flasher and Lure Company (www.fishcatcher.com) has small fish of plastic that spin, and come in arrays or five or 10 fish.

We have used mainly the Tamiron and Hammerhead products, with good results. A favorite set-up is to run the skinny Tamiron array of five spinning spoons on one rigger, and the three-spinner Hammerhead attractor on the other. I attach a Scotty Stacker release to the downrigger cable above the attractor’s cable; one rigger gets a spoon stretched 70 feet or more behind the release; the other rigger gets a flasher/fly or flasher/spoon, stretched just 10 to 15 feet behind the release.

The hot set-up on our boat, which has just two downriggers, has been to run spoons that are close to the same size and color of the Tamiron spoons used to make the spinners behind the Tamiron attractors. Color-coordinating the spoon behind the flasher with the Hammerhead attractors seems to help, too.
Since our boat only has two downriggers, the extra commotion from the vertical attractors seems to help other rods sent out to the sides on planer boards and Dipsy Divers. The commotion draws in fish, then they see a single lure that is easily picked off, swimming to the side of this central area of mayhem.