MB, you can troll for salmon without a downrigger, but with the weight directly on your line with no downrigger, after the fish strikes, a release clip drops your weight to the bottom, so you lose it. You don't want to fight a fish with all the weight still attached. There are a lot of lead balls on the ocean floor at salmon trolling grounds. A downrigger makes the one weight reusable, and all the weight isn't directly on your pole. Capiche?
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