If you’ve booked a salmon fishing charter out of Saugatuck, Michigan, you’re in for an unforgettable day on the water. From the moment we leave the pier and point the bow toward deeper water, the crew is focused on one mission: putting you on fish. And while it may look like magic watching a dozen lines go out without chaos, what you’re really seeing is a refined system built around experience, technology, and three critical trolling tools: downriggers, divers, and copper lines line.

Each of these tools plays a specific role in the fishing strategy. They help us target salmon at different depths, cover a wide horizontal spread behind the boat, and maximize the chances of hooking up with Lake Michigan’s legendary kings, cohos, and steelhead. This blog post will walk you through how each setup works, when and why we use it, and what to expect when you’re on the charter. You’ll also learn some pro tips we use to stack lines, avoid tangles, and create a high-efficiency spread that’s both smart and deadly effective.

Why Multiple Tools Matter in Lake Michigan Salmon Fishing

Lake Michigan is a deep, dynamic fishery that changes dramatically throughout the year. Water temperatures, baitfish locations, light levels, and even boat traffic affect where salmon are and how they behave. To consistently catch fish, we need to cover the water column from the surface to over 100 feet deep, often simultaneously.

That’s where the trio of downriggers, divers, and copper lines line comes in.

Think of these as tools in a toolbox. Some work best in cold, deep water during late summer. Others shine in spring when fish are feeding aggressively near the surface. By combining them into one organized spread, we ensure we’re hitting the right depths at the right times, giving each bait presentation the best chance to trigger a strike.

Let’s break each tool down, starting with the workhorse of deep trolling: the downrigger.

Downriggers: Precision Depth Control

What They Are and How They Work

A downrigger is a winch system mounted on the boat, equipped with a long boom and a heavy cannonball weight (typically 8 to 12 pounds) attached to a steel cable. The fisherman attaches their main fishing line to the weight via a release clip, which holds the line in place under tension.

As the weight is lowered to a set depth—controlled via a depth counter—the bait or lure follows. When a fish strikes, the line pops free from the clip, and you’re directly connected to the fish with no added resistance. That makes for a clean, exciting fight.

When and Why We Use Them

Downriggers are essential during mid to late summer, when salmon move deeper to stay in colder water below the thermocline—often between 60 and 120 feet. Kings and cohos can be lethargic in warmer surface temps, so getting baits down to them precisely is critical.

Downriggers allow us to present lures at exact depths, monitor them on sonar, and make real-time adjustments based on fish activity. We can change depth within seconds, chase marks we see on the screen, and run lures right through thermal breaks where salmon are stacked.

Tips for Stacking Lines on a Downrigger

We sometimes “stack” multiple lines on the same downrigger cable to increase our coverage vertically. For example, we may clip one line at 60 feet and another at 45 feet. This technique lets us double up on productive areas without needing more equipment.

Stacking tips:

• Use light-tension clips for higher baits and medium for the deeper one.
• Stagger line lengths back to prevent tangling during a strike (e.g., 25 ft back on the top line, 15 ft back on the bottom).
• When a fish hits the top line, we quickly clear the bottom to avoid a crossed mess.

With practice, this setup becomes smooth and efficient, and customers are often amazed at how fast we can have two lines back down after a double.

Divers: Covering the Mid-Depth Strike Zone

What They Are and How They Work

Divers, like the popular Dipsy Diver or Slide Diver, use a disc-shaped mechanism that planes outward and downward when trolled through the water. These devices attach directly to the fishing line and are adjustable based on how deep and wide you want to fish. The deeper the set number (typically 0 to 3), the farther out and down they’ll dive.

Divers are designed to pull your bait away from the boat’s path and down into the mid-depth zone. They “trip” or release from their diving angle when a fish strikes, allowing for an easier fight.

When and Why We Use Them

Divers are great for covering the mid-range depths—roughly 30 to 70 feet, depending on the diver and trolling speed. This makes them especially effective from early to mid-summer, when salmon may be suspending off bait balls or hanging in transition zones before dropping deeper.

They also let us spread our lines horizontally, widening our troll and keeping baits out of the boat’s wake. This is particularly helpful when fish are boat-shy in clear conditions or after heavy traffic.

Avoiding Tangles and Maximizing Performance

To keep divers from interfering with downriggers or other lines:

• Use longer rods (9–10 feet) to help guide the diver away from the boat.
• Keep diver rods set at different angles on the rod holders—steeper on inside divers, flatter on outside divers.
• Adjust drag and trip tension correctly to match your lure’s resistance.

Divers also work extremely well when paired with flasher/fly combos or meat rigs—especially when you want to add some action to draw in big kings from the depths.

Copper Line: Deep Reach with Silent Precision

In addition to downriggers, divers, and copper lines, we often incorporate copper line into our trolling spread—especially when targeting salmon holding deeper in the water column with minimal disturbance. Copper line offers a stealthy, weight-based solution for running baits at depths of 60 to over 100 feet without the need for downriggers or divers.

Copper is denser than copper lines and sinks more effectively. A 300-foot section of copper line, for example, can get your bait down to about 75–90 feet, depending on speed and lure size. We spool copper onto large, high-capacity reels and use planer boards to spread these lines wide from the boat, avoiding the prop wash zone and increasing coverage.

Running copper takes finesse. Because it’s stiffer and more prone to kinks than other lines, we handle it carefully when deploying and retrieving. But its payoff is worth it—deep, silent presentations that are often the ticket to enticing pressured or finicky fish in warm water or after a front.

Copper lines are often paired with flashers and fly rigs, meat rigs, or spoons, depending on the day’s bite. We typically run 200-, 250-, 300-, and even 400-foot copper setups, spaced with appropriate boards and rod angles to keep lines from tangling.

On our Saugatuck charters, copper is a game-changer when the salmon are holding deep but skittish. It’s one more tool in our arsenal to help you land the big one.

When and Why We Use It

Copper lines are most effective in spring and early summer, when salmon are actively feeding in the upper layers of the water. It’s also deadly when targeting steelhead and coho near the surface.

Because it runs higher in the water, we use planer boards to pull copper lines lines out to the side of the boat. This lets us cover a wide swath of the water horizontally while avoiding prop wash and keeping the fish from spooking.

We may run 2–4 copper lines setups on a given trip—10-color, 7-color, 5-color, and even 3-color lines—each targeting a specific depth layer and spreading the baits wide.

Pro Tips for copper lines Success

• Watch your turns. On a turn, the inside board slows down and sinks while the outside speeds up and rises. This can trigger strikes but also causes tangles if not managed properly.
• Mix in spoons, body baits, or small flashers depending on conditions and species.
• Use line counters on reels or marks on boards to track exactly how much line you’ve let out.

copper lines may be silent in the water, but it’s one of the most consistent producers in our spread, especially in the early morning light or after storms push fish higher in the column.

How It All Comes Together: The Spread

Here’s what a typical trolling spread might look like on our charter boat out of Saugatuck:

• 2–4 downriggers running at 60, 80, 100, and 120 feet, with a couple of stacked lines in the 40–60 foot range.
• 2–4 divers set to 1.5 and 3 on each side, covering 40–70 feet with large attractors or flies.
• 4 copper lines (3-, 5-, 7-, and 10-color) on planer boards running wide and high, from 15 to 60 feet.

This setup allows us to hit multiple depth layers and maximize horizontal coverage—critical when salmon are scattered, suspended, or feeding in different zones.

When fish are concentrated, we may double up certain depths and swap in copper line or weighted steel to fine-tune presentations. But this core system works on 90% of trips and consistently puts fish in the boat.

Avoiding Tangles: The Art of Line Management

One of the biggest challenges in running this many lines is avoiding tangles, especially when fighting a fish or turning the boat.

Here’s how we manage it:

• Stagger lines in both depth and setback (distance behind the boat).
• Use different angles and rod holders to physically separate lines.
• Communicate clearly when a fish hits. The crew calls out the rod (“10-color starboard!”), clears nearby lines, and ensures the angler can fight the fish clean.
• On turns, slow and smooth is key. Avoid oversteering and monitor the speed to keep inside and outside lines balanced.

After years of experience, our crew makes this look easy, but every move has a purpose.

What You’ll Experience Aboard Our Saugatuck Salmon Charter

As a customer aboard our Lake Michigan charter boat, you’ll see this entire system in action. From the moment we set lines, you’ll witness a carefully choreographed dance of rods, reels, weights, boards, and bait. You’ll learn what we’re targeting and why—based on sonar marks, wind conditions, water temps, and time of day.

You’ll help set lines if you want, or just relax and watch the pros work. When a rod goes off, the adrenaline kicks in—and you’re on the reel fighting a salmon that might weigh 15 to 25 pounds or more.

Each trip is different, and we adjust our setup constantly. One day it might be a diver bite; the next, all the fish are hitting stacked downriggers or 5-color boards. Part of the fun is figuring out the pattern and dialing in a hot program.

Final Thoughts: Choosing the Right Setup Means More Fish and More Fun

Downriggers, divers, and copper lines aren’t just tools—they’re strategic solutions to a moving target. Lake Michigan salmon aren’t static. They move with water temps, bait schools, and light conditions. To stay on them, we use every option available to cover water intelligently.

Whether you’re a seasoned Great Lakes angler or it’s your first time on a salmon charter, understanding the “why” behind our spread will deepen your appreciation of the experience. You’ll learn what makes Lake Michigan such a rich and rewarding fishery—and why so many anglers come back year after year.

So come aboard with us out of Saugatuck, bring your cooler and your camera, and let’s put some chrome in the boat using the right tools, the right way, at the right time.