Not all plugs work the same. Buy 5 and 1 will fish better than the rest. So, buy a few and cycle them through until one starts to get fish, then test the others next to the one that's really working. Eventually, you'll find a couple that work really well. It's a process, but when you find fish catchers they are very effective lures.
Run them fast. Like
@Dogbreath said. 3 mph or more depending on current.
Send them 30 to 50 feet back and let them really dance. No need for flashers, which helps reduce the drag on your downriggers balls.
Pull the pins and if you break one off, you get the plug back when it floats to the surface. It really hurts to lose a plug that catches fish. Run the line through the plug, add a bead, attach a bead chain swivel, then you can set a smaller hook toward the back of the plug. The 3/0 Big River hooks are great and have held some monster fish with no problem. No need for the huge hooks (5/0, 6/0. 7/0) they come with, as they will do serious damage to fish you can't keep. Eye injuries are a death sentence, how many one-eyed fish do you see on the spawning grounds?
You can attach them directly to your mainline, or use a standard 6 foot leader with a swivel attached to your terminal tackle on your rod. But the mainline plug dances a little better. It's not just the waggle, but their lateral movement, sometimes moving 10 feet from one side to the other on a dart, that can really entice the bites. Not swivels in front help maximize this potential.
Plugs love to be fished in swell. The pulsing swell makes your boat speed more random, and the plugs follow suit. Even some larger chop can have this effect so it can help on both ECVI and WCVI.
The konezone or dummy flasher set up works, but it works better with Tubbys. They have a little more action with a tighter leash to the downrigger. But it's really nice to fish with nothing but the plug in the water.
