In this article I’ll tell you how to increase the efficiency of the retriever with the help of some simple tricks.

 There is also a video about all this with the examples of the retriever's performance. Unfortunately, it is available only in Russian at the moment, but I think that a fisherman will understand everything even without translation. 

1. If the retriever's weight is not enough...
 Sometimes the depth and the flow strength are great in the place of fishing, and it’s hard for the retriever to get to the place of a catch. If you are in a boat it may be better to go a bit farther downstream from the place of a catch. The angle at which the retriever rope is placed will get narrower and it will be able to go deeper. And the main reason to do so is that when you got caught you may have found the home of your future trophy. The retriever allows you releasing the lure quietly (if the cause of the catch doesn’t go after the lure). There are no chains or trinkets on the retriever and it doesn’t need to be hit at the cause of the catch and the lure. That’s why fish often doesn’t leave its shelter and you’ll be able to catch it at the next try.
If there’s a need to make the retriever heavier you may use a lot of different objects: bolts, a piece of some scrap metal, stones, plummets, etc. With the help of electrical tape, duct tape, line or anything else attach the ballast to the central part of the retriever. That’s it! The retriever is ready to fight catches at depth!

I must mention that you needn’t attach the retriever and the ballast too tight. The retriever has a streamline form, and the ballast often doesn’t. As the retriever is used near cases of catches it’s highly probable that it will get caught because of the ballast. If the strength of the ballast-retriever connection is less than the strength of the rope the ballast will tear away and the retriever will come back to you together with the lure.

2. How to use the flow for increasing the retriever’s working distance when you’re fishing from the bank.

If the lure got caught somewhere downstream or if you can move so that the line is parallel to the flow or at a small angle to it, then you can use the retriever’s rope as a sail.

First we have to stand higher upstream than the catch.
Second we have to set loose some meters of the rope downstream, so that it forms an arc. Strength of the flow will affect the retriever through the rope, pushing it down the line to the place of a catch.
You mustn’t worry if the retriever is turned over by the flow. This won’t keep the retriever from getting the lure, as the front loop is constantly on the line. And the retriever’s prolonged form won’t let the flow to turn it backwards.

3. If there's no strong thin rope at hand...

 Often a thick rope may be an obstacle during fishing. That’s why I recommend using a rope of maximal strength and minimal thickness. Of course such ropes are a bit costly, but I can assure you that such an investment will pay off very soon.

But if you don’t have such rope then you can use a simple capronic cord and a piece of a thin line.
1) Bind the line and the cord together

2) Thread the line through the retriever’s pass-through ring and fold it in two, so that the retriever hangs on the line loop

3) Release the retriever to let it go to the place of a catch. The thin line will let it go as far as if you used an ultrastrong cord.
4) Start getting out the retriever. As soon as you feel that it caught the lure, pull it by the free end of the line, so that the cord is pulled into the retriever’s ring.
5) As soon as the other end of the cord is in your hands, you can retrieve the lure, as the retriever is now on the thick cord!