Portable downrigger

[Mac Attack]

This is a boat I had for 10 years and sold last fall.

Love center consoles.
Lots of fishing room.

[porkpiehat]

I bought the cannon one and mounted in on the back of my aluminum rowboat. I had never used one before so it was kind of a disaster and a bad place to position it (leaning off the stern that was already weighed down with motor etc. The line counter didn't really work well and controlling the drop took some work. the cable also slipped off the track at the arm in bumpy water and I had to cut and rethread the cable.

Not sure if it was design or user error. I have a bigger boat now and I will give it another try now that I have experience with a mounted one.

[Seahunt]

Love center consoles.
Lots of fishing room.

Agree, Attack.  

I bought the cannon one and mounted in on the back of my aluminum rowboat. I had never used one before so it was kind of a disaster and a bad place to position it (leaning off the stern that was already weighed down with motor etc. The line counter didn't really work well and controlling the drop took some work. the cable also slipped off the track at the arm in bumpy water and I had to cut and rethread the cable.

Not sure if it was design or user error. I have a bigger boat now and I will give it another try now that I have experience with a mounted one.

Riggers pretty much need to be mounted in the aft or back quarter of the boat to avoid getting your cable in your prop on turns.Controlling speed of drop with manuals is just a matter of experience. Canons are infamous for sliding off the pulley. There's too much room between the pulley and the sides. No idea why they don't fix that. That will never happen with a Scotty. That being said, it's highly unlikely that the cable came off due to bumpy water. Most likely, it was due to slack cable when deploying or changing lures.

[wshniwsfshn]

 seahunt what about putting it about a foot up from the stern on the side would that work my whole thing about this thread is I'm on vacation in 2 weeks on winni and I would like to get out and fish some coves in the early morning off by 9 ish thanks

[Seahunt]

seahunt what about putting it about a foot up from the stern on the side would that work my whole thing about this thread is I'm on vacation in 2 weeks on winni and I would like to get out and fish some coves in the early morning off by 9 ish thanks

A foot up from the stern will absolutely work. It may even be more efficient to work your riggers from that position.
Every boat can use a different set up based on it's design.
I suggested the back corner based on solid mounting options of a typical 14' aluminum.

If you can securely mount your rigger (s) a foot from the stern and operate them comfortably, absolutely, go for it.
If you have a swivel mount, I'd run the riggers 45 or 90 degrees off the stern to avoid getting your cable in the prop. 

[dickbaker]

Anybody ever try the portable ones that clamp on to the side wall of a 14 ft aluminum I'm looking at the Scotty one and what size weight thanks

 

Again??   Need to see a photo of your boat stern, maybe make and model of boat.   Regardless of what anyone says a portable rigger  should
               lift no more than a 6 pound ball?    Hand crank a 8- 12 lb. ball many times and you will agree!   Drift back at 2MPH is not too much to     
               compensate for?   Some day they will have a 6 lb. pancake rigger ball that will cure the problem?
Dick

[porkpiehat]

beautiful boat! I am starting to deck out my 16' lund SS Alaskan. Just installed Bimini and now I'm moving downrigger to keep it out of the way of it

[porkpiehat]

A foot up from the stern will absolutely work. It may even be more efficient to work your riggers from that position.
Every boat can use a different set up based on it's design.
I suggested the back corner based on solid mounting options of a typical 14' aluminum.

If you can securely mount your rigger (s) a foot from the stern and operate them comfortably, absolutely, go for it.
If you have a swivel mount, I'd run the riggers 45 or 90 degrees off the stern to avoid getting your cable in the prop. 

This is good to know; the only spot I could find to mount my portable on the Lund is on the stern facing straight out. wasn't thinking about cable movement on the turns! I guess I can just stack two lines on my permanent one.

[Seahunt]

This is good to know; the only spot I could find to mount my portable on the Lund is on the stern facing straight out. wasn't thinking about cable movement on the turns! I guess I can just stack two lines on my permanent one.

If you have a swivel mount, I'd run the riggers 45 or 90 degrees off the stern to avoid getting your cable in the prop. 

Regardless of how you interpreted my above quote, I said it wrong.
I should have said 45, (back towards the stern)  or 90 degrees off the gunnels.
A lot of manual riggers have short booms. The longer booms are safer to troll straight back off the stern.
Even with those, I prefer to swivel at an angle or 90 degrees to the gunnel. They're easier/safer to operate off the sides and open up the "chute" for fighting and landing fish.

Don't know what kind of manual or mount you have on your portable? If possible you may be able to fabricate a swivel mount using other brands of swivel mounts. I've done that.
Actually, in my boat pic above, there are 6" swivel mount pedestals under those riggers. I retro fitted my Scotty's to fit the pedestals because the original Scotty swivel bases made them higher than I wanted on the preexisting pedestals.   
Stacking definitely works but it's time consuming (lines out of the water) especially with manuals.         

[Mac Attack]

Stacking definitely works but it's time consuming (lines out of the water) especially with manuals.         

Yup.
Did it for years.
No more.
Not worth the hassle IMHO.
I will however pin a slider 10' up sometimes if I'm running the weights deep.



I've run downriggers since the late 70's.
All Cannons.
Probably owned 2 dozen of them over the years.
My 24' Trophy has 6 on it back in the 90's.  All electric.
And I have never had the cable jump off the end pulley on the arm.
But I suppose it could happen.


Dick - I crank 8# weights on mine all the time.
Run them pretty much on the bottom for eyes in 60-125 FOW.
Not as easy like my electrics in the past, but I do it.
I will never run less than 8# balls.
That is, unless I limit to maybe 35-40' down.
Again, that's just me.


Mac

[boondox]

seahunt what about putting it about a foot up from the stern on the side would that work my whole thing about this thread is I'm on vacation in 2 weeks on winni and I would like to get out and fish some coves in the early morning off by 9 ish thanks

Sure will work putting it a foot forward or even three .. if you can I would go with this clamp base link below  and a I think it was the uni troll or easy troll down riggers I have the uni troll on my nymph  just from experience with the lake troll and mini troll there a pain in the rump to use then trying to rember were you set them is way more of a pain..


like if you got riggers out  and all you got to do is look at the dial on uni troll  to see the depth were the other two is a problem as heading  into shallow when the shallow alarm comes in to play and you have to rember wich to raise first. And fast!..


also say this mount cause some boats don't have the corners like our seanymph with the grab handles in the stern cornerd some boats don't have corner pads big enough..  but do have grab handles.. and being a tiller boat you can't run a board side to side like on other boats. With a side or center consel..  These rigger mounts at link below are easy to use but  have a lot to be desired .. I would rather drill three holes in my corner pad like we did then pay $80 but the choice really is yours ..



http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cannon-Clamp-Mount/699954.uts?productVariantId=1184278&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=00736000&rid=20&gclid=CjwKCAjw47bLBRBkEiwABh-PkS71QehPVWFzLAV78Lnj7E0bOgCrAIC7cRNFiaUi5g19NY5yx_H-ExoCX2EQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[boondox]

This canon is better then the scotty for a little bit more there bolth named lake troll but different brands so pay attention to why we say what we said ones junk the other pretty good for very little more.. like 80 vs. 150 for the price also got to remember with a spool full of wire one foot id like 1.5 foot when spool is full an one foot when empty.. cause you got wire on spool taking up room.. any how I hot a list of down riggers be low that I would by every one has different features but all have line counters for depth set..


Cannon lake troll :

http://www.cabelas.com/product/boating/trolling-gear/downriggers%7C/pc/104794380/c/104784480/sc/104306580/cannon-lake-troll-downrigger/738094.uts


Scotty lake troller:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/boating/trolling-gear/downriggers%7C/pc/104794380/c/104784480/sc/104306580/scotty-portable-lake-troller/700238.uts




Couple good riggers that are lower priced..recommended by me..

http://www.cabelas.com/product/boating/trolling-gear/downriggers%7C/pc/104794380/c/104784480/sc/104306580/walker-downriggers-lake-ranger-manual-downrigger/737305.uts

http://www.cabelas.com/product/boating/trolling-gear/downriggers%7C/pc/104794380/c/104784480/sc/104306580/cannon-lake-troll-downrigger/738094.uts

http://www.cabelas.com/product/boating/trolling-gear/downriggers%7C/pc/104794380/c/104784480/sc/104306580/scotty-depthmaster-manual-downrigger/1572797.uts

http://www.cabelas.com/product/boating/trolling-gear/downriggers%7C/pc/104794380/c/104784480/sc/104306580/cannon-easi-troll-trade-st-downrigger/1571741.uts







By the way If you got a cabelas by you they just gave $20 off of $100 so that $150 becomes $130 which sweetens the deal if you don't got the coupon let me know i may have to fax email or some thing to get it to you.. lol's

[porkpiehat]

There may be a simple answer to this, but what does the angle/blowback matter if you're able to control the speed and depth of the lure? Sure a 4lb ball do this at deeper depths, and you will need to let out more cable to get down there, but if you use your fishfinder or estimate depth, what is the problem? Still learning downriggers here.

[Seahunt]

There may be a simple answer to this, but what does the angle/blowback matter if you're able to control the speed and depth of the lure? Sure a 4lb ball do this at deeper depths, and you will need to let out more cable to get down there, but if you use your fishfinder or estimate depth, what is the problem? Still learning downriggers here.

Not too sure how you're going to control your rigger (release) depth unless you're pretty sharp with angles and just as sharp with geometry?
Just me, but I don't want troll the southern end of Rattlesnake while my rigger balls are halfway to Alton Bay.
It would take a pretty fancy fishfinder to mark a 4# ball trolling 50' + deep at 2+ mph sog. 

[porkpiehat]

Not too sure how you're going to control your rigger (release) depth unless you're pretty sharp with angles and just as sharp with geometry?
Just me, but I don't want troll the southern end of Rattlesnake while my rigger balls are halfway to Alton Bay.
It would take a pretty fancy fishfinder to mark a 4# ball trolling 50' + deep at 2+ mph sog. 

good points all around. I am pretty d**n good with angles I'll post my GRE results lol.

I thought I remember seeing a chart that estimates true depth based on angle, speed, and size of weight. could be wrong. I'll just use my 4 pounder  for the salmon still at 30'