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SD2OR with a trophy fall walleye

Topic: Preferred Downrigger for Kayak Install  (Read 6003 times)

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DARice

  • Rockfish
  • ****
  • Location: Portland
  • Date Registered: Aug 2014
  • Posts: 178
I've just moved from PDX to S. WA state. The downside is that makes my favorite spot, Pacific City, just that much farther away. The great news is that I'm only 20 minutes from decent Kokanee fishing. So, it's time to mount a downrigger on my Revo 13. I'll also use it in the Columbia for salmon trolling, I suppose.

There are great threads on mounting a downrigger, and I'd appreciate opinions on the most convenient unit for kayak use. The Scotty Laketroller is inexpensive, and the horizontal winding mechanism seems that it may be more convenient than the Cannon vertical mechanism. The Scotty Depthmaster adds a longer boom and I assume is more durable, but I haven't seen those units in person. Meanwhile, I see the Cannon Lake Troll being used by several on the board. Either way, I'll rely on my FF for depth readings and it seems I'll need to replace the ss cable with braid.

Thanks!
Dave


kredden

  • Rockfish
  • ****
  • Location: North Bend, WA
  • Date Registered: Feb 2018
  • Posts: 170
Dave,

This is what I did with a Scotty Laketroller on my Outback.  I've used it quite a bit in the local lakes to good effect.

Kevin



craig

  • Sturgeon
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  • Location: Tualatin, OR
  • Date Registered: Jul 2008
  • Posts: 3814
Speaking of Scotty Laketrollers, I have one I used twice for Kokanee I would be willing to part with. I never use it since there are no kokanee near me and have no plans to in the future. It has 65 pound braid on it rather than the steel wire. Pm me if you are interested.

I had it mounted behind me on the cooler I would put the kokanee in.  That way it was closer to the centerline and further back so it would not affect the tracking of the kayak as much. 
« Last Edit: September 22, 2018, 03:13:38 PM by craig »


pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
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  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
I've mounted a Scotty Laketroller on my 13' Trident, a Scotty Depthmaster on my Revolution, and a Cannon Lake-Troll on my Revolution.  The Cannon Lake-Troll is my favorite pedal  kayak downrigger setup.   The Scotty Laketroller is a more primitive downrigger than the Cannon Lake-Troll, but if you want to try out downrigger trolling for little money, the Scotty Laketroller is adequate for kokanee fishing.


Trident 13

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Location: Kent
  • Date Registered: Jul 2016
  • Posts: 791
I've had both, and one looking like my scotty is in the thread, lol.  I liked the scotty for simplicity in my Trident 13.  I had a mount to that fit right in the molded center of the hatch cover..  I needed to lighten the drag and use both hands to lower the downrigger, but there's no counter.  I foot per revolution up to 75 feet worked fine.  On a hookup you have to loosen the tightening bolt in order to crank it up and then tighten it when you get to the top.  Use a bungee.  All of that is hard to do when you have a fish on, so I tended to leave it down, but that's a bit dangerous.  I have plans and can send you pics, etc. of a cannon mounted on my revo.  The mount is solid and won't break free even if you flip in a big wave in the current.  Proven fact.  It's nice to have the counter and I can hold the pole in one hand and back off on the handle to get to depth and re-tighten without setting the pole down yet. I've now dropped to 5 lb balls and 60-b braid.  Send a PM if you want to call or get pictures...
John


pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
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  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
it seems I'll need to replace the ss cable with braid.
You don't need to replace the stainless steel cable which comes on downriggers with braided line, but steel cable has an irritating hum, which you can eliminate by replacing the steel cable with braided line.  Braided line can also be thinner and thus have lower drag than steel cable.  Most braided downrigger line is 250 pound test, but I use Scotty 175 pound Spectra low-drag braided downrigger line.  I don't use braided fishing line on my downriggers because of the risk of breaking the line and losing an expensive downrigger weight if I hook the weight on something.


kredden

  • Rockfish
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  • Location: North Bend, WA
  • Date Registered: Feb 2018
  • Posts: 170
I've had both, and one looking like my scotty is in the thread, lol.

Yep, that is your old one  :).

Kevin


bb2fish

  • Sturgeon
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  • Location: Oregon
  • Date Registered: Feb 2013
  • Posts: 1499
I fished two rods this year for kokanee and even stacked both rods on my downrigger -- that was fun!  My "downrigger" is a 30 inch long butt section of a stiff rod with a line counter reel (with braid) on it, and the rod goes in my crate just behind my seat.  It works for me. 

Using this method, I don't have anything rigidly mounted to my kayak and I use one of my "pvc rod holders" in my crate so there are numerous configurations if I want to DR off the right or left side of my kayak (or not at all).   I've snagged my DR ball before -  It's not a problem since I set the drag of my Line counter reel fairly light just a little more than the lead and with the clicker ON if I'm close to the bottom or in snaggy areas.  So it's not a really dangerous situation getting the ball snagged.  Worst case, I could cut the braid if the lead doesn't come loose. The drag wouldn't flip my kayak or pull the rod out of the crate (though it is leashed).



the quadfather

  • Herring
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  • Location: Seattle, WA. USA
  • Date Registered: Jul 2011
  • Posts: 47
I just recently finished my first DIY on my 2016 PA 14.  I do a lot of downrigger fishing, and deep, 100’ +, so this was important to me.  A lot of people do use the
Mini-Lake Troller, or the equivalent Canon DR.
For me a couple of important points were that I really like an actual depth counter.  Also, I want to be comfortable with an 8 lb ball.
This meant that I went with the first level of Scotty’s manual DR’s that has a depth counter, but also has a boom that is solid enough for a heavier ball.  The mod was easy in my opinion, and I generally consider myself only moderately ‘Handy’ in the garage.

I used a Scotty 1050.  I easily removed the boom.  Cut off 6-7” ?, replaced the boom.  This meant that it was a shorter reach for my arm out to the ball, but more importantly it reduces the weight strain that is being placed on the side of your Yak.

I then cut a piece of that white kitchen cutting board material.  (Poly-Something-ethene??). This needs to be cut to a size to allow the square base of the DR to bolt to the cutting board.

Next I used 2 what I think Hobie calls ‘Flat Universal H-rail mounts’. It’s a 3”x4” little table top that mounts to an H-rail. 
This becomes the base which you bolt the cutting board to, and of course DR base is mounted to that.
The last thing I did was angle the whole DR, about 30 degrees towards the sky.  Again, to take a little weight strain of the kayak.

You may not have H-Rails, but you likely could rig some kind of those flat black gear plates that go on the side gunnel area of your Yak.

Anyway, I’m quite happy with it.  But again, if you aren’t concerned with a heavier ball, and deeper depths, then the mini lake troller is prob fine. 


JohnMckroid

  • Krill
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  • Location: South Florida
  • Date Registered: Oct 2015
  • Posts: 18
I got one of those also....hmmm picture does not want to post ? It's a Cannon Unitrol ST 5 with a few mods.


pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
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  • Posts: 1989
I got one of those also....hmmm picture does not want to post ? It's a Cannon Unitrol ST 5 with a few mods.
John, without the seat in place in the kayak I'm having trouble telling from your picture where you positioned your Unitrol.  Could you post a picture of you sitting in the kayak and turning the downrigger's crank?  Better yet, a picture of you actually trolling, showing your entire downrigger setup?


the quadfather

  • Herring
  • **
  • Location: Seattle, WA. USA
  • Date Registered: Jul 2011
  • Posts: 47
Agreed,  nice looking DR, look forward to an action photo, or seat in place, etc.  thx for sharing.


JasonM

  • Lingcod
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  • Location: Snohomish
  • Date Registered: Jun 2017
  • Posts: 282
I use a Scotty Laketroller and have been happy with it after I replaced the cable with 65lb braid. It's very light, the horizontal winding is more intuitive to me and I like the shorter boom on a kayak a lot more than one that I had tried previously with a longer boom on it. It drops very close to one foot of line per turn, and does it longer full of the thinner braid than it did with the thicker cable. If I'm using a downrigger, I'm usually using a linecounter reeel so not having a counter on the downrigger hasn't made much of a difference to me.


Ronanmd1

  • Plankton
  • *
  • Location: Calgary
  • Date Registered: Mar 2014
  • Posts: 6
I had been thinking of this for quite some time. In the end I decided to spend more money to install an electric DR on my outback (I am lazy and didn't feel like hand lining the ball up from the deep over and over). I went with the Cannon Mag 5 ST because it had a narrower footprint than the Scotty. I fabricated an aluminum mount using the rear gimbal tube and a piece of gear trac (to anchor the front end). A rotating base allows me to keep the 2 foot boom  close to the yak to minimize the lateral torque.  Battery is kept in the H-crate behind my seat. I had a chance to try it out last week and I am thoroughly impressed. Battery lasted all day. 4 lb ball allowed me to get to the depths I wanted and I could pedal it all day at 2-3 mpg SOG. I did replace the steel cable with braid and used a snubber to minimize the strain on the line. I can easily reach the up/down switch, view the counter and lower the line using the clutch on the DR.


Jason


the quadfather

  • Herring
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  • Location: Seattle, WA. USA
  • Date Registered: Jul 2011
  • Posts: 47
Dangs... now that is a solid Kayak DR.
Thanks for sharing!