Christmas wish - linking Hobie drive to downrigger

For those of you with some engineering expertise, I would love to hear your ideas for linking a Hobie Mirage drive to a Scotty downrigger so I can reel in the downrigger ball while fighting fish. The application is for salmon fishing in Puget Sound when trolling at 60-120 feet of water. Any ideas?

Why ?

...because I lost 2 hot kings last summer on the downrigger wire over 2 days. I never had time to free a hand long enough to  crank in the downrigger ball all the way up from 100+ feet. I’d like to avoid the same senario by some how using the Mirage drive to bring up the ball. Plan B is an electric downrigger.

Here's how I keep fish from wrapping my fishing line around my downrigger cable: As soon as I get a strike, I start pedaling forward quickly while I reel in some line and set the hook, and then I continue pedaling forward quickly to keep tension on my fishing line, and to keep the fish well behind my kayak.  While continuing to pedal forward, I start cranking up my downrigger weight.  Whenever my rod tip gets too high or I start losing tension on my line, I stop cranking up the downrigger weight and reel in more fishing line.  I continue to pedal forward quickly throughout the time I'm doing these things, to keep the fish behind my kayak and away from my downrigger cable.  When I get my downrigger weight to the surface, I stop pedaling, turn my kayak so it's at a right angle to my fishing line, and start playing in the fish.

The risk of doing this, particularly when fishing with a barbless hook, is that if you lose tension on your fishing line, the fish may slip off the hook.  So focus on keeping tension on your fishing line by pedaling forward, and by reeling in line as necessary.  Don't get so focused on cranking up your downrigger weight that you lose tension on your fishing line.

Kokanee frequently dash under and all around my kayak when I play them near my kayak, and there is a pretty big risk that a kokanee will wrap my fishing line around my downrigger cable.  And any fish may wind your fishing line around your downrigger cable when it's deep below the surface.  Fortunately the majority of the fish which I catch tend to shy away from my kayak when I get them to the surface.  For most species, there is a fairly small chance that they will wrap my fishing line around my downrigger cable. But when a fish does wrap my fishing line around my downrigger cable, it's a huge hassle, and I may lose the fish. To avoid that low probability but huge hassle, when I'm downrigger trolling I usually use the techniques described above to get my downrigger weight to the surface before I play the fish up to my kayak.

If you are downrigger trolling near the bottom, or near any rock outcroppings or other snagging hazards, another reason to crank your downrigger weight up at least part of the way to the surface as soon as you get a fish in your line is because while you're playing in a fish, wind or current may push your downrigger weight into the bottom or some snag.

I have been using my old Canon Mini-mag electric down rigger on my PA-14  for the last 3 years and it's great!

I'm no engineer, but synching it up with the pedal drive seems like a lofty goal.

I can imagine a foot actuated device -- slides forward and backwards, engaging gears that turns the reel when pushed forward... I'll need to chat with my brother (the actual engineer).

I'm no engineer, but synching it up with the pedal drive seems like a lofty goal.

I can imagine a foot actuated device -- slides forward and backwards, engaging gears that turns the reel when pushed forward... I'll need to chat with my brother (the actual engineer).

Yeah interesting thing to think about and imagine. I think an arm that attaches a peddle to a ratchet converting linear motion to rotational might work, but I'm not an engineer and it would probably take up the downrigger very slow. The most important thing is to keep the fish away from the boat until you're ready to land it. With a little practice, I bet he could 180 after the rod loads up and fight it in reverse. I try to fight all the Chinook I hook while in reverse to put constant pressure on it and control where it's at, specifically not behind me.

It's a bit of the subject, but I think it would be a neat project to come up with some kind of a shrimp pot puller that would lock into the drive mount.

It's a bit of the subject, but I think it would be a neat project to come up with some kind of a shrimp pot puller that would lock into the drive mount.

I bet you could just mount one of those auto recovery winches for that, like the ones to get your jeep out of the ditch.

The most important thing is to keep the fish away from the boat until you're ready to land it. With a little practice, I bet he could 180 after the rod loads up and fight it in reverse.

That's valuable insight for handling the fight - this fall I was trying to bring the fish in ASAP, afraid that they would throw the hook. Granted, I wasn't using a downrigger. And I lost a lot of fish, lol.

I've been thinking more about this foot actuated device. You know the assemblies that are used to start small engines (weedeaters, push lawnmowers, chainsaws)? I bet the spirit of those assemblies could be applied to reeling in a downrigger. They offer a couple of important features:
(1) They turn a spool in one direction
(2) They reciprocate fully back -- if you push a pedal forward, the spring will return the pedal to the starting position

I'm pretty interested in pursuing this, but I'm living in a small apartment and don't have much space for tinkering. It would be cool if some folks (myself included) could come together and create an open source design that would allow kayak fisherfolk to reel in downriggers with their feet.

That's valuable insight for handling the fight - this fall I was trying to bring the fish in ASAP, afraid that they would throw the hook. Granted, I wasn't using a downrigger. And I lost a lot of fish, lol.

I lost about half the Chinook I hooked this year, and all but one in July. Just how it is with barbless hooks, especially jigging. I did find that fighting them under power in reverse helps, particularly if you can get on it right after the strike.  I don't know where you fish but I often have fish swim directly up 130+ feet and break surface seconds after the strike. Tends to put a lot of slack in your line if you're not moving. For fishing deep I also went to a stupid fast 8.5:1 bass reel to combat the slack line.

I’m thinking along the same line as bogueYaker. The challenge seems to be incorporating modules for 1) converting linear to rotary motion and 2) engaging in a unidirectional manner. For the latter, perhaps fitting some sorts of ratcheting unit at the center of a belt wheel would do the trick:

https://www.amazon.com/T19086-4-Inch-Finger-Ratchet-Aluminum/dp/B00A32E9DY/ref=asc_df_B00A32E9DY/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309832851244&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3160993045876076527&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033314&hvtargid=pla-524279079501&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=64417494871&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=309832851244&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3160993045876076527&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033314&hvtargid=pla-524279079501

Seems like it would be easier to incorporate into a sealed bevel gear drive than a mirage drive.  The linkage could extend from the drive housing and be made to spin only one way with a dual drive and freewheel gear on each drive arm.  The gears would be contained inside the sealed gear housing along with the drive gears and less prone to excessive wear and breakage due to saltwater exposure or other exposure to the elements. 

I think it would be quite challenging to (a) devise a way to add equipment to a Mirage Drive which could be used to turn the crank of a downrigger to raise the downrigger weight using foot power, and would fit in the limited space available in the cockpit of a Mirage Drive kayak, or (b) develop a separate foot-powered device which would turn the crank of a downrigger to raise the downrigger weight, and would fit in the limited space available in the cockpit of a Mirage Drive kayak.  I think that Dr.Steelhead Catcher is using a more practical solution - a small electric downrigger.  But electric downriggers and the batteries required to operate them are fairly large, heavy, and expensive.  So an even more practical solution is to develop techniques to keep fish away from your downrigger cable while you crank up your weight manually.

I think it would be quite challenging to (a) devise a way to add equipment to a Mirage Drive which could be used to turn the crank of a downrigger to raise the downrigger weight using foot power, and would fit in the limited space available in the cockpit of a Mirage Drive kayak, or (b) develop a separate foot-powered device which would turn the crank of a downrigger to raise the downrigger weight, and would fit in the limited space available in the cockpit of a Mirage Drive kayak. 

I agree. But it's fun to think about, it would be pretty handy, and god knows I need something to keep me out of trouble. I'm keeping my eyes on craigslist for an unreasonably cheap downrigger to play around with. If anyone has a downrigger collecting dust -- I'd be happy to dispose of it for you