Downrigger

Trying to manage a fish and Downrigger at the same time is a real pain
Thinking of using an electric Downrigger . Has anyone had much luck with this ? Is a small fish finder battery strong enough?

Thanks

It sounds like you are complaining about the difficulty of getting your downrigger weight up to your kayak while playing a fish at the same time. 

When you catch a fish while downrigger trolling, it's a good idea to get your downrigger weight up to your kayak as quickly as possible, and before you get the fish anywhere near your kayak, because if the fish wraps your fishing line around your downrigger cable, it's very irritating and inconvenient.  It's an experience you won't want to repeat.

I have not attempted to develop or thought about developing an electric downrigger for use on a kayak, so I don't have any suggestions about that project, but I would be interested to see what you can develop.

But the good news is that it really isn't that hard to crank up your downrigger weight while you fight a fish.  For example, last Saturday I caught a 34.5" and a 29" lake trout.  Both fish put up spirited fights.  As soon as I set the hook, I kept tension on the line with one hand while cranking up the downrigger weight like a monkey with the other hand.  I had to stop a couple of times to reel in some fishing line so I could keep tension on the fish.  But once I got the downrigger weight up to my kayak, I could start playing in the fish without worrying about it wrapping the fishing line around my downrigger cable.

Here’s the 34.5” lake trout.

Trying to manage a fish and Downrigger at the same time is a real pain
Thinking of using an electric Downrigger . Has anyone had much luck with this ? Is a small fish finder battery strong enough?

Thanks

  I'm not trying to be a smart ass here but....... if using a downrigger is such a pain.. don't use one.   

  Do you use an electric reel too ?

  Is this what's known as "push button" fishing ?

  So many things can be accomplished by pushing a button now days -- why not fishing ?

  I prefer to KISS when I'm fishing. But that's just me........

I love downrigger trolling.  It provides a tremendously accurate way to present lures to fish which are deep in the water.  When fishing for fish like lake trout which hug the bottom, you can fly your weight, and the lure running behind it, a few feet above the bottom.  When fishing for fish which are suspended in the water column, such as schools of kokanee, you can run your lure right through or just above the school.  Because I'm used to using downriggers, I find long-line trolling and fishing with leaded line, diving devices, or big sinkers unacceptably inaccurate and random.  I don't like not knowing where my lure is actually running with respect to fish, the surface, the bottom, and obstacles on the bottom. 

If a downrigger and its associated rod holder and fish finder are installed on a kayak in an inconvenient manner, the downrigger will be awkward to use.  But if you install your downrigger and associated equipment in an appropriate manner, the downrigger setup can be very convenient and enjoyable to use.

pmmpete - Would you mind posting some photos showing the set-up/layout for your downrigger?  I want to start salmon/lake trout fishing from the kayak and would like to be able to use a downrigger for the reasons you mentioned.

Mark - PB'ers have largely gone to electric downriggers.  It is much easier than manual since once you've set the hook and have your line free of the downrigger cable you just hit a button and concentrate on the fish.  Obviously it can be done manually, and in a  kayak without going to a fairly massive battery it probably has to be done manually, but if it could reasonably be set up I think most downrigger kayak fishermen would eventually gravitate in that direction.

I love downrigger trolling.  It provides a tremendously accurate way to present lures to fish which are deep in the water.  When fishing for fish like lake trout which hug the bottom, you can fly your weight, and the lure running behind it, a few feet above the bottom.  When fishing for fish which are suspended in the water column, such as schools of kokanee, you can run your lure right through or just above the school.  Because I'm used to using downriggers, I find long-line trolling and fishing with leaded line, diving devices, or big sinkers unacceptably inaccurate and random.  I don't like not knowing where my lure is actually running with respect to fish, the surface, the bottom, and obstacles on the bottom. 

If a downrigger and its associated rod holder and fish finder are installed on a kayak in an inconvenient manner, the downrigger will be awkward to use.  But if you install your downrigger and associated equipment in an appropriate manner, the downrigger setup can be very convenient and enjoyable to use.

exactly, I agree, and high res sonar make it easy to track the weight and release (both releases if I am double stacking), run my gear right through schools of kokes or just above the bottom.

I am having very good results with the small Atwood rigger mounted on the grab bar just to the right of my PA12 seat, with just my right hand I can loosen the locking knob while keeping the spool from turning, then wind up the weight with just that right hand.  Plus the location, beside the seat, lets me just the existing rod holder on the gear board on that side of the kayak.  So no special rod holder required and I can operate the little downrigger with one hand...cheers, roger

pmmpete - Would you mind posting some photos showing the set-up/layout for your downrigger?  I want to start salmon/lake trout fishing from the kayak and would like to be able to use a downrigger for the reasons you mentioned.

Here are a couple pictures of the downrigger setup I like and use the most, which uses a Cannon Lake-Troll downrigger.  The primary features of this setup are (a) the downrigger is mounted next to my right thigh, so I can operate it conveniently without changing position in my seat, (b) the downrigger’s cable is positioned only an inch or so from the side of my kayak, to minimize the effect of the downrigger’s weight and cable on the steering of my kayak, (c) the boom of the downrigger has been shortened to minimize the stress which the boom’s leverage places on the hull of my kayak, (d) my rod is mounted by my left calf with the tip pointing to the right, so I can easily operate the reel, and so the tip of the rod is in front of me, where I can easily monitor it for strikes, and (e) my fish finder is mounted on the same side of my kayak as the downrigger, so I can easily monitor the fishfinder’s screen while keeping an eye on the tip of my rod.









This setup is described in more detail in my posting at http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=12575.0 .

I am having very good results with the small Atwood rigger mounted on the grab bar just to the right of my PA12 seat . . . .cheers, roger

On my 13' Trident I use a little Scotty Lake Troller downrigger, which is pretty similar to your Attwood downrigger.  On my 13' Revolution, I use a bigger Cannon Lake-Troll or Scotty Depthmaster downrigger.  The advantages of the bigger downriggers are as follows:

1. You can use a heavier weight, which will keep the weight visible on your fish finder at greater depths and/or at higher speeds than is possible with a lighter weight.  I use a 6 pound weight on my bigger downriggers, and routinely troll at depths below 150 feet.  The 4 pound weight on my little Scotty Lake Troller gets blown back out of the cone of my sonar at about 75 feet, unless I troll pretty slowly.

2.  The bigger downriggers have better brake systems than the primitive handscrew brake on your Attwood rigger or on the little Scotty Lake Troller, which makes it easier to raise and lower the downrigger cable.  I particularly like the brake or clutch system on the Cannon Lake-Troll downrigger.

3.  It's easier to crank up the weight with the bigger downriggers.  I find it easier to crank up a 6 pound weight with my bigger downriggers than to crank up a 4 pound weight with my little Scotty Lake Troller.

Any downrigger is better than no downrigger.  But try a bigger downrigger.  You'll like it.  And you won't have any trouble finding someplace to mount it on a Pro Angler with a trolling motor!

Incidentally, what kind of release is shown in your picture?  And is that a cork on your downrigger cable?

I am having very good results with the small Atwood rigger mounted on the grab bar just to the right of my PA12 seat . . . .cheers, roger

On my 13' Trident I use a little Scotty Lake Troller downrigger, which is pretty similar to your Attwood downrigger.  On my 13' Revolution, I use a bigger Cannon Lake-Troll or Scotty Depthmaster downrigger.  The advantages of the bigger downriggers are as follows:

1. You can use a heavier weight, which will keep the weight visible on your fish finder at greater depths and/or at higher speeds than is possible with a lighter weight.  I use a 6 pound weight on my bigger downriggers, and routinely troll at depths below 150 feet.  The 4 pound weight on my little Scotty Lake Troller gets blown back out of the cone of my sonar at about 75 feet, unless I troll pretty slowly.

2.  The bigger downriggers have better brake systems than the primitive handscrew brake on your Attwood rigger or on the little Scotty Lake Troller, which makes it easier to raise and lower the downrigger cable.  I particularly like the brake or clutch system on the Cannon Lake-Troll downrigger.

3.  It's easier to crank up the weight with the bigger downriggers.  I find it easier to crank up a 6 pound weight with my bigger downriggers than to crank up a 4 pound weight with my little Scotty Lake Troller.

Any downrigger is better than no downrigger.  But try a bigger downrigger.  You'll like it.  And you won't have any trouble finding someplace to mount it on a Pro Angler with a trolling motor!

Incidentally, what kind of release is shown in your picture?  And is that a cork on your downrigger cable?

I may upgrade at some point especially if I start ocean trolling for salmon but for now I don't need to go past 80' on lakes and at slow kokanee trolling speed, 1.2mph, the sonar is always marking the 4# weight very well, noting also that transducer is slightly aft of the DR location...and of course no need to bring up the rigger to fight a kokanee but certainly for lakers the DR needs to be out of the way before getting the fish near the boat, but hooking lakers doesn't happen nearly as often as kokes...

I have destroyed other portable downriggers in the past, most are a pain, but the $52 Atwood mini-rigger was a real surprise, I did not think I was going to like it at first, it felt 'plasticy' and wiggled in the mount, but it worked so well that I bought a second one a week later so we could use one off both sides of our PB when we load it up with kokes...

not sure about the release but the cork helps reduce noise from the wire, I plan to switch to braid downrigger line soon to fix that for good.  cheers, roger

I am having very good results with the small Atwood rigger mounted on the grab bar just to the right of my PA12 seat . . . .cheers, roger

On my 13' Trident I use a little Scotty Lake Troller downrigger, which is pretty similar to your Attwood downrigger.  On my 13' Revolution, I use a bigger Cannon Lake-Troll or Scotty Depthmaster downrigger.  The advantages of the bigger downriggers are as follows:

1. You can use a heavier weight, which will keep the weight visible on your fish finder at greater depths and/or at higher speeds than is possible with a lighter weight.  I use a 6 pound weight on my bigger downriggers, and routinely troll at depths below 150 feet.  The 4 pound weight on my little Scotty Lake Troller gets blown back out of the cone of my sonar at about 75 feet, unless I troll pretty slowly.

2.  The bigger downriggers have better brake systems than the primitive handscrew brake on your Attwood rigger or on the little Scotty Lake Troller, which makes it easier to raise and lower the downrigger cable.  I particularly like the brake or clutch system on the Cannon Lake-Troll downrigger.

3.  It's easier to crank up the weight with the bigger downriggers.  I find it easier to crank up a 6 pound weight with my bigger downriggers than to crank up a 4 pound weight with my little Scotty Lake Troller.

Any downrigger is better than no downrigger.  But try a bigger downrigger.  You'll like it.  And you won't have any trouble finding someplace to mount it on a Pro Angler with a trolling motor!

Incidentally, what kind of release is shown in your picture?  And is that a cork on your downrigger cable?

1.  I use a 6# weight with my Scotty Lake Troller all the time.  I know it's really rated to 4#, but I don't have any issues with 6#.

2.  I don't notice any braking issues with a Lake Troller, but I've never used anything different off a kayak, so I probably don't know any better.

3.  Similar comment as #2 for cranking ...

-Allen

. . . not sure about the release but the cork helps reduce noise from the wire, I plan to switch to braid downrigger line soon to fix that for good.  cheers, roger

I've used both Scotty 250 lb. braided Dyneema downrigger line and Scotty 150 lb. braided "low drag" Spectra downrigger line.  Both lines have no audible hum, which is a huge improvement over standard steel downrigger cable, which buzzes like guitar string, but with the 250 lb Dyneema the top 30-40 feet of the line was visible on my sonar, which means that there were a lot of streaks in the top 30-40 feet of the screen which made it very difficult to see if there are any fish in that area.  Below that depth there isn't any return or interference from the line.  The technical and customer relations people at Scotty claim that nobody else in the known universe has ever had this problem with their braided downrigger line, but I don't believe that.  The 150 lb Spectra has the same problem but to a lesser extent.  The streaking at the top of the screen is annoying and degrades the performance of the fish finder in the top 30-40 feet of water, but due to the lower drag and lack of hum I'm still using the Spectra.

Heavy interference from 250 lb Dyneema in shallow water (the wide yellow line is my downrigger weight):



Moderate interference from 250 lb Dyneema.



Interference only near the surface from 250 lb Dyneema:



Has anybody else had this problem with braided downrigger line?

Try 65# spectra some time.  That's what I use, and believe blowback is minimized even more and I don't have FF interference issues.  I do trim it back a foot or 2 every now and then especially if I've been unintentionally bouncing bottom.  Just don't bounce drop the weight into the water, as I've heard of some people snapping the lighter braid doing this.  Bye bye downrigger weight.   

-Allen