Downrigging Question

So what happened to Adam12's gimbal/rear flush-mount rod holders?

The short story is huli + net in gimbal = really impressive crack in hull.

well, i won't have to worry about that because i'll never huli.

jk. adios, gimbal idea.

My downrigger solution....the lil' Scotty mounted on my T-13.  Still using the cable as it gives an excellent audible in the form of interrupted hum when I get a strike....

My downrigger solution....the lil' Scotty mounted on my T-13.  Still using the cable as it gives an excellent audible in the form of interrupted hum when I get a strike....

If you mount your Scotty Laketroller next to your right thigh, it'll be easier to turn the crank with your right hand, and you'll be able to operate the nut which stops the cable reel with your left hand.  In addition, you'll be able to stop the cable reel with your thigh, which is very useful.   When lowering your downrigger weight, you can paddle forward to keep your lure streamed out behind the weight while using your thigh to gradually lower the weight.  When you get a fish hooked, if you want to raise your downrigger weight to eliminate the risk of the fish wrapping your fishing line around the downrigger cable, you can keep tension on your pole with your left hand while cranking up the weight with your right hand, and if you need to reel in some line to keep tension on the fish, you can hold the downrigger's cable reel in place with your thigh while you reel in some fishing line, and then go back to cranking up your downrigger weight.

You have the boom of the Laketroller sticking out at right angles to your kayak.  If you put the downrigger in a different notch in the base, so the boom is pointing forward or backwards at an angle so the cable is right next to the side of your kayak, the drag from the cable and weight will have less effect on the tracking of your kayak, and the boom will interfere less with your paddling.

You need to find a place to install your downrigger next to your thigh where it won't interfere at all with paddling your kayak.  One way to do this is to install a flush mount base on top of the gunwale.  Also consider installing a flush mount base on the side of your kayak next to the top of the gunwale, which will position the downrigger lower and at a 45 degree angle.  A friend did this on his Trident, and it seems to work pretty well.

If the boom is sticking into the path of your paddle stroke, and you are considering bending the boom to move it out of the way, keep in mind that you can bend the boom forward or backwards without interfering with the functioning of the cable pulley, but if you bend the boom down, the pulley will be too low, and the cable will be bent over the lip of the cable reel, and will grind on the lip as you lower and raise your downrigger weight.

pmmpete - do you have that 250# braid that you took off your DR available/for sale?

pmmpete - do you have that 250# braid that you took off your DR available/for sale?

Yes.  When I get home from work I'll send you a message describing what I have.

sounds good. thanks

Nang, I agree that forward positioning would be ideal for accessability, but with my adventure's narrower width and my thunder thighs i can't envision any configuration that would allow me to mount the DR anywhere besides behind me.

David, keep in mind that once you have a rectangle of plastic mounted on the gunwale of your Adventure, you can mount your Scotty Depthmaster (or the base for your Depthmaster) as far out on the rectangle as necessary to provide clearance for your thunder thighs.  The next time I mount a downrigger on a kayak, I'm going to mount it on a gear track, which will be easier than installing sealed nuts inside the gunwale.  Although AlexB has located an excellent source of sealed nuts; see http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=14857.msg160888;topicseen#new . If you don't want to use the cupholder to keep the downrigger from rocking from side to side, you need to find some other way to stabilize the downrigger.  For example, you could screw wedges of plastic to the bottom of the base which brace against the sides of the gunwale.  On a Hobie Outback, the sides of the trays on the gunwale provide a wide flat base for a downrigger mount.

You say that you only expect to make occasional use of your downrigger.  Let me warn you: downriggers are addictive, because they permit you to present lures at very precise depths.  If you see a school of kokanee at 30 feet, you can decide whether to run your lure through the middle of the school, or through the top of the school.  If you are trolling for fish near the bottom, you can decide whether to troll 4 feet above the bottom or 10 feet above the bottom.  When you get used to this kind of accuracy, long line trolling or trolling with leaded line, diving devices, or banana sinkers seems unacceptably unpredictable and random.

I get it, but there's just so little room to mount anything on the sides of the adventure. Heck I was even bumping my scotty rodholder mounts on the adventure yesterday, and they're pretty flush with the sides.

I do like the idea of the milkcrate for my purposes. I'm mechanically challenged, don't really have but a few power tools.

excellent audible in the form of interrupted hum

While this hum is annoying to some, it also works like a speedometer.  The hum begins at about 1.2 mph which is about perfect for kokanee.  I have been considering replacing my cable but then I have to replace my speedometer and my fish finder does not have GPS.  I am also in the process of replacing the down rigger ball with a 4lb lead filled piece of ss pipe.  Less drag/blow back and very little chance of hanging up.

Here is where I found that idea. (http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/fishing-forums/showthread.php?7936-modifing-my-stainless-steel-downrigger-weights-a-little)

I will agree that once you start downrigger fishing it is very addicting.

that's pretty cool.

reminds me of Torpedo Divers http://www.torpedodivers.com/torpedo.asp which are excellent, albeit somewhat pricey.

The idea with the pipe is that they hang vertically so if you are going through branches/trees (occurring in many flooded resiviors) they just slide through them.  I think additionally when the fishing calls you to be right on the bottom (sometimes bouncing it- i.e. black mouth in the sound) you have less to get hung up.  I have been looking at goodwill for a cast iron pot so I can melt down the lead to do one pour. When I find it I will make mine, which will not be as pretty, but I hope just as functional. 

Oooooh. It hangs vertically. I didn't realize that. I suppose that would lesson hangups quite a bit (at the expense of increased drag). Same concept behind drift fishing pencil lead and walleye bottom bouncers.

Fill copper instead of S.S. and you'll have some halibut/ling pipe jigs!

You could pretty easily determine the difference in drag between a ball-shaped downrigger weight and a pipe downrigger weight of the same weight by hanging them next to each other from a moving boat and comparing the angle of the downrigger cables.  You could perform the same test by lowering the weights from the downstream side of a bridge into deep moving water. 

Another important issue is how well a pipe downrigger weight shows up on your fish finder compared to a ball-shaped downrigger weight.  You could figure this out by lowering a ball weight to various cable lengths below a boat, and then lowering a pipe weight to the same cable lengths.  You should do this from both a moving boat and a stationary boat, because the amount that a downrigger weight blows back will affect how well it shows up on a fish finder.

I haven't used a pipe downrigger weight, but suspect that they are less likely to snag than a ball-shaped downrigger weight.  But resistance to snagging isn't something I'd want to compare in tests, because losing a downrigger weight is expensive.

Don't forget that the size of the lure and flashers you are towing, has an affect on the angle of your down rig line depth......larger lures/more mouse traps  =  more underwater  drag.
This is where a heavier down rigger weight makes a real difference.