Scotty Depthmaster mounting

That's just a mockup, right?

Are you going to mount the DR to the base?  And strap the stool down better?  There is a lot of force on a DR and if it starts loose, it's only going to get looser.

Regarding Wali's question ... you can angle the DR towards the back to get the line more towards the center.  If it's difficult to reach, then add a rigger line retriever to it.

-Allen

Regarding Wali's question ... you can angle the DR towards the back to get the line more towards the center.  If it's difficult to reach, then add a rigger line retriever to it.

Actually the Depthmaster has a square flat mounting plate and can't be rotated like the Laketroller can. See pic below.

Zee:
Would that DR work as well with a shorter arm, or would that make reaching it more difficult? I ask because I'd think it'd move the load a bit closer to the centerline.

The way it is now works pretty well but that doesn't mean that there isn't room for improvement. A shorter arm would reduce side pull and it would also make it easier to reach the DR ball once it is fully retrieved. Nice idea Wali! I may have to give it a try.

There's just one bolt securing the DR arm so this mod is easy. Just pull the top cap off and remove the nut and locknut. Then take the stack of the handle, plates, and brakes off. Unbolt the DR arm, cut to new size, and re-install. Do make sure to grab this schematic first: http://www.scotty.com/scotty-support/documents/ManualDownriggerManual.pdf Adjusting the brake can be a little tricky. And most importantly, keep those brake pads and brake plate clean. It's not fun when it slips.

Z

Regarding Wali's question ... you can angle the DR towards the back to get the line more towards the center.  If it's difficult to reach, then add a rigger line retriever to it.

Actually the Depthmaster has a square flat mounting plate and can't be rotated like the Laketroller can. See pic below.

I didn't mean to rotate it in place.  I meant to mount it already rotated.

-Allen

Anyone else not able to see Lee's photos?  I also can not see Lee's avatar photo.  I can see Zee's photo and everyone else's avatar.  Curious.

Anyone else not able to see Lee's photos?  I also can not see Lee's avatar photo.  I can see Zee's photo and everyone else's avatar.  Curious.

No problems here.  It looks like he is linking to photobucket.com.   Do you have issues accessing that domain?

-Allen

Firewall or proxy issues.  I'll try from home.

Yeah its photobucket.  I can't see my own pictures from work.   

So, the downrigger is mounted to the step, then strapped down at 4 points with wrap around using the same tie down strap you use on a kayak roof rack.  I suppose I could shorten the arm, but I like a good workout, and I'm not going in saltwater any time soon (next spring at the earliest)

I grabbed the end of the arm, pulled back, up, down, and to the side.  It barely moves at all.  I can also easily reach the strap to tighten it while in the kayak, so if it does get a little loose, no biggie.  I'm the last person that wants to see ~$200 go to the bottom of a 1500 foot deep lake.

Here I go thinking out of the box again.  Crazy idea maybe, but just need some technical limiters to finish tweaking the idea in my head.  Not saying I will bother putting together one yet, but I always like a challenge.

So, with all this talk about down riggers, kayaks, where to mount it, how to mount it due to amount of force it will create at the mounting location, etc.....

Say I was only going to be dealing with 100' of water at most (Hagg Lake for example), do I need to go heavier than a pound or so on the DR ball?   If not, and if I were to use braid instead of the standard DR wire cable, could I not rig up something using a cheap line counting bait caster for my pulley?   I have ideas as to how and where to mount said reel on my kayak where the reel is in front of me, but the drop pulley is just behind my hip, keeping everything out of my paddle stroke.  I'm thinking if the trolling stresses coming from the DR ball wouldn't be much more (if any) than fighting a big fish with the same reel, no? 

Just need clarification on how much a reel could take?  I imagine the drag on the reel would help too, if the DR ball got snagged or something. 

Any input?

Insayn, I tried using a big old Penn reel for a DR reel this summer. I hadn't serviced the reel in a long time, and my results were probably affected because of it. I was using 24oz of lead and trolling with a dodger and herring at ~50' in the Columbia. The drag on the reel was about maxed out and had a tough time handling the stresses. Hot-rodding the drag and greasing the reel would probably help. The 3.2:1 retrieve wasn't very fast, but then I wasn't trying to work real deep, so not much of an issue. Working 100'+ would have been a different story, I think. If I had an old Shimano center pin mooching reel, I would try that.

My first attempt in Lake Chelan involved an old Rhino pole and shakespeare trolling reel.  They were about 2-3 years old.  I didn't use a big weight, but I did use a diver that was rated for 200+ feet and had 8 ounces of lead on it.  I would think, that if the pole could handle that, it could handle a 1 pound DR ball.  16 ounces isn't really that much weight.

Tested the mount job out in the Sound yesterday.  Went  out to about 140 ft of water and dragged it along with 80 ft of line out.  Worked great.

Tested the mount job out in the Sound yesterday.  Went  out to about 140 ft of water and dragged it along with 80 ft of line out.  Worked great.

Just what I wanted to hear.  Thanks for the idea.  Did you replace the cable with braid?

50lb Spider Wire Stealth Braid.

Really glad I went with the 16' Tarpon, dragging that 6lb ball through the water slows you down a good bit.

I'm glad that worked out Lee. I really like that step mount. Good thinkin!

Insayne:
The DR ball needs to be kinda heavy or it will "blow" back as soon as you start paddling. I use a 4lbs ball and that blows back and moves up a good bit even at a slow pace. I thought about planers, but I'd guess it would pull down more than a heavier ball.  A 1lb weight attached to your terminal gear would probably plane in short order.    

You other idea is not so out of the box though.

If I had an old Shimano center pin mooching reel, I would try that.

Sorta like this one?

These pics are from the first time I went fishing with Zee. It worked really well and I posted a pic of it a while back but it seems to have disappeared into the ether. That mooching reel picked up the 4lb ball with very little grief and came up 1' per turn. The rod is a pvc pipe with a guide ring epoxied into the end with a reel foot on the other. I plan to shorten the arm a bit to make it a bit more manageable and closer to the centerline.  Mounting it on the extension was not a particularly good idea (thus the pulled rivets). But it is good to to floss your teeth with.

FWIW, the out of the box thinking wasn't to replace a proven workhorse that Scotty has developed.  I was just thinking of what materials a guy would need to use, to make a working setup that was a tad bit more compact, and easier to mount.   

Looks like other Yankee engineers are already all over it.