Downrigger Configuration

[obifishkenobi]

I pulled the trigger and bought two more Downriggers for my boat, I will have a total of 4. Right now I have 2 Cannon Mag 10 mounted on factory mounts that are welded several feet from the back of my boat. I am debating where to put the 2 new Cannon 10 STX manual Downriggers. My thoughts are either rail mount them in front of my existing downriggers or mount them on the back corners in front of my offshore platform. My boat is a 20’ Wooldridge Super Sport Offshore, I would love to hear from some of you guys with similar boats and see some pictures of how you configured yours, any others thoughts from anyone are also welcome.

I have 4 Cannons on my ThunderJet.  I have a pair of Mag 10s on the same side mount platforms as on your boat.  My TJ also has 2 more mount platforms at the rear corners and I put 2 Mag 5s on those to fish directly behind the boat.  I fish the side mount Mag 10s straight out to the side of the boat to get the lines separated from the rear lines.  Looking at your boat, I would suggest replacing what looks to be 2 rod holders on the back with the 10 STX units.  Click on the picture below to see where they mine are mounted.



Since your new riggers are manual units, I would recommend getting a set of Shuttle Hawks to get the lines down to depth as apposed to hand cranking the weights up after every fish hit/release.  The Hawks will float to the surface as you fight the fish and will be waiting at the surface to reattach the line and send back down.  Unless you have kids along that need the exercise.    

I’m very familiar with shuttle hawks I have used them for years to stack. As far as cranking up the down riggers I figure it will give my guest something to do while I’m re-rigging. My one concern with going strait back off the corner is the kicker prop clearance but that shouldn’t be an issue with the extendable booms.