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I have a small 14 foot alum. boat that I got some rod holders for...in the "info" they send with the holders there is a list of other items the company has for sale. one of them is a mini-rigger that has 100 yards of ss cable and a 4lb ball that will supposedly fit into the mount for the rod holder. My question comes when I think of the strength of the mount, or is a clamp on style better? I was also wondering about the weight of the ball is 4 lbs enough if so why do I see most set up with an 8 or 10 pound ball?
I have been thinking of the small Scotty clamp on with an 8 pound ball, do I need that much or would 4 do for my uses. mostly walleye at deer creek, and trout at most other lakes. I go to the gorge but dont see me using my boat there I think there is a safety issue with it being such a small craft. what do you all think?
Laters,
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I had the same question you have, when i wanted to put riggers on my 14fter. i found a good strong mount offered from gregor boats. and they worked great.
[inline accesso.jpg]As far as i know dicks boat shop in clearfield is the only gregor dealer in utah.
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i use a 8lb ball. i tried a 4llb but it tracked to far behind the boat and didnt stay down, also when you go to take your line off the ball in the water you endup lifting the ball.
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I've got a 16' fiberglass canoe w/ an electric trolling motor and I'v toyed with the idea of one of those small downriggers too. My ship is a heavy sucker for a canoe and super stable but I still worry about too much imbalance if I use a downrigger when I troll. So far I've onlt used leadcore and/or inline weights to get my lures down.
I'm interested in how well the little ones work or if anybody has had experience with them in a canoe. Capsizing is very low on my list of things I want to do[sly]
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I've been using the type of downriggers you are describing for a number of years. What I like most about them is they fit in the same base as my pole holder. In most cases you would want two of the mounts on the same side of the boat, one for the pole holder and one for the downrigger. You could also put two holders on each side of the boat if you were going to run two riggers. The downrigger I bought cost around $30.00 and came with a 4 lb ball. I have used it at the Gorge with no problem, it is just a matter of getting use to how it works. It is true the lighter balls go back farther than the heavier balls but thats not a problem as long as the fish are suspended like most trout do. When I graph fish on the fish finder at 30 feet, I start off by letting out 30 ft of line on the downriggers. If no fish are caught after a couple of passes I let out another foot and keep that up until I start catching fish. Once you locate the proper depth it is just a matter of going down to the same depth again. The mounts are very strong on this type of rigger more than the clamp on type would be, but thats just my opinion. I just bought two of the boom type of downriggers so I'll be selling my old one soon in case you are interested. WH2
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Hey Bad,, is this boat you speak of the aluminum jobby you picked up last year? If so, how'd that mending materal work out?
As far as your rigger question I agree with Petty, go with a better/stronger set up. I run a Scotty with a 10lb ball without any problems on my 12' dinker but I fabbed my aluminum mounting bracket.
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you want to remember that you lose approxemently 30-40% of the weight of the downrigger ball,when you put it in the water.IMO anything less then a 6lb weight is a waste of time,and if your fishing deep (say at over 80ft)a 4lb weight would never get close to where you would want the weight to be.
A 4-6lb weight would work for fishing less then 40 ft,but even at that it would have a lot of swing back.Go for buying the best downrigger and bracket that you can afford,and if you have to use less then a 8lb weight,you might want to look at pancake weights as they do track better,with less swing back.
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jUST A QUICK NOTE MY 2 CENT'S ARE THAT THE ONLY PROBLEM THAT YOU WILL FIND IS THAT THEY ARE NOT SUITED TO HANDLE THE BIGGER BALL'S DUE TO THE FACT THAT IT PUT'S TO MUCH STRAIN ON THE SMALL ARM AND THEY TEND TO SNAP... SO BE CAREFUL AND FOLLOW THE ADVICE OF MANY OF THE OTHER'S BY POSSIBLY BUYING A LITTLE HEAVIER DUTY RIGGER THEN YOU'LL HAVE THE PEACE OF MIND OF BEING ABLE TO USE A HEAVIER BALL AND HAVE MORE OF A CONTROLLED DEPTH. IF YOU LIKE THE SMALL UNIT JUST USE THE BALL'S THAT ARE SPECIFIED FOR THE UNIT...MOST LIKELY 4 POUND BALL'S AND YOU WILL BE FINE.
GOOD LUCK LET ME KNOW IF I CAN HELP
SOCKEYESLAYER
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]) I also have one of the small clampons for a extra on our boat and it works fine I probably wouldn't reccomend clamping an 8 or 10lb ball to the side of the boat, the farther back towards the corners you go the better.