DIY Downrigger?

[Steve Jassid]

Charlieville, Jez and Suz, Gleeza ......... Thanks for the great pics and handy hints... see my post ealier this evening... confronted with same decision.... that's right.... where do I put it? Mounting problem? Have one rod holder insitu........ also.

So it looks like I go at 45%......... my reason for this is twofold. 1. I can set up another rod to troll long and way back.. (by the way I am basically a trout hunter in the snowies) and 2. troll deep and short and following the sounder for depth and 3. And as you say ease of retrieve from side

[Steve Jassid]

Charlieville, Jez and Suz, Gleeza ......... Thanks for the great pics and handy hints... see my post ealier this evening... confronted with same decision.... that's right.... where do I put it? Mounting problem? Have one rod holder insitu........ also.

So it looks like I go at 45%......... my reason for this is twofold. 1. I can set up another rod to troll long and way back.. (by the way I am basically a trout hunter in the snowies) and 2. troll deep and short and following the sounder for bomb depth and 3. And as you say ease of retrieve from side is better than hanging over back of 4 metre tinne. ONE QUESTION DO YOU THINK THERE IS A DOWN SIDE TO HAVING RODS MOUNTED AT 45% AND WILL SOUNDER PICK UP TRACE

[gleeeza]

Hi Steve

I got onto Mono from this site who lives near me and is a bit of a downrigging authority. I had issues with the configuration at the back of my boat, namely a hand rail that stopped me from getting the boom at 45 or 90 degrees. He used to run scotties as well and he still had the swivel bases for them and said I could work something out with him for 1(Higher than standard). I noticed a range of accessories and had I known I was going to run into trouble I would have got the lot sent at one time. All the dimensions are on the website for Capelas so do your homework because the mark up here is criminal, and the dollar is going from strength to strength at the moment.By the way he suggested to set it up at 90 saying you cant get them far enough from the motors and that SS wire sure does a good job on the props.

Cheers and good luck Gleeeza

[gleeeza]

Just going to have a go at posting some pictures of my transom where I want my downrigger to go.

[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Glenn/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Glenn/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpg[/IMG]

[Steve Jassid]

Hey Gleeza, Agree with your with your comments at setting up rigger at 90 degree...... after close inspection I arrived at the same conclusion that SS wire would foul prop. My tinnie never had any gunnels when I brought it five years ago, so as week speak it is at the shop having custom job. (saving on downrigger was put into customising a few jobs on boat and trailor.. reversing flood lamp and LED blinkers!) with luck this should overcome any problems.

Always good to see another man's boat! will post pics when all is done. Thanks to all.

[Steve Jassid]

Hey Gleeza, Agree with your with your comments at setting up rigger at 90 degree...... after close inspection I arrived at the same conclusion that SS wire would foul prop. My tinnie never had any gunnels when I brought it five years ago, so as week speak it is at the shop having custom job. (saving on downrigger was put into customising a few jobs on boat and trailor.. reversing flood lamp and LED blinkers!) with luck this should overcome any problems.

Always good to see another man's boat! will post pics when all is done. Thanks to all.

[charleville]

To be honest, I struggle with the idea of setting the downrigger at 45 degrees to the side of the boat for these reasons:-

1. I cannot quite visualize what the benefit of doing that might be.

2. As stated elsewhere here, you do want to keep that stainless steel cable well away from your prop. Even at 90 degrees, you will keep reminding yourself to not turn too fast if you are trolling in figure-of-8 patterns

3. A 45 degree position would make retrieval of the lead bomb on to the boat a lot more tricky in rough conditions that if it were at right angles to either the side or back of the boat. Remember that you will need to retrieve the bomb every time that you need to clip your line to the release clip if you have the clip affixed to the bomb or down that way. Not saying that it is impossible and it would depend on your boat but on my boat it would be a nuisance. Jump in your boat before you install and see what it feels like to lean over the side or back to grab a heavy piece of lead and imagine a lumpy sea whilst you are doing that. Of course a boat hook makes that easier but is just another nuisance bit of stuff in your way at times so I tend to retrieve it by hand.


I suspect that the angle of the DR will have negligible effect on whether the sounder can see it. Mine is at right angles to the side of the boat and I have no problems in that regard. Mr Pythagoras' clever rule suggests to me that at 45 degrees, the lead bomb will be closer to the sounder transducer and so more easily seen anyway. The bomb shows up on the sounder as a thick horizontal line. It is very easy to set its depth relative to the sea bottom accordingly.

ONE QUESTION DO YOU THINK THERE IS A DOWN SIDE TO HAVING RODS MOUNTED AT 45% AND WILL SOUNDER PICK UP TRACE

I cannot perceive any problem with having a fishing rod mounted at 45 degrees. As it is, if you utilise the built in rod holder on the DR, it is aligns with the DR so itf the DR is set at 90 degrees to the side of the boat then the line is reaching the release clip well off to the side anyway.

If you use the standard release clip that comes with the DR, you will be affixing that to an eyelet on the bomb - usually on the rear of the fin on the bomb. That means that a taut line under the pressure of the rod will exert a sideways pull on the fin and that has often made me wonder if that causes turbulence in the water flow behind the bomb. Anyway, that question is probably a bit academic in the greater scheme of things.

[charleville]

Just going to have a go at posting some pictures of my transom where I want my downrigger to go.

.

[gleeeza]

Yes Charlie I was looking at that but the other bonus is that the swivel mount allows me to swing the boom inboard when it is not in use and I imagine will allow me to swing it in to help pick up the bomb and stow it in the side pocket directly beneath. Haven't seen it yet so I can't say how it will play out. I will let you know.

Steve I will show you the rest when I get a decent photo, I can't believe it is nearly 2 years and not one decent photo of her. Red Dog on VHF in Ballina.

Cheers

[charleville]

the other bonus is that the swivel mount allows me to swing the boom inboard when it is not in use

That would be a big bonus. I have often thought about getting one myself for just that reason. In which case, you could pretty well leave the DR in its deck fitting almost permanently.

[gleeeza]

Just looked it up, $145aus at Mo tackle. I haven't confirmed a price with Mono yet I hope he hasn't got a catalogue LOL.

Cheers

[charleville]

That price is even more obscene than the locally priced $500 for the DR itself!

[Fafnir]

I have been following this thread now for some time with interest, as a mate and I are shortly going to be given one of his fathers old boats. Don't know too much about it, other than it's 4.8m long, enclosed bow and fiberglass. Has a 70hp Johnson on the back, apparently his father was told it would not support the weight of a 4 stroke (brought is some years ago). I only mention all of this because I am interested in opinions about the suitability of the 1050 downrigger for a boat of this size/type.

If suitable I would look at getting it professionally installed, rather than stuffing around with it (ie stuffing it) myself. Any thoughts comments?

[Grey-Ghost]

Where do you get parts from around bris . I have one but do not no how to rig line to lead weight
Cheers chris

[thatp1g]

I dont want to sound flippant but the prices in here make me appreciate the set up we used to use for the buxton hole in the burrum river.

Besa block with a lump of rope attached and varying spring rated clothes pegs stolen from the clothesline.

Was cheap but ugly.