Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbarrels
Has anyone used a downrigger on their yak?
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I've tried it with a normal Scotty downrigger which didn't work to well and then scaled it down to a smaller one that I made myself that worked alright
The problem I found using standard downrigger from a kayak is that as soon as you stop paddling the ball stops the yak in its tracks and as it sinks actually then pulls the yak backwards until it's centered over the ball. If your trolling multiple lines the lines all go slack and you end up with tangles. This is one of those cases where a Hobie could do it better since you could peddle while reeling in or reeling up the downrigger.
The only way to get around this paddling is troll the ball right on the bottom, but then the issue becomes drag because a decent sized ball creates a lot of drag when you pull it along in the sand, and if you hang the ball up while dragging it you don't have the leverage to pull it loose from a yak.
To get around all that I decided to use lighter gear more like I was bounce balling. Here's the mini-rigger I made, a small Kencor level wind and custom min rod, pictured here with a small grapple anchor I use while freshwater fishing. ( I also use it as a anchor tender)
That rig has eighty pound spectra rather then wire, and I usually use a 12 to 16 ounce sinker for the weight. I still use a Scotty clip like with normal downrigging and that system has worked well for me fishing halibut and Tsharks.
It's small enough to stow doesn't weigh that much and actually does the job.
I like the thing, and if I lived some place with a decent salmon fishery I'd probably use it a lot, but there are so many other ways to fish around here I hardly ever use it except for freshwater.
If you do try a normal off the shelf downrigger use less weight then normal, go spectra instead of wire, and make sure the end of the dowrigger arm does not stick out more then an inch or two. If you use standard gear with a long boom and hang up the ball it will pull you right over and dump you in any kind of swell.
Jim