down riggers

just wondering if anyone has put or had any expierence with down riggers on their jon boat. a lake near me is suposed to be awsome for stripers. just something i was considering once i do a little more research. any comments more than welcome thanks.

Bumping this because I'm curious now.......

I see a guy on Lake Buchanan every once in a while with downriggers on his Tinny. he has a 17-18 foot Tracker/Fisher type hull rigged out for big Striper. He has four downriggers near the aft, two port and two starboard. He uses a smaller kicker gas motor for fast trolling while sitting at the helm. I have talked to him a few times while I was Spider rigging for crappie out over the humps. He always wondered what I could possibly be fishing for with 8 rods out the front of my boat!

I don't see why you couldn't use a smaller 300 foot downrigger on a smaller hull in shallower lakes very easily; and even larger downriggers in deep lakes. I have often though of getting a couple and fishing for those big Striper, they sure do look fun to catch. Maybe when I get done with 16 footer I will put some on her.

yeha it was just something i was thinking about. used to go with my buddy to Raystown lake in PA, but that would a long commute from Abilene TX right now. then i read the one lake here is suposed to be really good striper fishing so i got the crazy notion of why not put some down riggers and give it a shot. i am defiantly going to ask around once i get out to the lake and spend some quality time out there before i take the plunge but i think it would be a blast to get a 20 to 25lb striper in a 1232 with no outboard, hek might even help me pick up some speed, lol

CAnnon Lake Troll

Canon Mini Troll

Both of these downriggers come with 100 feet of cable, The mini-troll is clamp on and uses 4 lb weight, you also need a rod holder with it. The Lake-troll has a rod holder and can use an 8 lb weight and has a screw down base which the downrigger can be removed from, the base stays screwed to the boat.

This video shows a Uni-troll mounted in a rod holder for easy removal, pretty slick.

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I have a cannon mini troll and is great! It does what its supposed to do and thats get lures and baits down. Just turn the gain up a smidge on the fish finder so you can see the ball. One other thing is that I needed a small wood spacer for the clamp as it doesnt clamp all the way tight.

I have the Scotty Laketrollers https://www.scotty.com/fishing-gear-equipment/laketrollers/1071-clamp-mount.htm and those work great as well. They come with 100' of cable and clamp to the side of the boat. They are very easy to use and don't take up much room. Matched with a 4 pound ball, they'll troll straight at 1 to 1 1/2 mph.

Both Cannon or Scotty make great products. I ended up going with Scotty to match the rod holders and all the other Scotty gear in my boat. Either way, you'll get your gear down to the exact level the fish are at.