Trolling Divers?

[Benlev]

Down riggers are a little out of the question for me. I have no experience with trolling divers (like the dipsy diver), but am thinking about trying some out. How do you guys feel about divers? Any suggestions on specific types that work well?

[Mike Carey]

what are your target species? They work well, but for example if you're slow trolling kokanee just using a 3-4 oz weight to get your gear down would be fine.
Trolling saltwater for coho they are a good choice.

[Benlev]

Mike Carey - Targeting mostly Kokanee and trout. Most of the trolling I have done has been with down riggers or near the surface. I recently got a boat and am trying to figure out how to troll at different depths without down riggers. So far I've had a hard time gauging the depth my lures are at. From some quick online research I saw that there are different divers for 20-100+ ft. Thought this might be a good option. Do you think I'd be better off sticking with weights?

[gfakkema]

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[Benlev]

Gfakkema - I have an inflatable and haven't really seen any good way to mount down riggers without a large elaborate set up. I have a fish finder and would be willing to spend some money if I could find down riggers that would work. They would probably need something that could clamp to the bench seats. Any suggestions?

[gfakkema]

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[Steelheadin360]

If you are trolling for Kokanee and trout look into spooling your reel with a lead line. Gets you down there without the hastle of losing a fish due to a weight on the line. You can catch most Kokanee in the upper 30' of the water column until Late May, Lead line has no problems running that deep. Just attach 40' of high quality mono to the end to give it a little stretch

[Benlev]

Thanks for all the tips. I got a few things to try out this weekend I'll let you know how it goes.

[Adam B.]

What kind of inflatable do you have? I use to only fish out of an Achilles inflatable, but it had a wooden transom in the back that I could mount a motor to. I got one of the small Scotty lake downriggers and then bought one of their clamp on mounts to mount it to the transom next to the electric motor. I had to do some modifications to the mount to get the downrigger to go out to the side verses just straight back. I would only use the smaller 5 lbs weights with it, but it got the job done. I can find pictures of it if it is something you think could work for you.

[Benlev]

Adam B - I have a Saturn inflatable. Pretty similar to the Achilles I believe. It has a wooden transom that I have an electric motor on. Your set up definitely sounds like something that would work for me. If you could send some pictures that would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Mike Carey]

I had the same setup as Adam B and trolled the sound years ago it in for coho. One thing to consider is to keep the rigger set up in the stern or the raft will want to go in circles around the cable.
Poor man's rigger - tried that a couple times, a real pain but does work.
Leaded line - ugh, hate how it kills the fish fight. Of course, a 2-4oz weight will do the same.

Whatever way you go, a line counter reel will help a lot as it allows you to go back to the same depth (even though you may not know exactly how deep you are). The rule of thumb is if your line angle is 45 degrees your depth is 1/2 the line out, i.e. 100 ft out equals 50 ft deep. That's just an approximation but gives you a ballpark to work with.

[natetreat]

I have trolled sockeye and kokanee from my Seahawk 400 back in the day. I built a platform from PVC to mount a Scotty Strongarm on it. I also rigged a "poormans" downrigger from a 3 lbs weight and the bottom end of a meat stick with a line counter reel on it. Put it in a rod holder, the trolling rod in another. It worked great!

Also I've trolled with a pink lady, with good results. It is a PIA to get to your target depth accurately, but I had a portable fish finder so that I could see the diver on the sounder as long as it wasn't too far back, which was fine for about 30 - 40 feet, after that the blow back was too much to sound. If you're just going for trout and kokes, I'd recommend looking for a way to MacGuyver together a way to mount a lake troll to the pontoon frame. If it's a raft, it's a little bit trickier, but PVC with pipe insulation on it works great to make a platform that won't damage the plastic. I've put a lot of fish in the boat that way, and it was a blast out on Baker Lake out fishing the big guys in our little boats! Let us know what inflatable you have to work with, and we can help you figure out where to go with it.

[natetreat]

Oops, just saw that you have a Saturn inflatable. Googling images on that one and it looks like you've got plenty of room to work with, and mounting a DR on it would be a piece of pie!

[natetreat]

Is this the sort of thing you're working with? I would think that you could easily mount a DR to the back bench seat, or a couple rod holds for the line counter poor man's idea.

[Benlev]

natetreat - That's the one, except mines grey. The more I look at this, I am starting to think downriggers off the bench seats will work. I was thinking of mounting one to each seat, on opposite sides. I am a little worried about the pressure from drag tearing the seats out.

Mike Carey - Do you think that putting downriggers off the transom is the way to go? It seems that off the sides might be more convenient, especially with others in the boat, but don't want to go this route if it will just spin me in circles.

[natetreat]

How are the seats attached? That could be a problem. It the motor on the transom, you'd be better off with them on the sides. The other thing that you could do is to make a platform that would cross the back. That's what I did with my raft, it was a board of about 12 inches that had pads where it rested on the outer edge of the boat. It was sturdy enough to stand on, and your raft is WAY better than mine was.

[Mike Carey]

I wish I had a picture of my set up, couldn't find one. I do remember trying the foward seat approach first and having a hard time trolling a straight line. But that was saltwater with tides, etc. For a lake with less weight on the rigger ball - 7lb. should be fine, it may not be an issue. Nate is on the money with the board that extends and rests on both sides. Then some type of 90 degree attachments to that board that would allow you to clamp it to the stern. You'd have to have a bit of a cut out where the motor is.

[Adam B.]

Mike is right about the boat wanting to spin around the wire in currents if you don't have it near the back. With these small of boats, anything that hangs off the side will pull to that side. If you are looking to install two downriggers, if you mounted them on opposite side the pulling force would be equaled out. I have an older Scotty Laketroll, but it looks like the new ones are just a little different. http://www.scotty.com/fishing-gear-equi ... -mount.htm With the clamp, it holds most securely the way it comes but for mounting on a transom that makes the downrigger point towards the back of the boat verses out to the side like other downriggers. Again, the boat would track straighter with it pointing back, but harder to get the downrigger release to clip your line into. I ended up taking a piece of wood and mounting it between the downrigger and the clamp mount so I could have the downrigger point out to the side. Not sure if the pictures will do it justice. I can bring it with me this weekend to mount it to the boat and take pictures too. You could also just get one of the Scotty swivel mounts if they fit the Laketroll, then you could move it to whatever position works best at the time. This will also raise the downrigger higher though also. I also got the more heavy duty metal clamp with two tightening knobs verses the plastic one they sell with it.

How the downrigger is intended to be mounted.

Downrigger with my modification to get it to point to the side of the boat.

My wooden plate mounted between the downrigger and the clamp mount.

[Adam B.]

Also Benlev, where are you located? I could show you my setup in person and even mount to you boat to give you a better idea.

[Benlev]

Adam B - I am in Seattle, but don't think I need to check it out in person. Thanks for the offer though. I got a pretty good idea of what I am going to do. Probably won't get around to it for a few weeks, but will definitely show you guys some pictures when I do. I appreciate all the tips everyone. Thanks.