Todd in NY

These colors and sizes work year round the #3 in glow and ladder,the fire tiger and the #4 glow ladder back, when nothing else is working why not think out of the box!!

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I can't see your pics, Pap.

 

Thanks, now I see it. I'm a firm believer in thinking outside the box!

What about replacing the seat braces in the last bench seat with a sturdy aluminum or stainless "L" shaped (wide at the top to fit the downrigger mounting plate) angle bracket on each side and then just bolting the downrigger to it as well as bolting to the side of the boat?

That would work, too. We have a good metal fabrication place locally that could cut and bend the L bracket to my specs.

I know there are several brands that are similar... is there a brand that anyone favors for any reason?

I might have to use an aluminum plate between the rigger mount and the rigger base. The Scotty appears to have a more adjustable rectangular bolt pattern because of the slots in the clamp-on mount.

 

Here are a few pictures that show how the rear of the boat is laid out

 

 

Thanks for the feedback. It seems like flasher/fly combos and spoons are the most widely used lures on Lake O, but I had a hard time believing that something that worked so well in the early 80's wouldn't still catch fish. But like many of you mentioned, conditions have to match the lure, and vice versa.

 

What trolling speeds are they best at?

I haven't fished with J Plugs since the early 1980's, and back then we caught browns, coho's and kings with them in lower Lake Michigan. They were the go-to lure back in those days. Are they still effective, and how should they be fished? What colors and sizes are best for eastern Lake Ontario?

Thanks for the info. Its pretty similar to how I was planning to use a clamp-on mount, by using wood between the mount and the boat, in hopes of providing more support by spreading out the load bearing surface across the aluminum hull.

 

Still looking at other options, but I like your idea.

Thanks for the pic. How are your 4x4's attached to the seats, or are they?

Thanks!

I am putting a manual Penn rigger on my 16ft utility boat this spring and I was wondering if anyone has personal experience with the clamp-on mounts for downriggers. I will be using a 10lb rigger weight with the Penn, and a swivel base.

 

I know that Scotty and Cannon both make a mount, and they seem like they are pretty equal in quality (judging by pics on the internet). The boat has a tiller steer motor, so I can't mount a board across the boat. I also can't mount a rigger in the oar holes because they are positioned too close to the back bench seat. Using a clamp-on mount will give me some flexibility. The Scotty has 2 knobs for tightening the mount to the boat and the Cannon has one knob. That makes me think the Scotty will be more sturdy.

 

Any opinions or ideas?

SOLD! (not to me)

SOLD... but not to me.

Gotcha, I thought maybe there was some new fan dangle apparatus on there that I wasn't aware of!!? Thanks for clarifying that. PAP

After looking at the picture on my computer I can confirm that was the old set-up that the previous owner had on them. I cut off 5 or 6ft of cable and added the Cannon terminator kits after this pic was taken. I'll have to see if I can get a better picture of how the catch is mounted to the rigger. All I know is that it works real well.

The Penn manual riggers I have came with a similar set-up as my Cannons, with the catch on the rigger.

How to you have the weight snap fastened with out the plastic terminal end???

Its hard to tell in that picture, but that might have been taken before I put the Cannon terminator kits on my riggers. The riggers came on the boat with an older terminal kit on them. The weight snap is on the weight hook in this picture.

This is how my old Mag 10A's are set up

In my area the does far outnumber the bucks. On my 2 trail cameras I will see 3 to 5 does in August, all  hanging around my camera, with NO fawns in sight. That tells me that those does didn't get bred the year before. Lucky for me I'm a meat hunter and not a trophy hunter, so I have no problem taking a doe or 2 that wouldn't get bred anyway.

 

Another problem around my area are the poachers who take deer out of season and at night. Most of our deer are nocturnal from September thru March, depending on the severity of the winter. I didn't hunt this year, and according to my neighbors I didn't miss anything.

 

The local farmers who are still in the area brought up another point about the deer herd. Years ago when the land was still heavily farmed, all the farmers went out of their way to kill coyotes all year long, which limited the number of natural deer predators. Now only a few active farms are left and the coyote population is back up because there's no coordination and cooperation between the current land owners to kill the coyotes.

I've had no problems with my Cannons.

Welcome to the forum! This is a great place to share information, and talk about  tips, tricks and equipment.

Are these balsa wood or plastic? Do they have hooks? It kinda looks like they do but it's hard to tell. Is their action in the water like a J-plug?

I love taking people more than catching fish so it was an obvious fit. As far as making it profitable...thats not why i do it. Im self employed and Tracy and I are at the lake EVERY weekend or it wouldnt be possible. I love the challenge, teaching, taking kids, and meeting new people. I get a mix of fishing with customers, friends, family, tournaments, and solo...i wouldnt wanna give up any of it!

You have the right attitude and mindset, like the captain I fished with last year. His attitude, personality and professionalism made for a fun day, even during the 3 hours where we only caught 1 fish. We finished with a limit of lake trout (which took more than 8 hours) and no salmon, but I won't hesitate to fish with him again.

Funny. When I was a kid and people asked me what I wanted to do for a living, I always said "fish". I knew that it wasn't an undertaking to make money in. It wasn't till MANY years later that I realized some people actually do. Probably a good thing I didn't know that then.

I'm the kind of guy that would put too much pressure on myself to put fish in the boat. I'm a fisherman, so I know how difficult that can be on certain days. But you have those customers that think that they are guaranteed to catch fish on a charter boat because they paid good money to a professional captain, and somehow, that makes them 100% certain that the lake is full of fish just waiting to see the deck of your boat.

 

I have little tolerance for people who think that catching a limit of fish is 100% guaranteed every time you go "catching".

Interesting numbers. I enjoy fishing too much to turn it into a business.

Prayers going out to Jason and his family.

We might make the parts swap this weekend. I'll be happy to keep my 7.5, she's an oldie but a goodie.

Update; I'm working on trading my long shaft parts for short shaft parts with another LOU member. I'll update this thread again as things change.