mounting downriggers

[RoundsComplete]

I think a lot of members on here are from the east coast and I'm not sure if you guys use downriggers much with the type of fishing you do but I wanted to see if anybody has any pictures of where they mounted their downriggers. I have the flush mount cleats and not much room behind them between the transom hatch. I was thinking between the two rod holders so I could access them from behind and use both rod holders to stack lines on the rigger.
FYI, I found an almost an exact question asked on here in a search but the post was several years old and didn't think anybody wanted that restated. Thanks

 

[Mike S]

I am thinking of adding down riggers to my boat, and thinking that the gimbal mounts will allow me to use them when needed and remove them when I am fly and light tackle fishing.

 

[Aclax8]

I use the gimble mount on mine...wouldnt use anything else. Easy to move and very secure. I pull dredges off them on all offshore trips. Here is a Picture of my setup.

 

[Pnltbox]

Mine are mounted just in front of the opening for the cleat, works great for me.

 

[kidfreediver]

There is a couple of things I thought about when I was installing my downriggers one was to have at least a person length infront of the downrigger when clipping on the lines. Next was being able to clear one side of the boat by turning in the downrigger so it clears the transom and doesn't rub against anything on the boat. Next was make sure there are no protrusion sticking out beyond the side gunnel of the boat for when storing. I have these boat guides on the trailer that could definitly take one of the downriggers out. Last and for most height of downrigger, although not a concern by many but it help me strengthen my mounting point and get the downrigger to sit taller off the deck by installing a rail. I salmon fish pretty religiously in northern California and I've built two downrigger configuration like this on two different boats and it seem to be a little better on the back and running them. 60" arms work the best and the angle when turning will never get caught in the prop.

 

[dave-j]

Mine came with downriggers, although i haven't had much success using them. See picture below. They are mounted on the outer corners.

 

[Mike S]

Good food for thought here. I am looking at a manual down rigger - maybe Scotty or Cannon. Anybody have some feedback on brands models? I will use these for salmon and want to experiment with them for live bait drifting in Baja.

 

[kidfreediver]

Scotty has my vote plus I rather reel sideways in water then over the top with the manual. It's more stable to lean on. Ran manual for years and did really well with them