18ft Legend Excalibur 1st year..

[Winterfisher]

Good job on the rebuild, your downriggers look postioned well. If you fish the great lakes you are allowed 2 rods per person, and you can add a cheater line (its legal just the name is misleading). For this you would need to add two more rod holders. My favourite are the scotty type with a swivel bracket that goes around the rod handle but the vertical tubes work well also.

Lake Ontario is good for Salmon and Lake Erie is good for Walleye.

Thanks!
Unfortunately you are only allowed two lines per person when in the "main basin of a Great Lake". Most of my downrigging will be on Sudbury lakes and the North Channel (Manitoulin) and Georgian bay (If i get out that far) which means I'm limited to 1 per person. The plus side being the rainbow limit in the North Channel is 5 per person!

I have been debating upgrading the downriggers to ones with 4ft booms eventually...

[Marker]

Thanks!
Unfortunately you are only allowed two lines per person when in the "main basin of a Great Lake". Most of my downrigging will be on Sudbury lakes and the North Channel (Manitoulin) and Georgian bay (If i get out that far) which means I'm limited to 1 per person. The plus side being the rainbow limit in the North Channel is 5 per person!

I have been debating upgrading the downriggers to ones with 4ft booms eventually...

I had 2ft booms on my DR and they were fine, my brother has the booms which extend out to 4ft but we never put them out that far as its too far to reach to adjust things if you need to. If you are concerned about the DR wire hitting the prop you could move the DRs back further.

[Winterfisher]

I had 2ft booms on my DR and they were fine, my brother has the booms which extend out to 4ft but we never put them out that far as its too far to reach to adjust things if you need to. If you are concerned about the DR wire hitting the prop you could move the DRs back further.

That's fair. I have only used them twice so far.. Once for salmon (no hits) and once for rainbows (nice 7 pounder). They do work fine so maybe I'll leave them as is.. Might be cheaper in the long run that way haha

[finsfurfeathers]

I had 2ft booms on my DR and they were fine, my brother has the booms which extend out to 4ft but we never put them out that far as its too far to reach to adjust things if you need to. If you are concerned about the DR wire hitting the prop you could move the DRs back further.

Don't you have a pulley cord on the downrigger? I use one to pull the ball close to the boat attach the line then release the cord.

If you fish the great lakes you are allowed 2 rods per person, and you can add a cheater line (its legal just the name is misleading).
.

Haven't used a cheater/slider on Lake Ont in years. Since the fleas showed up its enough of a hassle just with the main line only.

[Marker]

Don't you have a pulley cord on the downrigger? I use one to pull the ball close to the boat attach the line then release the cord.


Haven't used a cheater/slider on Lake Ont in years. Since the fleas showed up its enough of a hassle just with the main line only.

Yes, my brother had the pulley cord on the wire, but I would slide the boom back in so I can use both hands to work on the line.

I forgot about the fleas, some years they were really bad, to the point the DR release would not hold.