Trial Run Of My Scotty Downrigger Off Dana

[JohnMckroidJr]

Originally Posted by daperrin

I'll definitely give those a try.

I'm guessing you can't really 'set the hook' very hard or they would come off. Probably you just let the speed of the troll set the hook for the most part. Is that right?

Off Florida, many use a rubber band to attach the sinker to the line as a poor man's down rigger. When you feel a bite, the hook is already set by the weight of the sinker and the trolling speed.

I have been using a kayak downrigger for about 10 years. I started with the basic scotty like you have, but I don't like it because it is hard to wind up with one hand. Eventually I upgraded to a modified Uni-Troll. The Uni-Troll is easy to wind up and lower with one hand operation. The DR boom was shortened for kayak stability purposes. I switched out the wire for 100lb braid.