08-12-2015, 04:13 PM
do you have any more info you would be willing to share on how you made your riggers, I wouldn't mind trying to build a set
[quote Hazzy_Hazbourne]DIY Downriggers-
So my family has spent a week at a cabin at Bear Lake for more than 30 years now. We usually go in July or August so no not really peak fishing on Big Blue. When I was a kid we used to troll flat lines off the back of my grandpa's boat. We only ever fished a few hours and didn't really put much effort into it: no downriggers, no trolling motor...needless to say....we only caught a handful of scrawny fish all of those years combined. I was hoping to change our fishing success by getting some downriggers. I'm a cheapskate and after scouting KSL classifieds, eBay, etc. I decided to try and make some downriggers of my own.
Sometime ago on BFT I read an article about homemade downriggers made from windshield wiper motors. Since I have a dead truck that I am in the process of parting out, I decided it was the perfect time to make some DIY downriggers. Having a brother as a machinist really helped as I drew up some sketches and he turned them into reality. I also don't have my own boat and since my dad's boat is primarily used as a skiing/tubing machine I didn't want to put any permanent holes in the boat. I devised some supports made of 2x4's that attach to handles on the boat with U-bolts. It looks pretty redneck, but at least it does not use any duct tape or baling twine.
I wired up some toggle switches and we originally tested our "redneck riggers" down at Hyrum Dam the beginning of July (pics included) and initially had success...until we raised the downriggers too much and the torque snapped the downrigger braid and we lost both weights. I wired up some limit switches for auto-stops and my brother machined some more weights out of some scrap round steel. The auto-stop switches worked, and hopefully I won't be losing any more weights.
Bear Lake Report-
8/3/2015
We got out on the lake about 7:00am and fished between Rainbow Cove and the Scuba Camp. I had a hit on my rod rigged with a hyper-plaid dodger and pink super squid. I didn't get a hook set and lost the fish. I looked over to see the other rod bouncing and my nephew reeled in a 22.5" laker that weighed about 5 lbs. We were in about 65 FOW and probably 5 - 10 ft off of the bottom. He caught his on a blue/yellow/orange Rapala. We didn't have a landing net (I thought there was one at the lake house...but couldn't find it when we got there) so I guided the fish up onto the swim platform on the back of my dad's Bayliner. We only fished for 1.5 hours and the storm started to move in. We got the boat on the trailer and got indoors when the storm hit and lasted the rest of Monday.
8/6/2015
We got out on the water and fished from about 7am-11am. We trolled from Rainbow Cove to the Pump House and back. My brother in law caught a small lake trout pup that was maybe 13" if you stretched it from both ends. He caught it on the same blue/yellow/orange Rapala and was at about 65 ft down in 80 FOW.
8/7/2015
Initially we didn't plan on fishing and was going to let all of the nieces/nephews water ski and tube. They all chickened out because of the chilly weather. We put the boat in at Rainbow Cove and trolled down to the scuba camp and back. My oldest daughter, who begged and begged to come, caught the first fish of the day on a pale yellow Wally Diver down about 60ft in 70-80 FOW. It was a native cutthroat that had a tag in the fin. I didn't have a measure handy, but I would guess it was about 20". We took a quick pic with the fish and one of the tag and it swam off strong back down to the depths. As I was releasing the fish I saw that my pole was bouncing and what was on the other end of the line bent my pole pretty well. It wasn't meant to be though because after a few good head shakes it was gone.
A little later I had another bite on my pole. I was in about 70 FOW down about 60ft using a silvery Rapala. I was about six or seven cranks on the reel into the fight the handle broke off of my reel. (Nice handy work Shakespeare!) I fought the fish the rest of the way to the boat pulling the line in by hand (with a few line cuts on my fingers) landing it on the swim platform on the back of the boat. I had a tape measure ready this time and the healthy mack measured 26" even. On my cheap-o scale it weighed 6.25 lbs; it also had a tag in the fin.
When my daughter caught her tagged fish I told her that I had never caught a tagged fish before; an hour later I had a caught a tagged fish of my own. I have since turned in the tag numbers and look forward to getting some info back on the fish.
Overall, I had fun and was pleased with how my homemade downriggers worked. Four fish and two more long-line releases in around 7.5 hours on the prettiest lake in Utah!
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[quote Hazzy_Hazbourne]DIY Downriggers-
So my family has spent a week at a cabin at Bear Lake for more than 30 years now. We usually go in July or August so no not really peak fishing on Big Blue. When I was a kid we used to troll flat lines off the back of my grandpa's boat. We only ever fished a few hours and didn't really put much effort into it: no downriggers, no trolling motor...needless to say....we only caught a handful of scrawny fish all of those years combined. I was hoping to change our fishing success by getting some downriggers. I'm a cheapskate and after scouting KSL classifieds, eBay, etc. I decided to try and make some downriggers of my own.
Sometime ago on BFT I read an article about homemade downriggers made from windshield wiper motors. Since I have a dead truck that I am in the process of parting out, I decided it was the perfect time to make some DIY downriggers. Having a brother as a machinist really helped as I drew up some sketches and he turned them into reality. I also don't have my own boat and since my dad's boat is primarily used as a skiing/tubing machine I didn't want to put any permanent holes in the boat. I devised some supports made of 2x4's that attach to handles on the boat with U-bolts. It looks pretty redneck, but at least it does not use any duct tape or baling twine.
I wired up some toggle switches and we originally tested our "redneck riggers" down at Hyrum Dam the beginning of July (pics included) and initially had success...until we raised the downriggers too much and the torque snapped the downrigger braid and we lost both weights. I wired up some limit switches for auto-stops and my brother machined some more weights out of some scrap round steel. The auto-stop switches worked, and hopefully I won't be losing any more weights.
Bear Lake Report-
8/3/2015
We got out on the lake about 7:00am and fished between Rainbow Cove and the Scuba Camp. I had a hit on my rod rigged with a hyper-plaid dodger and pink super squid. I didn't get a hook set and lost the fish. I looked over to see the other rod bouncing and my nephew reeled in a 22.5" laker that weighed about 5 lbs. We were in about 65 FOW and probably 5 - 10 ft off of the bottom. He caught his on a blue/yellow/orange Rapala. We didn't have a landing net (I thought there was one at the lake house...but couldn't find it when we got there) so I guided the fish up onto the swim platform on the back of my dad's Bayliner. We only fished for 1.5 hours and the storm started to move in. We got the boat on the trailer and got indoors when the storm hit and lasted the rest of Monday.
8/6/2015
We got out on the water and fished from about 7am-11am. We trolled from Rainbow Cove to the Pump House and back. My brother in law caught a small lake trout pup that was maybe 13" if you stretched it from both ends. He caught it on the same blue/yellow/orange Rapala and was at about 65 ft down in 80 FOW.
8/7/2015
Initially we didn't plan on fishing and was going to let all of the nieces/nephews water ski and tube. They all chickened out because of the chilly weather. We put the boat in at Rainbow Cove and trolled down to the scuba camp and back. My oldest daughter, who begged and begged to come, caught the first fish of the day on a pale yellow Wally Diver down about 60ft in 70-80 FOW. It was a native cutthroat that had a tag in the fin. I didn't have a measure handy, but I would guess it was about 20". We took a quick pic with the fish and one of the tag and it swam off strong back down to the depths. As I was releasing the fish I saw that my pole was bouncing and what was on the other end of the line bent my pole pretty well. It wasn't meant to be though because after a few good head shakes it was gone.
A little later I had another bite on my pole. I was in about 70 FOW down about 60ft using a silvery Rapala. I was about six or seven cranks on the reel into the fight the handle broke off of my reel. (Nice handy work Shakespeare!) I fought the fish the rest of the way to the boat pulling the line in by hand (with a few line cuts on my fingers) landing it on the swim platform on the back of the boat. I had a tape measure ready this time and the healthy mack measured 26" even. On my cheap-o scale it weighed 6.25 lbs; it also had a tag in the fin.
When my daughter caught her tagged fish I told her that I had never caught a tagged fish before; an hour later I had a caught a tagged fish of my own. I have since turned in the tag numbers and look forward to getting some info back on the fish.
Overall, I had fun and was pleased with how my homemade downriggers worked. Four fish and two more long-line releases in around 7.5 hours on the prettiest lake in Utah!
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