Bear Lake 8/3-8/7: Homemade Downriggers

[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.
[inline "Hyrum Dam July 9.jpg"]
[inline "Redneck Rigger.JPG"]

[inline "DIY rigger weight.jpg"]



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.
[inline "Nephew Laker.jpg"]

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.
[inline "Native Cutty.jpg"]


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.
[inline "Busted Handle.JPG"][inline "Thanks Shakespeare.JPG"] [inline "26 in Laker.jpg"]

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!

[inline Lures.jpg]
[signature]

[albinotrout]

Looks like your homemade riggers work well. And what's wrong with duct tape? Handy mans secret weapon you know. []


Thanks for the report.
[signature]

[not-a-purist]

As a fabricator, I can appreciate those riggers. Looks like they will work just fine. They look a lot like Big Jon Downriggers.

Pretty impressive.
[signature]

[Hazzy_Hazbourne]

[quote albinotrout]Looks like your homemade riggers work well. And what's wrong with duct tape? Handy mans secret weapon you know. [] [/quote]

There's nothing wrong with duct tape. I personally love the stuff and always have a few rolls lying around....along with twine...and baling wire. I was just trying to go for a semi-professional looking downrigger that wouldn't look like it was going to fall off the boat if anything bigger than a perch was on the line.
[signature]

[Hazzy_Hazbourne]

[quote not-a-purist]As a fabricator, I can appreciate those riggers. Looks like they will work just fine. They look a lot like Big Jon Downriggers.

Pretty impressive.[/quote]

Thanks! I've been happy so far. We just had to use what was available on the cheap. My brother had some 4" square aluminum and some old [but still usable] bearings. I got the pulleys for the ends of the booms on Amazon as well as the Berkley line counters [which work...most of the time]. The toggle switches and limit switches were on eBay and only ran a couple bucks a piece.

So far the only drawback is the spool. If we had more cheap materials available to us I would have made a larger diameter spool with a narrow groove like the ones on a Scotty or Cannon. Instead, we have a wide spool with a very narrow diameter. I chose braid over cable because I thought the cable might kink or bend too much being wound so tight. But what we have still works.
[signature]

[TRUBBS]

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!

[/quote]
[signature]

[Hazzy_Hazbourne]

[quote TRUBBS]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]

I'm willing to share. I'll have to post or PM you later when I'm not on my lunch at work. The main thing to find out is what wiper motors you are going to use. I had one from a '98 Dodge Ram because it died. I pulled another from the junk yard so they would be the same. Different wiper motors have different bolt patterns and sizes so it will affect how/where you bolt them on. We were also limited by the size and shape of the scrap we could get.

When I get home I'll compile a list of materials and such.
[signature]

[Hazzy_Hazbourne]

Update on the tagged fish we caught on the trip:

Cutty:
"This fish was captured in the Swan Creek cutthroat trout trap on May 6, 2015. This fish was measured, examined for marks, tagged, and then released upstream of the trap so it could spawn naturally in Swan Creek. The fish was a female and was 23” long at the time it was captured. The fish had an adipose fin which means it was unmarked and originated from natural reproduction in one of the tributaries to Bear Lake. Without actually examining both fish I am unable to determine its exact age at the time you caught it, however, after checking our past growth records for fish of similar size I would estimate the age of the fish at 5-6 years old."

Laker:
"Our tagging records indicate that this fish was originally caught in a gill net set by UDWR biologists on April 29, 2014 off of the Marina in approximately 164 feet of water. The fish was measured, tagged, examined for marks, and released unharmed. The fish was approximately 26 inches long at the time we tagged it. The fish was marked with a left pelvic and adipose fin clip which indicates it originated from the hatchery sometime after 2001. Without examining the fish I am unable to determine its exact age, but after comparing it to our database of known age fish that were approximately the same size, your fish would have been approximately 6-7 years old at the time you caught it."

A big thanks to Scott with the DWR for getting me the information on the tagged fish. He's awesome.
[signature]

[Quicky]

I built those downriggers that y'all are referencing. I can give you the specs on what I used. I used the wiper motors from a nissan pathfinder first gen. They had a shaft long enough and the shaft also had flats that could drive a spool. The diameter of the spool is critical since there is a limited amount of torque available for those motors. too large of a spool diameter and your weight will stall the motor. Too small and you will break cables and raise/lower the weight too slow. Empirical testing will have to be done to determine the stall torque of the motor you choose to use. Use a rod and a heavy duty spring scale so that the center of rotation and center of pull is 12" apart. That's your stall torque in ft-lbs. Use that torque value to drive the pulley size that you can get away with, but provide a safety factor. Example: Stall torque of 15 ft-lb use about 10 ft-lb. You can use a 6" diameter spool and lift a 20# weight with some safety factor in there. This should get you started if you already have motors. Check out SurplusCenter dot com for gear motors and they might have something you can use if you want to go new.

http://www.surpluscenter.com/Brands/Stat...5-1649.axd

There are a few things I would do differently now that I have used them for some time. I wont hijack this thread to go into more detail though..
[signature]

[albinotrout]

Nice to have a track record on those fish. Now they will add your dates to the record
[signature]

[Hazzy_Hazbourne]

Sorry to TRUBBS and anyone else who was asking for info on how to make the downriggers. I intended to post something that night after work but I’m sure you all understand the life sometimes gets in the way of our best intentions. I wanted to actually diagram everything out and have a sort of blueprint to follow but I just haven’t had the time. If I ever find the time to draw it up, I’ll post it. Hopefully what I was able to put together is enough to get you started for now.

[inline downrigger.jpg]

Yes, I was inspired by Quicky’s downriggers. (Here’s the link so you can see the original in all its glory: [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=726644"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=726644[/url]). I thought that his design was pretty good and that I’d be able to make something similar given the materials available to me.
Like Quicky, we made the spool out of rod and then the spool ends were cut from sheet aluminum and then mounted to the rod with counter-sunk machine screws. There are a few differences: size of the housing, location of toggle switches, different wiper motors, etc. I also added a line counter, a redneck rod holder and an auto-stop switch. The line counter and limit switch are held in place with angle aluminum.

I know you can buy the wiper motors online or from Autozone, etc. but I had one that I pulled from my own dead truck and I pulled another to match from Pull-N-Save wrecking yard (utahpullnsave.com). If you go on a half-price Wednesday the wiper motor is $11.50 +tax and a couple bucks for a core charge.

The eye bolts for the pulleys and all the other machine screws came from the hardware store. All of the other parts I purchased online.
Berkley Line Counter:
[url "http://www.amazon.com/Berkley-BALC-Clip-on-Line-Counter/dp/B005OTYW2E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440699056&sr=8-1&keywords=Berkley+line+counter"]http://www.amazon.com/Berkley-BALC-Clip-on-Line-Counter/dp/B005OTYW2E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440699056&sr=8-1&keywords=Berkley+line+counter[/url]

Wiring connectors: [url "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BYNKUSE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00"]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BYNKUSE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00[/url]
1 1/2" pulley:
[url "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BD6DNO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00"]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BD6DNO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00[/url]
Toggle switches:
[url "http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heavy-Duty-20A-125V-DPDT-6-Term-ON-OFF-ON-Momentary-Toggle-Switch-with-Boot-/111476556235?hash=item19f48541cb&vxp=mtr"]http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heavy-Duty-20A-125V-DPDT-6-Term-ON-OFF-ON-Momentary-Toggle-Switch-with-Boot-/111476556235?hash=item19f48541cb&vxp=mtr[/url]

Micro limit switches for auto-stop:
[url "http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-pc-TEMCo-Micro-Limit-Switch-Long-Lever-Arm-SPDT-Snap-Action-CNC-home-LOT-/370838518293?hash=item5657b2ba15"]http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-pc-TEMCo-Micro-Limit-Switch-Long-Lever-Arm-SPDT-Snap-Action-CNC-home-LOT-/370838518293?hash=item5657b2ba15[/url]
[signature]

[Old_Coot]

Very impressive DYI "Redneck Riggers". Love it!
[signature]

[Quicky]

Yours look good. What retrieval rate do you get with your downriggers? Attached are some kokes I got at the Pig.
[signature]

[Hazzy_Hazbourne]

Yours look good. What retrieval rate do you get with your downriggers? Attached are some kokes I got at the Pig.

NICE KOKES! A few of those are gigantic judging by kokanee standards at the Pig!!! I've been meaning to head up to ol' Porky but haven't had the time yet this year.

I haven't really clocked the retrieval rate. I've been focused on making sure everything is working. On my next trip out [whenever that will be] I will pay closer attention and see how fast they bring the ball up. I'll keep you posted.
[signature]

[Quicky]

We caught those on the 8th of Aug. at about 50ft deep. Silver sling blade with a pink squid tipped with berkly gulp maggots. Koke fishing is closed till the last Saturday in Sept. I am looking at going to Bear Lake soon but have never fished it. What do you recommend fishing with and where out there?
[signature]

[Hazzy_Hazbourne]

I am looking at going to Bear Lake soon but have never fished it. What do you recommend fishing with and where out there?

I am in no way, shape or form a Bear Lake expert. I can tell you what I've caught them on before but I've had more skunky trips on Bear Lake than I have had successful ones. I mostly go off the DWR fishing report and look for anything from BearLakeFishGuy. He really knows his stuff. That being said, I can tell you what has worked for me:

During one awesome trip in Jan. 2014 we timed it right and hit the rock pile at the onslaught of the cisco run. Our boat landed 18 nice cutts that day, the majority of which were caught on squid/dodger combos. I caught five of those (to include the cutthroat in my profile pic) on an RMT hyperplaid dodger and a pink RMT super-squid. (I've also been skunked on this same set up when it was the hot ticket the trip before.)

Various Rapalas work well at different times. Broken-back Rapalas seem to have a little more strike-inducing action but this past trip I didn't get any love on them. The picture of the three Rapalas in my original post are what they seemed to prefer (at least on Cisco beach the beginning of August). The silvery husky-jerk Rapala seemed to get the most strikes.

Good luck on your trip!!!
[signature]

[HD7000]

Nice handy work! I too like to use as much DIY stuff as possible on my boat! I will say though, the most important piece of fishing gear you can invest in that will help you catch more fish due to lighter line is a quality reel! Smooth drag is key! I have landed 40lb halibut in the ocean on 6lb mono while everyone else is getting skunked because they insist they need 20lb+ line. Same is true fro trout! You will catch a lot more trout on 4-6 lb test with a good reel than 10-12 lb on a cheapo!
[signature]

[Hazzy_Hazbourne]

[quote HD7000]...! I will say though, the most important piece of fishing gear you can invest in that will help you catch more fish due to lighter line is a quality reel!...You will catch a lot more trout on 4-6 lb test with a good reel than 10-12 lb on a cheapo![/quote]

Thanks for the advice. I totally agree with you...but it's my wallet is the one that's hard to convince! (That... and maybe my wife []). With young kids & glasses, braces, etc. the money has other names on it before it gets labeled "fishing reel." That said....big fish + light tackle = AWESOME!!! and one day I'll have the equipment to do it.
[signature]

[Kent]

[quote Hazzy_Hazbourne]

Thanks for the advice. I totally agree with you...but it's my wallet is the one that's hard to convince! (That... and maybe my wife []). With young kids & glasses, braces, etc. the money has other names on it before it gets labeled "fishing reel." That said....big fish + light tackle = AWESOME!!! and one day I'll have the equipment to do it.

[/quote]

I can certainly relate to what you wrote. From about age 14 to at least age 35 I had one fishing rod (fiberglass) and one reel (Garcia-Mitchell 300), one medium sized tackle box, and a four-man rubber raft with paddles. Now, I have no idea how many rods and reels I have, multiple tackle boxes in various sizes, three ice augers (2 Nils and a power auger), ice shed and a boat with many extras. Most of us have been exactly where you are now and many of us for the same reasons. It is all good.
[signature]

[Hazzy_Hazbourne]

[quote kentofnsl] Now, I have no idea how many rods and reels I have, multiple tackle boxes in various sizes, three ice augers (2 Nils and a power auger), ice shed and a boat with many extras. [/quote]

Man, have I been hanging out with the wrong fishing buddies!!! []
[signature]