Outriggers

[DazSamFishing]

Hi all,

My boat is alllllmost ready. I have considered almost every option available... The missus told me to stop a few thousand dollars ago... But I still have one more consideration left... Outriggers! Do many people use them? Know how to use them... and are they fairly expensive... I do plan to do a fair bit of trolling, so I suppose this would be a great benefit. Can anyone give any personal advice or experiences with outriggers!

Cheers

Daz

[jeffo]

unless you plan on trolling lures for billfish then not worth the effort. you can get away with out them for most situations. if you have the bucks (will cost you close to a thousand for a decent set with all the bits and pieces-unless you find a 2nd hand pair like i did) then go for it, but not worth it for most offshore fish.

[Grand_Marlin]

G'day Daz,

Good Reelax brand outriggers will set you back around $1500 - 2 grand.

They can be a bit tricky to set up ... to get the angles right.

They are very useful when trolling ... but my advice to you would be to add them later - learn to crawl befor eyou walk when it comes to trolling.

Seeing as you arent targeting bills or very large yellowfin, the outriggers arent going to give you any magic advantage for mackeral or smaller tuna.

But .... they do look good on the boat, even if you dont use them ;D

Cheers

Pete

[Fishin_Dan]

But .... they do look good on the boat, even if you dont use them ;D

That's almost as good as the fella who used to drive around Cronulla with a surfboard bolted onto his roofracks! ;D He used to pull up to the beach, stand on his front bumper with no shirt on stretching and "checking out the surf"... He then obviously decided it wasn't good enough for him cause he then got back in his car, and went to the next beach to do the same! ;D ;D ;D

[steveg1100]

That was me with the surfboard Dan I was actually looking for some skirt rather than surf.

Just kidding....

Back to outriggers.

I have outriggers and don't use them that often. When I have put them on they are handy if trolling as you can have quite a few different rigs out. I have been reading a fair bit about downriggers at the moment though.

[jim_farrell]

I'm with steve. I'd look at down riggers before outriggers. I went thru a billfish stage with my old man. He had riggers, but we rarely used them.
Depending on how big your boat is, consider how they will sit if you aren't using them, will they be in the way. I hate clutter when fishing.
Jim

[DazSamFishing]

Downriggers... I have heard alot about them when freshwater fishing...

Do many people use them off shore? Are they easy to operate and are they very effective?

Daz

[jim_farrell]

PM nugget or mono, they both use them and recommend them. Due to a different depth, you have the ability to fish an extra line. Also good for mackeral and cobia. Pick the depth on the sounder the fish are, and set it accordingly. Google cannon downriggers.
Jim

[finding_time]

Daz

Go the down rigger mate it will catch you far more fish than outriggers!!!!

They are very versitile you can troll with them and target almost all fish species, also when anchored in a roaring current they allow you to get your bait to the right spot ;)

ian

[DazSamFishing]

Ian,

How many lines would a downrigger allow you to run? Are they expensive and easy to use?

Cheers

Daz

[blaze]

put outriggers on my 6m boat
why
trolling skirt etc, can now easily troll a spread of 5
I also use them to float bait with or tighten the clips right up to drift with 4 lines with no tangles
cost
I brought a couple of blank poles and every thing seperately then made my own bases, might not look a million dollars but they work fine.
cheers
blaze

[Edencraft]

You can use outriggers for more than just increasing your spread of lures. You can use them to drift live baits out away from the boat under balloons while cubing. You can also attach a bungee cord to the end and to your line and use them to give action to an extra 2 rods vertical jigging, the bungy cord gives the jig or soft plastic action. I also like the dropback you get when trolling skip baits for larger marlin.

[DazSamFishing]

Tough choice... Down riggers or out riggers? A bit confused now... :-/

[jim_farrell]

Daz, start a new thread titled downriggers. I don't have one, only discussed it with mono. You should get some info then.

[Sportfish_5]

Get both moneybags #;) ;D ;D ;D

[Getout]

I've got both. I use the outriggers mostly for holding out big liveys when bottom bashing so they don't swim around our bottom droppers. Also good for spreading trolling baits for less tangles in tight turns.
The downrigger is dynamite for trolling. I can tow a big bait down deep with no lead on the line. I get sweetlip and snapper on it when i drop it down close to the bottom. Once the main bait is lowered, I also clip on a sliding clip with another bait which lowers itself to halfway (the maximum sag point of the line). The downrigger wire humms like crazy but doesn't seem to put the fish off! You have to keep a good eye on the sounder when you have it close to the bottom and you need to get it up before you bring a fish near the boat. A depth counter is a must!

[fishing_mik]

daz
if you want to make some cheap out riggers go buy yourself 2 12 foot fishing rod blanks put a guide at the end a pully at the bottom that will run your vb cord through .then for your base go to your exhaust place and get some pipe bent up at your desired angle that fits straight into your rod holder cut a notch in the bottom so they cant move then all you have to do is glue the blank in
i have done this on my boat cost me 200 bucks and works a treat can now easly troll 5 lures .beats paying 1500

mik