How to mount a Cannon Lake-Troll downrigger on a Hobie Revolution

Shown below are pictures of a base which I made to mount a modified Cannon Lake-Troll downrigger on my 13’ Hobie Revolution.  I’ve used this downrigger setup extensively during the past year, and am very happy with it.











First I will explain why I've set up my kayak for downrigger fishing in the manner shown in these pictures.  This explanation should be helpful regardless of which kayak you want to mount a downrigger on.  Then I will describe how I mounted the Cannon Lake-Troll downrigger on my Revolution.  This description is more specific to mounting the downrigger on a Revolution, but should provide some ideas which will helpful if you want to mount a downrigger on a different kind of pedal kayak.  Finally, I will describe how I use my downrigger setup.

It's harder to mount a big downrigger like the Cannon Lake-Troll on a paddle kayak, because it's hard to find a place to install the downrigger where it's easy to operate, but doesn't interfere with paddling.  A small downrigger such as the Scotty Laketroller is easier to mount on a paddle kayak.

The downrigger is mounted where it’s easy to operate.  I have mounted the downrigger next to my right thigh so it’s easy to operate from a relaxed and natural position while pedaling my kayak.  I don’t have to reach far forward or far backward, stop pedaling, change position in my seat, or turn sideways in my seat to operate the downrigger, and turning the downrigger’s crank doesn’t put a strain on my shoulder.

The boom of the downrigger has been shortened.  The downrigger’s boom has been shortened as much as possible in order to make it easier to position its cable right next to the side of the kayak, to make it easier to reach its weight and release, and to minimize the stress which the downrigger places on the hull of my kayak.  A downrigger with a two-foot-long boom is like a crowbar which is trying to tear the downrigger’s base out of the gunwale of your kayak.

The cable is positioned close to the side of my kayak.  The boom and pulley of my downrigger are positioned so the downrigger’s cable is located only an inch or so from the side of my kayak, to minimize the effect of the drag from the cable and weight on the tracking of my kayak.

The weight is located where I can reach it easily.  When the downrigger’s weight is at the surface, I can grab it easily to clip my line to the downrigger release or to hang the weight on a hook which I have mounted on the downrigger’s base, while sitting with my weight centered in my kayak. If you install and orient your downrigger in a manner which requires you to lean out over the side of your kayak every time you clip your line into your downrigger release, you unbalance your kayak, which can create problems if you are trolling in rough water.

The rod is mounted where it’s easy to monitor its tip.  I have mounted my rod in front of me and at right angles to my kayak, so I can monitor its tip for strikes without turning my head very much.  If your trolling rod is mounted behind you, you’ll miss a lot of strikes and get a sore neck.  For a description of how I made the base for my rod holder, see http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=13167.msg144750#msg144750 .

The rod is mounted where I can reach it easily.  I have mounted my rod where I only need to lean forward slightly to operate its reel, and where I can grab it out of its rod holder quickly and easily when I get a strike.  The handle of the reel is facing me so I can reel in line while the rod is in its holder.  The reel is close enough to my downrigger so I can reel in fishing line at the same time that I’m cranking up the downrigger weight, so my rod and fishing line stay under tension while I’m cranking up my weight.

The rod is mounted so it crosses the centerline of my kayak.  I mount my trolling rod on the left gunwale of my kayak with the tip pointing to the right, so its reel moves towards the centerline of my kayak when I remove the rod from its holder, and I can keep my body solidly centered in my kayak when removing the rod from its holder.  If I mounted my trolling rod on the right gunwale of my kayak with the tip pointing to the right, unless I used a clamshell style of rod holder which releases straight up, like the Folbe Advantage or the Scotty Oraca, I'd need to reach out to the right of my kayak to take the rod out of its holder, which would risk unbalancing my kayak, particularly when wrestling with a big fish.  I position my rod so it is a couple inches behind my left toe when my left pedal is all of the way back.  Neither the shaft or the butt of the rod interferes with pedaling in this position, and I can mount the rod holder right above the gunwale.  I don't raise my rod holders above the gunwales of my kayak with extenders, because they place additional leverage on the rod holder's base and the hull of the kayak.

The rod holder holds the reel firmly.  Choose a rod holder which holds your reel firmly in place, so the reel won't flop around in the rod holder when you're reeling in fishing line and cranking up your downrigger weight at the same time, or when you're releasing line from your reel while you lower your downrigger weight.

The fish finder is mounted on the same side of my kayak as the downrigger.  My fish finder is mounted on the same side of my kayak as the downrigger, so I can monitor the fish finder and the tip of my rod at the same time, without turning my head to look from one to the other.

Try to minimize the amount that the downrigger interferes with climbing back onto your kayak.  When choosing locations for a downrigger, fish finder, and rod holder which make up a downrigger trolling system, choose locations which minimize the extent that the downrigger system will interfere with climbing back onto your kayak if you get dumped in the water.  The downrigger and the fish finder mounted on the right side of my kayak would make it difficult to climb back into my kayak from its right side.  But the system doesn't interfere with climbing back into my kayak from its left side.  You need to strike a balance between positioning the elements of your downrigger system where the system will be convenient and comfortable to operate, and positioning those elements where they minimize interference with climbing back onto your kayak.

The first thing I did was shorten the boom on the downrigger, to make it easier to minimize the effect of the downrigger on my kayak’s tracking by positioning the cable only an inch or so from the side of my kayak, to make it easier to reach my downrigger's weight and release, and to minimize the stress which the downrigger places on the hull of my kayak.  It only took a couple of minutes to shorten the boom.  I removed the screw which holds the boom in place, pulled the boom out of the body of the downrigger, sawed off most of the boom, stuck the boom back in the body, drilled a new hole in the boom, and screwed the boom to the downrigger's body. 



The only other change I needed to make to the downrigger in order to shorten the boom was to deepen the throat of the downrigger slightly so the cable doesn’t rub on the throat.



The Cannon downrigger has a base for a rod holder on the back of the body of the downrigger.  Because the rod holder base isn’t oriented in a direction which is useful, due to the direction the downrigger points when mounted on my kayak, I sawed the base off the downrigger.

It’s difficult to mount a downrigger on the gunwale of a Revolution, because there aren’t any large flat spots on which a downrigger base can be mounted.  It would be much easier to mount a downrigger on the gunwale of a Hobie Outback or various other kayaks.  I figured out how to mount a downrigger base on the gunwale of a Revolution by mounting two sealed nuts inside the right gunwale of the kayak, and then stabilizing the mount against rocking in and out by making a plug which fits inside the kayak's water bottle holder.  the picture below shows how I made the sealed nuts.



The picture below shows where the nuts are located on my Revolution.  An easier way to attach a downrigger mount to the gunwale of a kayak is with a section of track.  On my next kayak (?!) I’ll use a piece of track to attach the downrigger base.  I suggest a way to make devices which mount on gear tracks in a posting at http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=13167.msg144750#msg144750 .



The nut assembly is sealed pretty well, but to further protect my kayak against leakage when I’m not using the downrigger, I screw nylon nuts with rubber gaskets into the nuts, as shown below:



The mount for the downrigger is constructed out of high density polyethylene (HDPE), which is the opaque white plastic used for cutting boards.  One brand name for this plastic is “Starboard.”  This plastic is readily available where I live, and I picked up some appropriate sized scraps for a few bucks.  I would have preferred to use ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW), but that kind of plastic is hard to obtain in my area.

The nuts mounted in the gunwale of my kayak keep the downrigger attached to the kayak, but don’t keep it from rocking from side to side on the gunwale.  To prevent the base from rocking from side to side, I constructed a flat plug which sits in the Revolution’s water bottle holder at right angles to the gunwale.  I determined the dimensions of the flat plug by making a template out of two pieces of cardboard taped together.



I bolted a piece of cardboard on the gunwale of my kayak, sat the shortened downrigger on the cardboard, and then positioned it where it was out of the way of my thigh, was easy to operate, and would place its cable about an inch from the side of my kayak.  I marked the location of the downrigger on the cardboard, and then cut out a template out of the cardboard for the top plate.  I used the two templates to cut the top plate and the plug out of HDPE, inserted the plug in the water bottle holder, bolted the top plate to the gunwale on top of the plug, and then drilled holes in the two pieces and screwed them together with two stainless steel screws.



Then I cut braces out of aluminum angle stock and bolted them to the plastic with stainless steel bolts and locking nuts.



Then I bolted the downrigger to the base with stainless steel bolts and lock nuts, as shown in the three pictures at the beginning of this posting.  I decided not to use the slide-in base which comes with the downrigger because it’s pretty big.  But the next time I make a downrigger base I'll use the slide-in base, because there are times when it is nice to be able to take a downrigger off or put it on its base quickly when you're on the water, such as when going in and out through surf.

I added a hook to the downrigger’s base for the weight, so when the weight is hanging from the pulley it won’t drag in the water or bang against the side of my kayak when the kayak rocks in waves. If you replace the steel cable which comes with the downrigger with braided downrigger line to eliminate cable hum and to reduce drag, when you're transporting the downrigger the braided line can come out of the notch in the pulley wheel and get stuck between the pulley wheel and the side of the pulley, and the only way to get it back into the notch is to cut off the weight, feed the braided line through the pulley with a piece of wire or pipe cleaner, and retie the braided line to the weight.  This is an irritating hassle.  To prevent the braided line from getting stuck, when I'm transporting the downrigger I hang the weight on the hook and keep the braided line under tension.



So I won’t lose the bolts which attach the base to the gunwale, I put loops of cord on the handles of the bolts, and as soon as I take the downrigger off my kayak, I clip the bolts to the downrigger.



I made the mount using hand tools.  For example, I cut the pieces of plastic with a crosscut wood saw, I dressed the pieces with a wood plane, and I drilled the holes with a hand drill.  If you have fancier shop equipment and machining, woodworking, and/or welding skills, you should be able to come up with a mount which is nicer than mine.

The base is very stable, and doesn’t rock or flex at all when I turn the crank of the downrigger.  I’ve used the downrigger extensively since the winter of 2014, and am very happy with the entire setup. 

I’ve also mounted a Scotty Laketroller downrigger on my 13’ Trident, and a Scotty Depthmaster downrigger on my Revolution.  Both of these other downriggers work well, but the Cannon Lake Troll downrigger is definitely my favorite downrigger.  I compare the Scotty Depthmaster and the Cannon Lake-Troll in a posting at http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=13100.0 .

A major advantage of the Cannon Lake-Troll is that it’s very easy to shorten the boom.  Because the Scotty Depthmaster has a horizontal cable reel, if you shorten its boom, the pulley ends up positioned below the level of the cable reel, and the cable gets bent over the lip of the cable reel.  Raising the Depthmaster’s pulley so the cable feeds into the center of the cable reel takes a lot of work and some creativity.  A picture of how I raised the pulley on my Depthmaster is shown below.  By comparison, it only took a couple of minutes to shorten the boom of my Cannon Lake-Troll, which is a major advantage of the Cannon.



For those who aren't familiar with downrigger fishing in general, and/or with using a downrigger from a kayak in particular, here's how it works.  While pedaling forward, drop your lure in the water and let out line.  Depending on what you are fishing for, and how deep you are fishing, you may want the lure anywhere from five feet to 80 feet behind your downrigger weight.  A line counter trolling reel will help you release an appropriate amount of line.  The further your lure is set back behind your downrigger weight, the more slowly the lure will respond to changes in the depth of the weight, the more gradually you will need to maneuver your kayak, and because your lure will follow a course which cuts inside the track of your kayak when you turn, if you set your lure back a long distance behind your weight, you are more likely to pull your lure into bottom features or snags located on the inside of your turn.  However, if you are trolling close enough to the surface that your kayak may spook fish away from your lure, or you are concerned that your downrigger weight may spook away fish, you may want to set your lure further back from your weight.  I typically set my lure 20-30 feet back from my weight.

When the lure is as much behind you as you want, grab your line and clip it into the downrigger release which is attached to your downrigger weight.  Because I use braided fishing line, I use a Black's clip style downrigger release mounted between my downrigger's weight and cable.  Black's releases are excellent.  To attach my line to the release, I make a loop in the line and twist it 8 to 10 times, and then clip the loop into the release.  Keep a bit of tension on your fishing line while doing this so the limp braided line won't get wrapped around the tip of your fishing rod.  When your fishing line is clipped into your downrigger release, release the spool of your reel, engage your reel's clicker, and give a quick pull on your fishing line to check that you have both released the spool and engaged the clicker.  Then start lowering your downrigger weight. 

The first time you lower your weight, stop after about 10 feet and check the tension on your release.  If the release pops open and releases your fishing line as soon as you start to put tension on your rod, tighten the release.  If you jerk on the line with your pole and it doesn't pop out of the release, loosen the release.  You want the release to pop open with a crisp jerk of your pole.  How tight you set your release will depend on the size of the fish you are fishing for and the stiffness of your rod.  I prefer to set my releases tight enough so the fish may jerk on the line several times before the release pops open, because that will set the hook.  If you set the release very loosely, so it pops open as soon as a fish hits your lure, the hook may not get set, and the fish may be able to spit out the lure before you can get tension on the line.  With Black's downrigger releases, the tension is set with a thumbscrew, and the setting can be adjusted very precisely.  For example, I like to set the thumbscrew at 12:00 o'clock when fishing for kokanee with a soft floppy kokanee rod, and at 5:00 o'clock when fishing for lake trout with a medium-heavy rod.

Once you have your release adjusted, lower your downrigger weight to the depth at which you want to troll.  You will see your weight on your fish finder as you're lowering it and as you troll.  When your weight reaches the depth you want, stop lowering it and crank your reel to put tension on your rod.  Your rod should be bent over like a bow.  This will keep the line tight between the tip of your rod and your weight, so the tip of your rod will be sensitive to strikes on your lure, and so you can get tension on a fish quickly after your line pops out of your downrigger release.

I suggest that you learn how to use a downrigger by fishing for suspended fish such as kokanee.  When you have that figured out, you can start fishing right above the bottom, where you may need to constantly adjust the depth of your weight to stay close to the bottom, but not run into the bottom.

If you are trolling at 60 feet down, and you see suspended fish on your fish finder at 40 feet down, crank up your downrigger weight while simultaneously winding up fishing line until your weight reaches the depth of the fish.  Keep your rod bent over and under tension while raising your downrigger weight.  Then with the help of the GPS features of your fish finder you can pedal through the area where you saw the fish on your fish finder in figure 8 and cloverleaf patterns to pin down the location of the school of fish.

If you are trolling at 60 feet down, and you see suspended fish on your fish finder at 80 feet down, put your thumb on the spool of your reel, release the spool, and ease off the pressure of your thumb to let the tip of your rod come up.  Then lower your downrigger weight.  The clicker on your reel will keep your line under light tension.  When your weight reaches 80 feet, stop it and crank your reel to put tension on your rod.

When you get a strike, the tip of your rod will start to bounce around, or it may pop up if the fish jerks your downrigger release open.  If your line doesn't pop out of your release, take your rod out of your rod holder and jerk up on it to release your line from your release.  Then you can start playing in the fish.

With some kinds of fish, such as kokanee, there is a risk that when you get the fish near your kayak, while darting around it may manage to wind your fishing line around your downrigger cable.  If this happens, it's a huge hassle.  To eliminate the risk that this may happen, as soon as I get a fish on my line, I start pedaling forward quickly.  When I have tension on my fishing line, I continue to pedal forward to keep the fish well behind my kayak, I hang on to my rod with one hand, and I crank up my downrigger weight with the other hand.  From time to time I need to stop cranking up my downrigger weight to reel in some fishing line.  When I get my downrigger weight to the surface, I stop pedaling, turn my kayak so it is at right angles to ny fishing line, and start playing in the fish.

If you are trolling near the bottom, and you leave your downrigger weight down while playing in a fish, the wind or current may push you into shallower water or an outcropping, and you could hook your weight on the bottom.  So another reason to raise your downrigger weight at least part of the way to the surface while playing in a fish is to avoid hooking it on the bottom.

When downrigger trolling for fish which hang right on the bottom, such as lake trout, you will need to constantly adjust the depth of your downrigger weight to keep it close to the bottom, but to avoid catching it on the bottom.  If you approach an underwater ridge, you have two choices: you can turn into deeper water to keep your weight from hitting the ridge, and follow a contour line along the side and around the end of the ridge, or you can raise your weight, and then lower it after you pass over the ridge.  If you turn left into deeper water, your downrigger weight will follow a route which is inside (i.e. to the left of) the track of your kayak, which will help it avoid hitting the ridge.  But if you turn right after going around the end of the ridge, your downrigger weight will again follow a route which inside (i.e. to the right of) the track of your kayak, and you may drag it into the side of the ridge.  So when trolling close to the bottom, don't set your lure back too far from your downrigger weight. 

When downrigger trolling near the bottom when the bottom is flat, your fish finder may show the depth of the bottom accurately, but when trolling over a sloping bottom, your fish finder may read higher up the slope, so you may not be as close to the bottom as you think.  For example, in a steeply sloping area, your fish finder may show the bottom at 50 feet, but the bottom may actually be 60 feet below you.  You can confirm this by stopping and lowering a jig.  The jig will disappear into the bottom shown on your fish finder, and you will lower the jig some additional distance before it hits the bottom.  The distance between the bottom shown on your fish finder and the actual depth of the bottom depends on the steepness of the slope of the bottom and the presence of nearby outcroppings inside the cone of your sonar.

If you catch your weight on the bottom, a snag, or some other obstacle, it may be difficult to tell what is going on for a couple of seconds.  You may stop seeing a "V" of ripples coming off your fishing line, your weight may disappear from your fish finder as it gets pulled back out of the cone of your sonar, and your kayak may start turning towards the side on which your downrigger is mounted.  As soon as you realize that you've hooked your weight on something, release your downrigger's cable reel as if you were lowering your weight, pop your fishing line out of your downrigger release, and pull your lure to the surface.  Then turn and go back in exactly the direction you came from.  Once you get past where you hooked your weight, start braking the cable reel of your downrigger and try to pull your weight off the obstruction.  If you are lucky, it will come right off, and you can raise it.  I rarely hook a downrigger weight, and have never lost one.

Downrigger trolling near the bottom in current or big ocean swells is dangerous.  Don't do it.  If you hook your weight on the bottom when you are in current or big swells, your downrigger cable could quickly flip your kayak, and the current could wash you away from your kayak. 

A downrigger will allow you to present your lure at precise depths to fish you see on your fish finder, or to run your lure very precisely near the bottom.  It's a fun way to fish, and you can do it very effectively from a kayak.

Cool project! Came out nice.  The brand name of that plastic is called Starboard.  Most marine shops have it.

with my vittle vault replacing my milk crate, I'll need to figure out another way to mount my downrigger.  I still think I want t behind me though.

with my vittle vault replacing my milk crate, I'll need to figure out another way to mount my downrigger.  I still think I want t behind me though.

I think your downrigger will be much easier to operate if you mount it next to one of your thighs.  For example, here is a picture of my Scotty Depthmaster setup.  With my downrigger, fish finder, and rod in these locations, it's easy and natural to operate the downrigger and monitor my fish finder and the end of my rod.



I'll be a while before I can post a picture of my Cannon downrigger setup in operation:



But if you want to mount your downrigger behind your seat, either because you have a paddle kayak and need to mount the downrigger where it won't interfere with paddling, or for some other reason, consider mounting the downrigger right behind one of your hips, so you can reach back and turn the crank without changing position in your seat.  It'll be hard on your shoulder, but at least you won't need to change position in your kayak every time you want to operate your downrigger.

I suggest that you not mount the downrigger so far behind you that you need to turn sideways in your kayak to turn its crank or operate its brake.  You should mount the downrigger where you can deploy the ball and quickly respond to changes in bottom depth or the location of fish without changing position or slowing or stopping your kayak.

This is what I put together just yesterday.  I can slide it the whole length of my gear tracks and should be just above my toes when I pedal.  This is one of the few time where being a left and trolling off the right side of my kayak may pay off.  I still need to do some on the water testing

Excellent write up and pics....thanks for that. Quick...you don't mess around. This second mount does look easier to fab. Any initial feel yet for pros or cons for the Cannon vs the Scotty?

"....lakes in my (your) area are currently covered with a couple feet of ice."   jeez!!

Any initial feel yet for pros or cons for the Cannon vs the Scotty?

My current thoughts about the pros and cons of the Cannon Lake-Troll vs the Scottie Depthmaster are tenantive, because I haven't been able to use the Cannon yet, but here they are:

1. For use on a kayak, the primary advantage of the Cannon over the Scottie is that it's really easy to shorten the boom on the Cannon.  I think it's important to shorten the boom of a downrigger in order to minimize the stress which the downrigger places on the hull of the kayak, and so you can position the pulley and the cable right next to the side of the kayak.

2.  The Cannon downrigger is a bit higher than the Scottie downrigger, but it is also narrower.  Depending on where you want to mount a downrigger on your kayak, one might fit that space better than the other.

3. The downriggers appear to be equally easy to crank when mounted next to my right thigh.  If the downrigger was mounted in a less convenient location, such as behind your left or right hip, or directly behind the seat of the kayak, one of the downriggers might be easier to crank than the other in that location.

4. A deficiency of the brake on the Scottie is that it's an all or nothing deal.  When I release the brake, the ball goes into free fall.  I need to control the speed at which the ball drops by holding my thumb against the cable reel.  It would be nice if I could control the speed at which the ball drops just with the brake.  I'm hoping that the clutch or brake in the Cannon Lake-Troll will let me control the speed at which the ball drops better.  If anybody has any suggestions for how to adjust the brake on my Scottie Depthmaster so it works better, I'd appreciate hearing those suggestions.

5. The three-digit line counter on the Scottie Depthmaster works very well, agrees closely with the depth of the ball which is shown on my fish finder, and is quite useful.  I have read large numbers of complaints about the dial-style line counter which is mounted on the side of the pulley assembly on the Cannon Lake-troll.  Larger Cannon manual downriggers also each have a three-digit line counter mounted on the body of the downrigger.  There's a slot for a three digit line counter on the body of the Lake-Troll.  I called Cannon and was told that their three digit line counter would also work on the Lake Troll.  I ordered the line counter and the gear which goes on the cable reel, and hope that the three digit line counter works better than the line counter which is part of the pulley assembly on my Lake-Troll.

Pmmpete, I've had this thread bookmarked while I consider adding a Cannon Lake-Troll.

Now you've had some time to use this setup, how is the three-digit line counter add on working?

My only concern in my rig is I fish my lines off the left side, so I'd either (a) mount the Cannon off my left hip slightly behind me, or (b) move it forward a bit IF the crank handle can go to the left side of the downrigger.   I see from the photos there's a plate on the left -- can the crank handle be switched?

Dark Tuna - I also fish off the left side, which was a big reason I ended up going with a Scotty Depthmaster on my Outback instead of a Cannon.

I fish a Walker Lakemaster off the left side of my Hobie. I have it mounted behind me so I don't have the cockpit too crowded for reentry.

Now you've had some time to use this setup, how is the three-digit line counter add on working?

My only concern in my rig is I fish my lines off the left side, so I'd either (a) mount the Cannon off my left hip slightly behind me, or (b) move it forward a bit IF the crank handle can go to the left side of the downrigger.   I see from the photos there's a plate on the left -- can the crank handle be switched?

The line counter didn't work.  Its gears must have been sized for a Cannon downrigger with a different size cable reel, because the reading shown on the line counter was completely different from the depth of the downrigger weight shown on my fish finder.  Which is too bad, because an accurate line counter can be useful on a downrigger.

You can't switch the Cannon Lake-Troll's crank handle to the other side of the casing.  But you could mount the downrigger on the left side of your kayak with its boom facing backwards.  That should work fine, if there is a place on the left gunwale of your kayak where the downrigger can be mounted. What kind of kayak do you have?

Here is a brief look at the Walker downrigger mounted on my 2015 Outback.

Now you've had some time to use this setup, how is the three-digit line counter add on working?

My only concern in my rig is I fish my lines off the left side, so I'd either (a) mount the Cannon off my left hip slightly behind me, or (b) move it forward a bit IF the crank handle can go to the left side of the downrigger.   I see from the photos there's a plate on the left -- can the crank handle be switched?

The line counter didn't work.  Its gears must have been sized for a Cannon downrigger with a different size cable reel, because the reading shown on the line counter was completely different from the depth of the downrigger weight shown on my fish finder.  Which is too bad, because an accurate line counter can be useful on a downrigger.

You can't switch the Cannon Lake-Troll's crank handle to the other side of the casing.  But you could mount the downrigger on the left side of your kayak with its boom facing backwards.  That should work fine, if there is a place on the left gunwale of your kayak where the downrigger can be mounted. What kind of kayak do you have?

Thanks for the reply on the line counter.  I do have a Dragonfly fish finder so that'll do.

Currently I have a paddle kayak (Jackson Big Tuna).  IF I were to worry about using the downrigger with two on the boat I'd probably go crazy trying to find flexible mounting location(s).  With the downrigger I'm keeping to a solo setup.   I see some mounting options though -- either the "deck" behind the solo seating position or the gunwale to my left -- my current preference given the handle's on the right.  Possibly taking advantage of the molded-in 1/4-20 insert holding that 1.5" RAM ball along with some backing support.  An expanding wedge in those rear scupper holes looks promising, too, or a rear deck brace.

I can crank lefty.   The big question is keeping the downrigger and the fishing line away from my paddle stroke while keeping it all secured.  Next time the kayak's pulled out will be mock-up time.

Here is a brief look at the Walker downrigger mounted on my 2015 Outback.

Nice mount!  I do have space behind the seat for that kind of mount, and the Walker looks like a nice setup.  Do you use the Outback's rod holder when fishing the downrigger?

Perhaps that what I need...  a new rod holder in the gunwale.


... or an Outback! 

Here is a brief look at the Walker downrigger mounted on my 2015 Outback.

Nice mount!  I do have space behind the seat for that kind of mount, and the Walker looks like a nice setup.  Do you use the Outback's rod holder when fishing the downrigger?

Perhaps that what I need...  a new rod holder in the gunwale.


... or an Outback!  :-

I typically fish a folbe rod holder horizontal just above my pedals, but do use the molded in rod holder if fishing of the right side. This downrigger came with a rod holder you can bolt on to the side as well.