Downrigger in South Texas

[rcornejo]

Good Evening Everyone,

I was just wondering if anyone has put a downrigger on a 208 Adventure. I have a 1999 208 that I was considering putting a downrigger on it to fish for King Mackeral. In South Texas, not many boats have them. I am not sure where the placement of one would be best and what I should be concerned with?

Thanks for your help.

Roland

 

[Scouter]

Roland:

I am loath to drill holes in such nice boat. Sure sometimes you gotta for outriggers, electronics or such. I just hate to mount stuff permanantly on the top of the gunnels. On my old 208, I used a gimbal mount from Cannon to hold the downrigger. You can use it in any rodholder. If you go to Cannon website, they show a couple different models, or google search downrigger gimbal mounts. One drawback to this is they are a pain to store, kinda always in the way.

Jim

 

[JeffN]

I agree try it with the rod holder mount.

 

[rcornejo]

Thanks for the great advice!

Thank you so much for your reply. I am so glad I checked with you all prior to doing this. I agree, I do not like to mount anything to the gunnels. I will check on the website to see what I can find out.

I do have one other question, is there a particular electric dowrigger model you recommend for the 208?

Thanks,
Roland

 

[yankeecause]

It's hard ti beat Big Jons electric or walkers. Get one with dual rod holders, you will be happy you did. Joe.

 

[rcornejo]

Model Nubmer

Hi Yankeecause,

Do you know where I can pick one up or do you have a model number I can use to research.

Thanks,
Roland

 

[wahoo33417]

Not sure that I agree with placing the downrigger in a rod holder. That can be a lot of pressure for something not designed for it. I spoke with Grady when I mounted a Cannon downrigger on my then new 1995 208. They advised gunnel mounting with sufficient backing rather than the rod holder. I did as they described, using oversize washers as the backing for the swivel mount. I had that boat for ten years and always used a Z-Wing, which places much more pressue on the mount than the standard lead ball. No problems ever. I'll post a picture below. Please ignore that saifish held up for a photo - I was young and foolish!

Sorry about the large size foto. I'm happy I got a picture in there, let alone figure out how to resize!

 

[yankeecause]

Hi, Roland, go to www.bigjon.com that should give you all the info. you need. Joe.

 

[Strikezone]

I have a Unitroll 10 mounted in the same location as Wahoo. The swivel mount is pretty unobstrusive when the downrigger isn't on the boat. I've also used large washers as the backing without any cracking.

 

[rcornejo]

Thanks

Thanks again for all the comments. I appreciate that very much. I will have to consider all options prior to installation.

Thanks again.

Roland