# Downrigger help



## BIG DADDY (Sep 16, 2007)

My boat came with a old Big John down rigger. I like using a down rigger but this is a pain to use. I want to up grade. 

Should I go with manual or electric?

What brand? (Scotty, Cannon...)

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks
BD


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Get electric Cannon MINI MAGs. 

I sold mine and upgraded to some Cannon model that has all the bells and whistles. They are huge, smarter than me, (not saying much there), and take a lot of juice to run. 

Wish I had my little Minis Mags back.



Good grief, I gotta get back to work.


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## Pavlik (Sep 11, 2007)

I like the Cannon Mini-Troll. However, I also have a canoe for a boat. Unfortunately, this is what happened to my mini troll after a bottom hookup  I personally do not mind hand-cranking a downrigger, so, I would not spend extra hundreds of dollars on an electric one. The Cannon riggers are built pretty well, and there are tons of replacement parts available on the internet. For instance, I got all the parts to fix mine for only $40 (including a replacement cannonball and release).


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## BROWN BAGGER (Sep 13, 2007)

I perfer scottys. if running a hand crank, cannon's handles are on one side only. so when you mount two of them ,you have to have the room to reach the handle. only happens though on the starboard side. scotty's handles are on top, so they are good for right and left handed people. the one and most important thing with hand cranks, the bigger the spool the better. bigger spools bring in more cable faster and with less cranks. I had a old riverera rigger that had a 14 inch spool. loved that thing. lended it to a friend and it is now at the bottom of the gorge. got to have good sonar, and pay attention to it. also electric rigger do not use that much electricity. I have one battery on my boat and I run three riggers. Pavlik...that is the perfect rigger that I tell poeple about to put on small boats. but the last time I checked the price for one at walmart was 40 bucks.


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## McFishin (Dec 24, 2007)

If money is not a consideration than go with electric(EXPENSIVE),but if you are not deep trolling you are probably wasting your money. I have two cannons on my boat, an EZ troll and a uni troll (both manual). They are easy to use and I haven't had any problems with either. for a good deal keep an eye on ebay, I baught the uni trol for just over $200.


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## deadicatedweim (Dec 18, 2007)

I just bought a big john electric and it is great to use cause its easy and fast to change depths. Does your boat already have a battery on board cause that definitly could be a deciding factor. Also like stated above what depths are you trying to achieve? If you are going to be more than 30-40 I would go with electric. A cheap solution to get up to 40 feet is a jet diver that you can get at cabelas for less than 10 bucks.


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