Frontriggers!!!

K

Kushtaka

New member
I fish halibut more than anything, and have been content to fish 3 rods from my 22 Crusier, even if I had more anglers on board. It just ends up getting lines fouled and lots of trouble if you go for more.

But yesterday I took 3 other guys fishing and I set up the cockpit with a rod off each side and one down off the transom (a garelick motor bracket makes a good rod holder!).

But then I got antsy and started fishing from the bow. After I hooked a few and was made a couple trips back to the cockpit to fight the fish while hooked up I thought that this would surely kill me if made into a habit.

Then we started talking about it, and before I knew it I was in the leader making gear (we leave it on the table and call it the "Arts and Crafts Station") and poaching the clips from my downriggers.

Within a few minutes I had a mono anchor on my bow rail that had a downrigger clip on it, and me and my rod safely in the cockpit. I hooked up that way twice. You can even jig if you get a feel for it and set your clip tension pretty tight.

This would be easy to duplicate on the other side and fish a total of 5 rods, but you would need to move the clips out a bit... I'm thinking just a clamp-on stainless steel bar.

It's been an issue since I got the boat and I often find myself wanting a bigger boat often just to fish more rods.

Anyway, it was a pretty cool night and a pretty great discovery!!
 
Have you thought of using a balloon to move your weight off the rear of the boat? Rod on the roof rod racks and the balloon 50 yards off the stern??
 
Good for you Kush. Good thinking. I'm stuck up here in Prince Rupert while my trailer is waiting for parts and I here the halibut fishing is great in these parts. If you could post a few pictures of your idea it would be great. I can't quite picture the concept and would like to give this a try while I'm here and have nothing to do for a while.
Thanks and best regards,

Chris
 
starcrafttom":16o8jcuf said:
Have you thought of using a balloon to move your weight off the rear of the boat? Rod on the roof rod racks and the balloon 50 yards off the stern??
Click to expand...

I've done that, but what I end up doing instead is staging my gear aft to forward according to blowback. So I have heavy braid, big hooks and light weight on my single down rod in back, then I have smaller line and medium size weights in the cockpit, and used heavy weights on the bow. That kept things spread nicely.

I have nothing against balloons. Maybe I'll give that another go! Thanks for the nudge!

Chris, I'll post some pics soon. My parents are arriving tonight for a visit with my nephew, so a stop at the boat is pretty much assured, unless we decide to go chase the coho down the river.

Either way, it shouldn't be more than a day or two.
 
As I was typing my last message, I realized that what I need to get this done is to mount some telescoping trekking poles to a hinged mount like a VHF antenna mount. And they are made out of aluminum. Then I can adjust length and angle. Oh man!! This is getting better all the time.
 
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