Need Advice - Transportation and Turning with a Downrigger

Hi, first year having a PA 12 and a kayak in general. Need advice on 2 different areas.

1. Transportation - I have a fair amount of gear (down rigger, weight, net, outriggers and so on). I'm curious if anyone transports with anything attached to their H-Rail (such as a rod holder) and any other innovative ways to transport gear on the kayak. Of course, the more you transport on the kayak the heavier when moving, even with the wheels.

2. Down rigger and Turning - I recently had a scotty electric down rigger installed. Besides the additional weight to one side of the kayak my biggest issue is when I go down to far with the weight. I use a 6lb stick weight too avoid blowback, but when I go lower then roughly 30 ft I lose a lot of my ability to turn left, over 60 ft and I can't stop the kayak from turning right.

Besides installing another down rigger on the other side and deploying a weight the same distant down on both sides does anyone have a suggestion?

I know others have installed down-riggers on one side of a kayak, any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

I have a 2013 PA-14 and transport it on a Hobie Trailex trailer I modified for easy launch and recovery. I keep mostly everything in the kayak while on the road or in my garage. The only exceptions are the Mirage drive, PFD, large net and fishing pole.

I down rig extensively using a 4.25# weight. I changed the rudder out for the "sailing rudder" to improve tracking to depths of 120'.

Make sure the down rigger arm is shortened/reduced, so the weight is very close to the hull when deployed.

If the down rigger came with SS wire cable, replace it with Scotty's high tech line.

Load your hull so any extra weight is on the opposite side of the down rigger weight.

I have no problems tracking and I suppose the 2' longer PA-14 has an advantage over the PA-12 in this regard.

My PA-14 weights about 185#'s fully loaded....I have a 17 year old Canon Mini-Mag electric down rigger that works well using a 12 V SLA battery.

You can see how short the arm is and my PA-14 next to my trailer

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

Does the sailing rudder fully retract into the hull? Can you describe what changes you noticed when you switched to the sailing rudder? I did replace the wire with Scotty downrigger braid and have compensated for the listing to one side by offsetting weight as you mentioned. Unfortunately that doesn't help when the weight is 40 plus feet down with tracking. I don't trailer my kayak, I use the truck bed to transport. I could shorten the arm but have no experience with that, makes me a little nervous. I'm curious, when u go to 100 plus ft are you still using only 4lbs? Maybe 6lb is just too much for my PA 12 to track at depth. Thank you.

The sailing rudder does extend a couple of inches more than the standard rudder, so you can't stand the PA up on the rear without crunching the rudder.
For me, it's not a problem since I use the trailer.
The rudder is about 25% larger so basic tracking is better......hence "sailing rudder".

Instant improvement once sailing rudder installed.

Shortening the arm so the down rigger is closer to the hull is critical....If you can twist/adjust your arm to simulate the effect, you will see how much better tracking becomes.

Yes, I still use the same weight for deeper trolling.....I tried 6 pounds and the extra drag is a PITA.
The extra drag from a 5" quick fish lure, trolled about 70'-80' behind the down rigger just adds to more pedaling effort.

I typically cover 6 miles in 4 hours....sometimes up to 8 miles with a smaller lure.
Here is a nice, fat German Brown Trout and a large Rainbow/Steelhead Trout that a friend is holding(modeling ) for me. All taken at depths below 35'.

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

Thank you for the reply, I really appreciate it.

I primarily fish for Kokanee with the pro angler. I really like the idea of the bigger rudder but with loading/unloading in the truck bed it doesn't sound advisable.

With Kokanee fishing accurate depth is important, I worry about blowback when going too deep with too small a weight. However, not being able to turn is a bigger issue.

I am going to try your suggestion of adjusting my downrigger the next trip. I can raise the downrigger after deploying the weight and lock it in place closer to the hull and see how that works. I also have weights less than 6lbs. I can give those a try and see any improvement.

Again, thank you for the suggestions.

Well done for you and your friend! Beautiful fish.