electric downriggers

[clawman]

Looking to buy 2 electric downriggers. What are the differences in Cannon, Scotty, and ??

 

[Propnut69]

This is like asking what is better, Ford,Chevy,or Dodge. You will probably get a few different oponins. Here is mine. I have Cannon mag-5s on my boat. My fishing buddy has Scotty 1106's on his boat. What I like best about my cannon's is that the boom is shorter on the cannon's 24" vs 30" for the scotty's. For me that is a real advantage. when using the scotty's I have to swivel the d/r to set my line in the release. If I don't I find myself over reaching,and that can make things unsafe. Cannon for what ever reason does not include the swivel base with the mag 5's Scotty's come with swivel bases. . Swivel bases are about 100.00. You can't run braid on the cannons,because if you do,the auto-stop feature is disabled. The cannons don;t have the abilty to tilt up the downrigger,like the scotty's do The craftmanship on both cannon and scotty is very good. I have never had any mechinal problems with my cannons ,and they get used heavly during the fishing season.

Cannon finally took a page out of scotty's playbook, and made the spool a lot easier to get to. The head pully on the scotty's is a better pully. With the stock head pulley on my cannon's the cable was able to jump off the track easly. I fixed the problem when I updated to the new style of head pully,that cannon put on thier electric d/r's starting in 2012. The plugs on the mag 5-s were crap,had one break after just one season. I switched both plugs out, and bought good Manainco(sp) plugs ,problem solved. It has taken me a lot of extra money to get my Cannon's the way I want them . The jog button on the scotty's is easier to use. On the cannon's it takes a little bit of practice to get used too. This mainly is because of the way the cannon's auto-stop works. I plan on using my cannon's until they wear out,but if I had to go buy new downrigger's tomorrow, I would be buying scotty's. Hope this helps and I didn't just muddy the water for you. Cannon and scotty are the only two downriggers I have any experince with. Hopefully others will chime in.

 

[dragonfly]

clawman, they all get your weight up and down the main difference between the two is cannon is power up and down and scotty is power up and gravity down so if you have limited batt power the scotty would be a good choice. I run both on my boat, cannon digi-troll 10s on the rear and scotty 2106s in the middle for different reasons. the digi-troll cannons, can be programed to do a lot of stuff and one is to stop any where you tell it. the scottys need beads. for tomahawking I much prefer the scottys they are faster on the up and down ( but if you free wheel the brake on the cannons you can almost do the same thing ). speaking of brakes the cannons are out board and much more convenient to adjust. the scottys are a lot simpler design, they have the swivel and tip up feature std. which is nice with the long masts and getting in and out of the boat, there masts are a lot beefier than the cannons and run the marinco plugs std. like propnuts I had to do a lot of mods to make my cannons to my liking. change to the marinco plugs, replace the mast and pulley with the scotty 2106s, replace the stock cable with scotty premium, (the cannon cable didn't work with my chamberlains), replaced the plastic drum with the ss one and a few other mods. this is stuff you don't have to do but it makes for a lot better machine. but after using both I would replace the scottys with the cannon digi-troll 5s ( after modifying of corse) dfly

 

[clawman]

Is using braided line a positive thing or not. Speaking of positive the Canon comes equipped with positive ion charging its cable. Is that a gimmick or does it work?
Thanks for the input

 

[dragonfly]

I use ss cable. for me braid is to delicate it wont take heat or abrasion, with scottys the beads don't positively hold and you have to keep an eye on it. it doesn't have any less blow back than ss cable when I tried it side by side on my scottys. but there are people that swear by it. but I can be hard on my line especially when mack fishing. as far as the ion charge it doesn't seam to hurt but I haven't noticed any great improvements when using it and I also have the black box on the scottys . maybe if your hook is right off the ball but I am usually 10' to 100' back so at this point I wouldn't let that be your deciding factor on which one to buy. another thing the boat and sportsman shows are coming up and a great place to ask questions and compare them side by side dfly

 

[SuperD]

clawman, they all get your weight up and down the main difference between the two is cannon is power up and down and scotty is power up and gravity down so if you have limited batt power the scotty would be a good choice.

The gravity down on the Scotty is probably the biggest deterent to me ever considering them as a downrigger for me. Having fished on a lot of guys boats with Scotties, I think I could deal with them considering all their quirky design features except the free fall down. Trying to control the speed of decent is just a flat PITA!! Cannons deploy at a reasonable speed and I don't have to be a mechanic to make them do it. clawman, I like the ion control. may not attract fish but it certainly helps prevent one from repealling fish with a hot charge.

 

[Bduck]

Walkers

I have 4 of the tournament series Walkers. The first 2 I bought were the 4' booms with weight retrieval system which also have auto stop. Recently added 2 more this year but with 2' booms and auto stop. A simple up/down switch with center position neutral. These all are direct gear drive with positive ion control. I won't use braided line which disables my auto stop as well. Mounting system consists of a aluminum deck plate with an all metal construction swivel base.

Cannon, Walker, & Big Jons are the 3 competitors for gear drive electrics where Scotty is a different class with belt drive. I haven't heard of many issues with any other downriggers other than some mounting issues. These are good downriggers with different opinions. My suggestion is try them all out on someone else's boat before you buy and see what fits your budget.

 

[clawman]

I had manual Canon's in the past and liked them pretty well but have not used Scotty's so had no comparison. At this time I think I'll go with Canon either Magnum or DT. The Magnum probably does what I need but being kind of a gadget guy am intrigued with the DT's.

 

[clawman]

Had not considered the Walkers, I'll take a look,
Thanks

 

[Kokaholic]

Do yourself a favor, watch some you tube videos on salmon fishing and other type ocean fishing with the guides. See and watch what the guys use who use them daily hard. Then make up your mind on what you see. In my book, Scotty all the way. I've used them all.

 

[dragonfly]

the digitrolls are definitely a step above the reg cannons they have the soft start and stop, able to program depth stop and speed, and don't have to rely on the water for your up stop, so if you want, you can run braid (I run ball retrievers so I can set the stop so when I pull every thing over to the boat my clip in the right spot ) . they have the ion feature and fast adjustable retrieval rates. if you run the later hummingbird fish finders you can link with it and see, control, or adjust them from there. if you go with the 10s you have bottom trac and auto cycle. although the bottom trac is convenient it's a little slow for tomahawking, but is a weight saver if you loose trac and run into shallow ground . of all the downriggers they have the best and most advanced features you can do a lot with. the down side (other than there cheesy masts ) is the price but in the spring they usually have promotions or rebates, I saved an additional $300.00 when I got mine . dfly

 

[SuperD]

In my many years of Cannon ownership, I just experienced my first out of pocket repair cost. Last Friday while fishing berryessa, I had the downrigger get stuck in the retrieval mode and had to unplug it to get it to stop. I optimistically thought it might just be the switch. Unfortunately, it was the PC board in the unit. What irritated me about it more than the cost was the fact that the repair shop fixed it and called me to say it was ready and how much I owed without ever calling me to authorize the repair.

 

[clawman]

In my many years of Cannon ownership, I just experienced my first out of pocket repair cost. Last Friday while fishing berryessa, I had the downrigger get stuck in the retrieval mode and had to unplug it to get it to stop. I optimistically thought it might just be the switch. Unfortunately, it was the PC board in the unit. What irritated me about it more than the cost was the fact that the repair shop fixed it and called me to say it was ready and how much I owed without ever calling me to authorize the repair.

I've heard those boards are quite expensive, what did they charge you?

 

[SuperD]

$90, installed. But it was only a Mag 5.

 

[kelson]

I've fished with the Cannons on friends boats. Like my Scotty's much better. With that said, they are what I am used to. One thing to consider is that Scotty's are guaranteed for as long as you own them. Problems are repaired at no charge if you go to an authorized dealer/repair shop. In my opinion they are bullet proof. The only issue i have had is with the braking system. all that was required was some elbow grease to do some cleaning of the stainless plate under the spool. I use braid and love it. Have the shop put on an extra 50 to 100 ft and retie your ball clip every few trips. I use a 200# dacron cord attached to the ball swivel/clip. It is 2 feet longer than the rigger boom. I use a needle nail knot (like attaching fly line to backing) to attach the braid to the dacron and slip a piece of surgical tubing over the knot. This junction replaces the need for a plastic stop and gives me a much more hand friendly grip for handling the DR ball. I have not seen any noticeable decrease in catch rate with the braid over cable and a black box (my boat is hot) for kokanee, trout or salmon.
Good luck,
K

 

[clawman]

I'll be mounting these on a glass boat so is Positive Ion Control of any value in this situation?
Conflicting info- I've called their retail store and was told the charge level is adjustable on both Digi's and Mag's. When I look at the operators manual on line it appears the Mag is fixed charge and the Digi is adjustable. Do you know which is correct?

 

[SuperD]

PIC is controlling the charge on the wire and that is important regardless of what your hull is made of. To my knowledge, only the digitrols have adjustable voltage. The fixed ion control is a pretty neutral setting.

 

[dragonfly]

if your boat is grounded properly it won't make much difference but just because your boat is glass you still have metal parts in the water the biggest is your trolling motor so I would do the initial voltage check to make sure. as far as the digi troll I have the 10 and it is adjustable and maybe a newer mag owner will chime in to answer that. the boat show is near and the sportsman show is in Feb. where you can talk to the dealers direct and compare models and brands for that matter all in one place. dfly

 

[downriggeral]

I really think fishing each one will really give an idea of likes and dislikes. I have had Scotties for 25 years (same set) and love them. Lifetime warranty can't be beat. No electronic boards to break either. I fished with friends today with Cannon and I just don't like them as well but I could be prejudiced? Clutching down is really easy on the Scottie and up is fast. I also like the ability to tip the arms up if need be. Just by way of info I do have Cannon swivel bases custom fitted to my Scotties...love those!

Fords, Chevy's; I have a Ram with a Cummins so there ya go fencing