I have an Alumaweld Stryker outboard prop And I have been thinking about a third DR off the transom. There looks to be enough room on the starboard side. I have my kicker on the port side. Does anyone here have, or has fished this set up on a boat like this, or similar?
I don't really like the hassle of stacking lines so I though I would check out this option.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Dan

My dad has three Scotty electric downriggers on his 22' Campion. One is mounted on the transom starboard side pointed back.

It works pretty good but we do have to take starboard turns pretty wide so we don't tangle the starboard and back downriggers.

I have an 18 ft alumaweld and we did just that...mounted the third plate on the starbord side above the battery....works fine...just be careful on the turns as stated...helps if you have 3 people on board that are good with riggers...don't try it with any newbies.

With 3 riggers on a relatively small boat, it helps to use a lighter weight down the midde (ie 15's on the outside and a 12 in the middle) and to fish it with no more cable out than the shallowest outside rigger. Will greatly help with manuverability and minimize tangles during turns.

Hi Captain Dan, I don't like to stack either so I picked up a "Shuttle Hawk" that claims to simplify the process. Check out this http://www.fishsniffer.com/cgi-bin/forum...;num=1087567841 . I haven't tried mine yet but for $12.00 I figure it's worth a shot.

Capt. Dan
I'm getting ready to do the same thing to my boat! I've got two cannons installed and I just ordered a Scotty hopefully arriving by the weekend. I was thinking, maybe someone has some insight on this, Placing a directional downrigger weight on the outside DR to pull the line out and away from the middle one. Hopefully this will prevent tangling. Does anyone know if the directional weights work well and what weight is preferable????

I've been running 3 DRs off the back of my boat for years. They seem to fish the best when:

1. Middle ball is lighter than others (I use 12 on the sides and 10 in the middle).

2. Middle ball is deepest, but not too deep (no more than 40 feet separation between middle and starboard depth)

3. The starboard DR has a long boom. I use Cannons with 6 ft. boom, fully extended.

If the wind/current is strong, you won't be able to use the middle DR unless you are moving with the wind/current. Every turn will result in a tangle.

Most of the time I use all 3 with no problem. It's nice to have 3 lines for finding the right bait and depth.

Thanks for the responses.

This has all been very helpful for me. This is what I think I Will do.

Since I already have two 60" Scotties on the sides, I get the impression that another one down the middle would be as good as it gets.

At the very least a 30" on the port side would be OK, and I could switch the 60" to the back.

I get the feeling that being able to keep the ball clear of the motor as well as the prop will
be an obvious benefit. No dents, no 150# stainless wrapped around the prop.

On my 21' Alumaweld SuperVee, I runa pair of Scotty 1106's on the gunnels and a Scotty 1100 on the starbord side of the Merc 200, it works great.

On a average day in the gorge, I run 12#'s on the side riggers and a 10# out the back, and I also run the center rigger up higher, not as deep as the side 2 riggers.

Something else, you need to run your gear a little further back from the ball, like 40'-60'.... nothing worse than having a large fish on an outside rod, run on the inside of that center down rigger cable, before you can get it out of the water.....right "Troller"

To keep the 3rd rigger out the back from getting in the prop of the big motor, I usually don't go deeper that 60' out the back.

I agree with some of the prior posts. We use the long boom Scotty's out the sides and then a center rigger with a lighter ball down the middle. On the middle rigger generally use a plug or spoon WITHOUT a flasher. Send it back about 40 feet and then clip it in. Don't drop it quit as deep. Sometimes the fish will pass on the hotspot/squid combo and hammer the plug following a little higher.

Only problems ever had on tangling was from nimrods cutting too close behind when fishing out of the pattern.

Good luck,

Steve