This post is in response to all the requests for boat rigging information following the Lake Superior Lake Trout Dream Trip report I posted here on IDO a few days back.
Before I get into this too far I want to point out that I’m quite “green” at all this big water trout and salmon fishing and much of the gear used and the way the 2100 was rigged comes directly from the guys at Skeeter Boat Center. In particular, Dave Markquart has made it his mission to familiarize himself with various big water rigging products, including track systems and downriggers, in an effort to better serve his customers that need rigging advice or service.
I’ll start first with the boat rigging which basically revolves around the Trax Tech mounting track system.
The Trax Tech track system comes in a variety of lengths and is mounted to the gunnel in much the same way a rail system is mounted. The advantage of the track system as I see it now after some fairly limited use is largely twofold.
1 – Superior strength. You’re NOT going to have issues with the track ever breaking nor will any of your mounted hardware move… unless you want it to move.
2 – Infinite adjustability. You can position rod holders, downriggers or any other accessory mounted in the track at any point along the track and do so with a quick turn of two thumb screws.
The photo above will give you a clear idea of how we have the WX 2100 rigged using the Trax Tech system. A Trax Tech track is mounted along the top of each gunnel and that track has two accessories mounted in the track on each side of the boat.
Those accessories are:
Port Side – One “Triple Tree” rod holder directly behind Grant driving the boat and a Cannon Mag 10 downrigger toward the rear.
Starboard Side – One “Triple Tree” rod holder next to the passenger side seat behind the console and a Cannon Mag 10 downrigger toward the rear.
Here’s a photo of a “Triple Tree” also known as a “Vertical Tree Rod Holder.”
I also found a youtube video showing the Vertical Tree Rod Holder in action.
What I really liked about the Vertical Rod holders was that the rod holder itself took up very little room along the gunnel, adjustability of the rod angle vertically to avoid boards “line jumping” in heavy seas AND the rods could be placed in the rod holders when traveling on the lake.
The small footprint on the gunnel was very convenient because it freed up a large amount of space to net fish that refused to come to the back of the boat, resuscitate a fish, etc. In a typical rail mount arrangement rod holders are staggered along the entire length of the rail leaving very little room on the gunnel when rods are deployed.
In heavy seas trollers will often make adjustments to the rod holders along the gunnel in an effort to avoid having boards “jump the line” of the board next to it in the spread. They do this by tipping the traditional rod holder back to raise the tip of rods further forward in the boat to a higher relative position when compared with rods closer to the transom.
The idea is to create enough vertical space between the lines coming off the side of the boat to make it impossible for boards coming off the top of a wave to jump over the line of another board. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, its a pain!
Stacking rods to create more vertical space between the lines and adjusting further from there by tipping the tubes in or out as needed seems to completely eliminate this issue and seems to allow the boards to track with less jumping and surging.
Being able to travel with the rods in the Vertical Rod Holder was awesome! No more rods bouncing around the bottom of the boat. No more dinged up reels and tangled rods. All you did was put the rods in the tubes, tilt the tubes to the nearly vertical position and off you went. Each rod was were you wanted and needed it when it came time to re-deploy lines. As an added safety the Vertical Rod Holders come with a rubber strap that can be used to further secure the rods in the tubes in exceptionally rough conditions although I’ll go on record as saying it would be next to impossible to lose a rod out of one of these holders. Of course, better safe than sorry… so the strap is there to guarantee it.
Next is the downrigger mount shown below.
The downrigger mount bolts to the bottom of the downrigger and the downrigger slides to position in the Trax Tech track. Sound easy? It is. The track allowed us to position the downrigger where we needed it and the track handled the stresses put on it by the #10 downrigger ball trolled at 2+ mph with no noticeable signs of fatigue or unwanted movement at any time.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this big water trolling stuff is so easy even a walleye guy LIKE ME can do it. I know many look at these big water trolling set ups and there’s a natural tendency to push back on learning more about what these “tools” can add to our bag of tricks as anglers. I will admit… I did. But once I got in the boat and started using them it was as natural feeling as learning to 3-way rig and the fish I’ve caught this season because of this new tool in my arsenal… worth every penny invested!
28# Lake Trout. Need I say more?!
