Thinking about adding a downrigger or 2 for Striper and Tuna fishing. Striper fishing I troll at 1.5-2 kts and Tuna I troll at 5-6 kts. Looking to get down 50 feet. What would be a good unit to use and do the rod holder mounts work ok. I dont want to mount hardware to my deck. Also I would not mind the option to transport to another boat.

What weight should I use. Has anybody used a downwiger for drifting live bait in place of a 3 way or fishfinder rig?

I have been using the canon digi-troll IV with pretty good success. (better each year) The only reason I bought this unit is it has the option of using its own transom mouned transducer that allows the unit to know exactly how deep it is. This allows the downrigger to do bottom contouring, ie automajically raising and lowering the ball as the bottom depth changes. (you simply set the depth you want the lure off the bottom...along with a few other settings) This works great for bass and you don't hang the ball on the bottom ever. I have driven right over bars with rapid depth changes and the lure stays at the depth off the bottom I specified...it is impressive to see working.
For tuna where the water is generally really deep and you just want to go 50' or so down you really don't need this, but it is still a nice feature as you can program it to do there things at different depths.
I use a rod-holder mount and not the deck mount. It works fine and you can take it off and bring it home when not in use.

IMO after using them now for about 4 years I have to say they they do indeed work but it adds another level of complication to fishing that I really don't care for and it is electric (you will need to install this). The biggest plus is you can troll a lure or bait 50-100' behind the boat and 50' down with brainded line even on a light rod if you want! It is a real replacement for wire line.
One thing you will need is an Aftco roller-troller clip (buy a few...these are good!) You attach this to the ball and this has a ball bearing wheel that allows the line to go in and out as the ball goes up and down, snaps open on a strike. works great. However on real light lures you are better off with a standard pinch clip as the drag in the line going straight down will belly and pull you lure in too close to the clip. So you need both kinds of clips.

For tuna try the delta Z-wing planner. Several guys I know use them and they like them. I have never tried one...but they look cool and don't require electric power.

...This allows the downrigger to do bottom contouring, ie automajically raising and lowering the ball as the bottom depth changes. ....

Man, that is SOOO cool. We used downriggers a lot in AK to troll for salmon. I don't see them too often around here. I will look into this digi-troll IV, although I have a feeling it is going to be $$$$$.

Still, very cool.

I'll go with the electric than...

They are expensive (like 1400 ea+ opt's and acc's that you need) and it put me off from buying one for a couple years until one day there was a ad in the fisherman and a guy had 4 of them new (for a new boat he was buying, the boat deal fell thru next and had dowriggers and no boat) and was selling them all for 700 each and wanted to sell them all. I told him I would buy one for 700 if he was interested. We made a deal. It was brand new in a sealed box from cabelas so I decided to go for it. IMO they are worth 700...you've got to really be into downriggers to pay 1400 for one, it is more of a novelity for me. I checked ebay and used ones were selling for 700 so I thought I was getting a good deal. (I like to try everything related to fishing, like most of you I have a ton of fishing crap, alot of which I don't use anymore) I do use this thing though numerous times each season but it is usually when I by myself and don't have to explain the user inferface to the guy in the cockpit.....again it over complicates fishing somewhat but it is cool. I caught a lot of fish with it this fall. It also emits an electrial current into the water but I have not played with that feature...sounds freaky but there were several technical papers included that showed how fish were attracted to weak electrical fields. I left that part off, it is involved enough as it is.

For the real geek you can hook up to 4 of these units to a separate contol mount at the helm with large LCD panel showing what each one is doing. You can raise/lower set one to jig, or contour and do just about anything all from the helm. Like most things boating or fishing, you can spend a ton of cash on a full blown set up with 4 riggers and contoller transduers, etc.. Not for me but it is cool to read about what you can do. I have seen ads for the salmon guys on the west coast where they advertise they have these full blown multi headed downriggers units You can easily drop 10K on a maxed out system.

IMO the problem with all this fancy stuff is that it will probably break eventually and you are stuck with new $1400-10K anchor. My advice is keep it as simple as possible. Do they work? YES! but it may be more involved then most guys want to get into for a day of fishing. For me a good day of fishing can just involve a lead sinker, a hook some bait and some good company. I don't like reading manuals on how to program a fishing device while I am fishing but I did it to check it out. I will probably include this device in the deal when I sell my boat.

About a grand for the rigger

http://cgi.ebay.com/CANNON-DIGI-TROLL-IV-ELECTRIC-DOWNRIGGER_W0QQitemZ270057617483QQihZ017QQcategory Z4668QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

Same page has transducers for 75 bucks

http://cgi.ebay.com/Cannon-Downrigger-Digi-Troll-IV-Transducer-1491072-NEW_W0QQitemZ220053170405QQihZ012QQcategoryZ62154Q QrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

I'd love to set it up, but my boats too small and already loaded with enough gear to sink her....:uhoh:

I have electric downriggers but don't have the contour control. I always wanted to troll for tuna with them but I can't find a clip that will hold the line at 6 knots especially if the lure has any kind of drag. If anyone find a strong clip I'd be interested in picking up a few.

For years up that way I used a downrigger cannon unitroll to troll live eels & smaller shad around South County and BI. I think the action was even better than livelining for large stripers. I never did try it for tuna as I usually pull surface or sub surface plugs

I have electric downriggers but don't have the contour control. I always wanted to troll for tuna with them but I can't find a clip that will hold the line at 6 knots especially if the lure has any kind of drag. If anyone find a strong clip I'd be interested in picking up a few.

Keith,

Get the Aftco roller troller clip, I have trolled 9'er shad umbrella rigs on this one and the clip doesn't pop. (not at 6 knots but I bet I could get it to hold) You can adjust it as tight as you want. It is not cheap something like 20someodd bucks each. The only thing I could concieve being a problem is if you have a really stong vibrating lure like a giant deep diver on this at 6 knots, maybe then it might pop open but you may be able to get it to hold. try it. (they work great as flat line clips too.)

Thanks Jim I'll look into it. Plenty of time until spring....

Thinking about adding a downrigger or 2 for Striper and Tuna fishing. Striper fishing I troll at 1.5-2 kts and Tuna I troll at 5-6 kts. Looking to get down 50 feet. What would be a good unit to use and do the rod holder mounts work ok. I dont want to mount hardware to my deck. Also I would not mind the option to transport to another boat.

What weight should I use. Has anybody used a downwiger for drifting live bait in place of a 3 way or fishfinder rig?

FWIW, I don't think you're going to happy stiper fishing unless you can slow the boat down further, no matter what you're trolling. 1.5 to 2 knots you'll catch lots of bluefish, but you really need to get down to 1 knot for stipers. Tuna speed are fine but use a z-wing instead of a lead ball. It's really unneccessary for tuna and some guys think that the vibration from the outrigger line may actually be a detrement.

...1.5 to 2 knots you'll catch lots of bluefish, but you really need to get down to 1 knot for stipers...

i disagree.
i think if you are under 2 or sometimes even 2.5 kts you should be fine, depending on what the current is doing.

has anyone here used a mojo rig for trolling?? seems to me this is a much better way.

I agree with Zacs... in my heathen wire-line days we caught a lot of fish at 2.5 knots

I use a 3 way on tube and worms with a 1.5 oz bucktail that is similar to a mo-jo rig. I got the idea fishing down south fore Stripers one winter...

I have bought unbrellas and clipped on storm shads with the weighted heads. This seems to get me down where I want to be.

I tried monkeying around with the mojo thing 2 seasons ago - biggest bucktail that I had was only 10 ounces so it didn't fish right (kept wrapping with the spoon) - I found the right big lead heads on-line from a maryland shop, but never got around to ordering them- then again, I must have been trolling to fast....