I have an idea to run a dredge from my outriggers with a pulley in front of the weight and a reel attached to my tower leg. I have a couple strip dredges and may one day run heaver dredge but the strip ones are fine for now. My question is: Do you think it will work? Also, what size reel do you think I will need to pull it in (and how would you recommend attaching a reel to a 2 inch pipe?). Remember, the pulley gives you a 2:1 mechanical advantage but it is twice as slow coming in. Thoughts?
Eric, unless you weld the reel to the tower I would think it would be too difficult to reel in. I did the same thing last year and it would only work if I used an aluminum bent butt piece and place the rod in a rod holder welded to the the tower. I pointed the rod towards the pulley hanging off the rigger. I ended up abandoning the idea because the strain on my little riggers was way too much. You probably have full side mounted riggers. Mine are t-top mounted and would not sustain the pressure.
Also food for thought. Make sure the diameter of the line is thick enough so the line can't slip off the pulley wheel into gap between the wheel and the plate. learned that the hard way.
Also while it is a whole lot easier to reel in, it also attracts twice as much weed
I've rigged a similar set up and was quite pleased with the results. I did not run the pulley you have shown for the 2:1 advantage.
What worked best for me was running a relatively light nylon line (about 400 lb working strength) that was comfortable to work with my hands which was spliced to heavy mono in such a way that it would run through the pulley I placed on the rigger. I secured the end of the line to the gunnel where my rigger line's were connected at a length that placed the dredge where I wanted it. To secure the dredge when I needed it up out of the water I had a rigging floss loop stitched into the the nylon line that could be secured quickly around a cleat. I found that being able to work the line comfortably by hand was far faster and efficient than a teaser reel.
If I were to do it again I sould run the line to a cam cleat instead to allow for easier adjusment of the dredge. I really liked being able to control it from the pit and being so simple that anyone in the crew would work it. Another bit of advice is to use wire ties to secure any of your running rigging to your outriggers so they would give way should a nice fish decide to take the dredge to the deep, much better to loose a wire tie than your rigger.
The boat I fished on in Isla last year used the same setup and the dredge ran great. The only problem was when we brought the dredge up to fight a fish it would hit the side off the boat as the boat spun around on the fish and twice it was not brought up far enough and got cut off in the props as we fought fish.
Snow, this works very well if you attach the pulley to the rigger and run the dredge on clothsline cord and tie it off to the tower leg. I run mine this way and you can let them hang straight down from the rigger while fighting a fish. It is easier than using reels, we tried using a downrigger in the tower leg rod holders it is a pain in the ass. you can pull the dredges up by hand much easier. it also keeps the dredges in the clean water outside the wash by pullin them off the riggers. If you are in O.C. let me know I fish out of there also and can show you what we're doin. it's not easy finding the perfect set-up for small boats and dredges, mine is 35' and I've tried it every way possible, and this one is best imo. Good Luck
SeaMent, How do you get the dredge to stay away from the boat while fighting a fish? I liked the setup we fished in Mexico but didnt want to scratch the crap out of the boat with while fighting a fish. This is the only pic of the dredge I can find from the trip but you can see how close the dredge was to the boat while hanging from the rigger.
Whitey, my dredges are hanging about 1/3 up the riggers, and when we have a fish on we leave the end of the dredge in the water and it is being drug around as we spin the boat as needed. I attach the pulley in the pin when the riggers are layed down with the cord run through the pulley. You can control the distance of the dredge from the boat in the cockpit It sounds like the pulleys need to be higher on the rigger to stay off the boat. I only pull double dredges on my boat because of the size of the riggers. A triple might be an issue with hitting the boat. I have double spreader Rupps and the pulleys are right under the 1st set of spreaders. Haven't hit the boat yet with the dredges. Had a few jump into the dredges though !! That Sucks !!
Thanks for the input guys. My riggers will handle the strain but I am worried about the reel having the power to crank the dredge in (I am not going to weld one to the tower Bill). I like the idea of keeping it on a hand line and that might be what I need to do. Seament, my boat is at Bahia. Where are you? I'd love to check out your setup.
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