Scotty Downriggers

[jekyll]

I switched from Cannon to Big Jon riggers recently and have had nothing but problems with them. Big Jon even replaced the riggers with 2 new ones but several problems persist. I've had several trusted people recommend Scotty riggers as a good alternative and I've searched the threads here for reports on them them. I see lots of glowing recommendations for Scotty riggers but they seem to be from several very happy users.

I'm would like to hear from any unhappy Scotty customers and learn if there are any common problems. Please PM me if you don't want to publicly complain about Scotty equipment. Big Jon will refund my money but, now I need to buy an alternative.

[tangler]

We have 2 scotty propacs on our penn yan and we love them! The only thing i dont like is how high the rodholders stick up, wish they made some adjustable ones. I stick the rods in my bert holders and crank em down till they're almost in the water.

[Yankee Troller]

If your going to buy Scotty's I would wait until the Spring. I happen to see at the recent Scotty event, in Oswego, that they have a new rigger coming out for 2011. Some of the things I noticed about it was:

Faster retrieve rate

Digital depth readout

Adjustable rod holders

Smaller overall design of the main rigger

We have ran Scottys for 5 years now. Very solid rigger!

[Landshark]

Do it right the first time with Scotty

[Self Censored]

OK,

I have been down the same road as you. I replaced my Big jons last year with Scotty's. I now have close to 80 trips on the Scottys. Here is what I can tell you:

They are dependable for going up and down. Some of my riggers drop to quickly and have no middle ground, I understand that there is an adjustment for this, but I do not have the time to fingure it our.

#2 == I have gone thru 3 counters on my 5 riggers -- this is not good the counters are junk, make sure you have spares.

Other than that I love them they are very user friendly and I believe they are the best rigger on the market to day.

I am interested in checking the new ones that Yankee refered to , I may have to upgrade.

[Misty IV]

I switched from Cannon to Big Jon riggers recently and have had nothing but problems with them. Big Jon even replaced the riggers with 2 new ones but several problems persist. I've had several trusted people recommend Scotty riggers as a good alternative and I've searched the threads here for reports on them them. I see lots of glowing recommendations for Scotty riggers but they seem to be from several very happy users.

I'm would like to hear from any unhappy Scotty customers and learn if there are any common problems. Please PM me if you don't want to publicly complain about Scotty equipment. Big Jon will refund my money but, now I need to buy an alternative.

Just out of curiosity, why did you get rid of your Cannons?

[Tim Bromund]

I used to have old Cannon Mag 10A's on the boat, in 2003 I put two Scotty 1116's on the corners and moved the cannons up the gunwales as out downs. After two year of the cannons being in the way and not using them I took them off the boat and stuck them in the basement until I eventually sold em.

The old Cannons were were fine, but very slow. The Scotty's were superior in every aspect. Like tangler, my only complaint was the rod holders. I have since replaced 1 holder on each rigger with the adjustable holders that come on the 1117's and that completely got rid of my only complaint. Couldn't be happier with them, 7 seasons so far without a single issue on either of them. From what I've heard, the repair centers will tell you they never (or very seldom ever) see scotty's come in for service, they just keep working.

Tim

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

I have been testing a couple of the new ones for about 3 weeks. Very responsibly, Scotty does not want to hype them until they are sure they are perfect. I thought the original Scottys were the best in an overall solid industry. We've beat on them all, and the Scottys are the best. So far, I have had zero problems with the new ones, and the new rod holder design is a vast improvement and looks better too.

I love the "free fall" feature of all Scottys, and have no problems with tangles. If you have a crowded set, I would "feather" the drop by slowing the drop by moving the brake. My least favorite feature of the older ones was the counters for me as well, but this has been addressed. The new digital counters will be lit up by a 5yr battery. Time will tell how they will hold up.

All things considered, the older ones are still great if you find a deal on used or new ones. No time table on when the new model will be approved for sale, but I'm sure it will be by next season.

[tangler]

Jekyll: One more good point i forgot to mention, these are lifetime guaranteed. My uncle on the west coast had a problem with one of his old ones and brought it in for service. The guy demanded his other rigger and went through both, replacing everything questionable at no cost to him! You cant argue with good service. I would check out the new models, sure they'll be out soon. Thanks for the pointers on the rodholders guys i plan to upgrade mine. TANGLER

[Tim Bromund]

http://www.fishusa.com/Scotty-Model-346 ... der_p.html

Tim

[jekyll]

Misty:

I had 2 old mag 10 low speed on the sides and a manual cannon on the transom center. The MAG-10s had difficulty with 15pound balls. This year's upgrade was 2 new riggers for the sides and I moved the 2 mag 10's to the transom. This provides me with 3 riggers for fishing and one dedicated probe rigger; I usually fish just 2 riggers.

I was initially thinking of new Mag-10 HS but 3 things caused me to go with Big Jon: I was am leery of the high speed of the new Cannons; Cannon has put out a bad batch of riggers in the last year with lots of problems; the rigger shop that sold and installed them is a repair center of all types of riggers and the only ones they had in the shop were Cannons and Penns.

The service center guys came and took the Big Jons today to repair one and replace one. They have one more chance ti get if cirrected before I deep six the them.

All:

Thanks for the Scotty info. It's nice to hear about the bad points as well as the good.

[traveling man]

I have cannons on my boat but my next set will be scotty's. I fish on Glens Boat (spoonfed) and he has scotty's. One day we were fishing west of the Niagara Bar and plastic bag came up the rigger line and covered the bead so the rigger did not stop. It was my fault I should have pushed the button to stop the rigger. Well Glen gets on the radio and asked Janz if he had spare parts or does he know where to get them. He says no. About 5 seconds later a Scotty employee (Ivan)calls Glen over the radio and asks what he needs. He said where he was on the water and that he would float the parts over to us. Hows that for customer service.

[Misty IV]

Misty:

I had 2 old mag 10 low speed on the sides and a manual cannon on the transom center. The MAG-10s had difficulty with 15pound balls. This year's upgrade was 2 new riggers for the sides and I moved the 2 mag 10's to the transom. This provides me with 3 riggers for fishing and one dedicated probe rigger; I usually fish just 2 riggers.

I was initially thinking of new Mag-10 HS but 3 things caused me to go with Big Jon: I was am leery of the high speed of the new Cannons; Cannon has put out a bad batch of riggers in the last year with lots of problems; the rigger shop that sold and installed them is a repair center of all types of riggers and the only ones they had in the shop were Cannons and Penns.

The service center guys came and took the Big Jons today to repair one and replace one. They have one more chance ti get if cirrected before I deep six the them.

All:

Thanks for the Scotty info. It's nice to hear about the bad points as well as the good.

Interesting to know about the 15lb weights. I installed (2) new Mag 10-HS's this spring and love them so far. I did lose a 12lb Shark about a month ago and replaced it with a 15lb torpedo - nobody in the area had the Sharks in stock and I wanted to finish fishing the weekend out fully. I did notice that one Cannon was struggling a bit with the Torpedo compared to the Shark.