My name is Tor (yeah, like the thunder god - the "h" in Thor is just to make it easier to pronounce for non Scandinavian speakers) and I live in Norway, so it's pretty far from BC. But searching for downrigger info I kept getting hits from this forum, I guess that has to mean something. 
I have a 24 foot alu boat with a Suzuki DF 140 and an open wheelhouse (mainly roof and windscreen) that my wife and I use all year for fishing, both with pots for crawfish, crabs, fish and lobster and sports fishing. I have for a few years thought it could be fun to try downrigger fishing, mostly for big pollock and mackerel for pot bait. Which we use a lot of. So it would be handy to stack tow lines on maybe 15 and 30 meters to find the schools easier. And then use free rods to scoop up as many as possible before the school passes by. Trolling without downriggers, only with a hand line and a 250 gram lead weight is the way mackerel fishing is mostly done here in southern Norway. We have always prefered using rods and reels, it's more fun and we avoid the mess of mono all over the bottom of the boat when pulling up fish. Using a downrigger for that is pretty much unheard of. A few sportsfishermen use them to troll for salmon in the sea, but that's a very short season. And then for pollock, but again not that many. There are more fresh water trolling fishers here in Norway, but they usually fish shallow and use manual rigs.
I have done a few tests with a makeshift/MacGyvered downrigger made from a line puller, a 6 mm pot line and a 15 lbs/7 kilos weight and decided that this really can be fun when done right. But I need four hands to do it the MacGyver way, and since grafting on a second pair probably is beyond even Norwegian doctors, I am very lucky that my wife said I could have an early gift for my 60th birthday next year and buy a downrigger within reasonable limits. In Norway the limits are not even close to reasonable, around 2200 USD for a Cannon Magnum 10 STX TS. And I want something good, I almost always regret it more when I go for something cheap than when I get the quality I really want.
So from reading, searching, watching YouTube and generally researching different versions I think the Scotty 2116 may fit my bill. I really like that I can put stopper beads before each stacker clip, I think the Cannons will need watching when pulling up the weight with those clips. Or am I mistaken? Maybe the set depth function can be used for that? But I believe that's only available on the Optimum now, and in Norway those will set you back 3500 USD!
Anyway, I have not been able to find the 2116 or any other High Performance or Depthpower rigs in Norway, it seems like only the manual Depthmaster rigs are available. My shoulder won't agree with the cranking, especially going 30 meters deep. I can get the 2116 from Denmark for around 2000 USD, but at least 1/3 cheaper with shipping and Norwegian sales tax (25 %) if I buy it from the US or Canada. So that is one option. The second option is to load up with patience, which is not really my strong side...and wait for a used one showing up on eBay. I guess there could be one during the fall or winter, so it would be worth waiting. Of course, if anybody here knows about a good deal on a good downrigger I'd be open to suggestions.
But one thing I foresee as a big problem with many rigs is the depth counter in feet. All my reels (Shimano Tekota and ABU 7000i Trolling) are in meters. I have mild dyscalculia, so converting feet to meters on the fly is not a good option. But I see that the Scotty's digital counter can be set to meters. But then again maybe I would be better served with a 1116? I mailed Scoty about it, and that depth counter can not be replaced by one in meters. But perhaps I can use a detachable solution, like this:
I do of course want reliability in my gear, and I have read that the mechanical Scottys are more reliable than the High Performance line. But manybe that was when they were newer, I have not found recent info about that. Since I'm not doing anything commercial and parts are scarse in Norway anyway, and repair shops even scarser, I am ready to take some downtime if something happens, as long as I can fix it myself.
I have a 24 foot alu boat with a Suzuki DF 140 and an open wheelhouse (mainly roof and windscreen) that my wife and I use all year for fishing, both with pots for crawfish, crabs, fish and lobster and sports fishing. I have for a few years thought it could be fun to try downrigger fishing, mostly for big pollock and mackerel for pot bait. Which we use a lot of. So it would be handy to stack tow lines on maybe 15 and 30 meters to find the schools easier. And then use free rods to scoop up as many as possible before the school passes by. Trolling without downriggers, only with a hand line and a 250 gram lead weight is the way mackerel fishing is mostly done here in southern Norway. We have always prefered using rods and reels, it's more fun and we avoid the mess of mono all over the bottom of the boat when pulling up fish. Using a downrigger for that is pretty much unheard of. A few sportsfishermen use them to troll for salmon in the sea, but that's a very short season. And then for pollock, but again not that many. There are more fresh water trolling fishers here in Norway, but they usually fish shallow and use manual rigs.
I have done a few tests with a makeshift/MacGyvered downrigger made from a line puller, a 6 mm pot line and a 15 lbs/7 kilos weight and decided that this really can be fun when done right. But I need four hands to do it the MacGyver way, and since grafting on a second pair probably is beyond even Norwegian doctors, I am very lucky that my wife said I could have an early gift for my 60th birthday next year and buy a downrigger within reasonable limits. In Norway the limits are not even close to reasonable, around 2200 USD for a Cannon Magnum 10 STX TS. And I want something good, I almost always regret it more when I go for something cheap than when I get the quality I really want.
So from reading, searching, watching YouTube and generally researching different versions I think the Scotty 2116 may fit my bill. I really like that I can put stopper beads before each stacker clip, I think the Cannons will need watching when pulling up the weight with those clips. Or am I mistaken? Maybe the set depth function can be used for that? But I believe that's only available on the Optimum now, and in Norway those will set you back 3500 USD!
Anyway, I have not been able to find the 2116 or any other High Performance or Depthpower rigs in Norway, it seems like only the manual Depthmaster rigs are available. My shoulder won't agree with the cranking, especially going 30 meters deep. I can get the 2116 from Denmark for around 2000 USD, but at least 1/3 cheaper with shipping and Norwegian sales tax (25 %) if I buy it from the US or Canada. So that is one option. The second option is to load up with patience, which is not really my strong side...and wait for a used one showing up on eBay. I guess there could be one during the fall or winter, so it would be worth waiting. Of course, if anybody here knows about a good deal on a good downrigger I'd be open to suggestions.
But one thing I foresee as a big problem with many rigs is the depth counter in feet. All my reels (Shimano Tekota and ABU 7000i Trolling) are in meters. I have mild dyscalculia, so converting feet to meters on the fly is not a good option. But I see that the Scotty's digital counter can be set to meters. But then again maybe I would be better served with a 1116? I mailed Scoty about it, and that depth counter can not be replaced by one in meters. But perhaps I can use a detachable solution, like this:
I do of course want reliability in my gear, and I have read that the mechanical Scottys are more reliable than the High Performance line. But manybe that was when they were newer, I have not found recent info about that. Since I'm not doing anything commercial and parts are scarse in Norway anyway, and repair shops even scarser, I am ready to take some downtime if something happens, as long as I can fix it myself.
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