Help Rigging an Islander 221

[jml82]

It’s a 221 - pretty much a clean slate - no holes filled or otherwise - transom has trim tabs - that’s it.

My bucket list is to catch a lake trout off of Munising (Lake Superior). Figuring depths to 200 plus feet. I don’t see setting a spread for more than 2 anglers (3 lines each right?). Also plan to run a planer board off each side.

1) chart plotter - leaning towards Lowrance HDS 9 Carbon with just the Totalscan transducer
2) down riggers - think 2 on the corners - confused with all the brand options - mounting options - easy removal is desirable.
3) rod holders - a couple of flush mount gunnel type - do not follow the different angles you can get.

Would love to see some pictures of your Islander and how you have it rigged.

 

[dingbat]

Why the carbon unit? Better sounders for less money on the market

 

[jml82]

Thanks for the reply.

The screen display technology differentiated it from others for me. It looked brighter and sharper than the Garmin or Hummingbird. Granted my perception is based in part on comparison in a dimly lit sporting goods store and part marketing literature (keep your sun glasses on). I have no way to compare the screens in the sun.

It works with Navionics charts which I like better than other charts I saw for the areas I plan to boat. It’s Chirp so presumably I get a decent view of the water column. It’s NMEA compliant should I want to add another MFD, radar, fuel flow sensor, etc... it’s supposed to have a fast processor which should minimize lag in screen refresh. I understand these items don’t differentiate it as other units have these features.

I’m a newby - which is why I posted - I see very little by way of online reviews of the Carbon and have yet to see anyone bad mouth it.

What other features should I consider and what other units would you recommend that I look at?

 

[MD28]

Munising is a beautiful place. You live in da UP eh? Iv seen some incredible stuff with both Hummingbird and Lowrance. I dont think you can go wrong with either. Id say just get the biggest screen you can afford and fit on your dash or wherever you put it. Check out UNCUT angling on Youtube. He does a show where he searches for a sunken row boat in a lake with his Hummingbird side scan and finds it fairly quickly without knowing its location. I have a lowrance right now and love it too. Do you have any pictures of your Islander? that is what we all want to see.

 

[jml82]

Have a place in Manistique - if it’s blowing from the south I trailer to Munising. Will check out UNCUT and your build as well.

 

[jml82]

[No message]

 

[laurentide]

I can add my $0.02 as a Starcraft owner and cold water angler. I have an old 18' Chieftain set up for fresh water salmonids in a deep lake. As to the sonar, it doesn't matter that much. It should be good enough to display bait fish and individual predator species down to about 200'. That's almost any one that you can buy new. Sidescan and all the other bells and whistles just aren't that much of a benefit when your targets are deep. I have an old color Garmin echo that works fine.

Equally as important as sonar is a speed and temperature probe. These tell you how fast your downrigger weight is moving, because the underwater currents are often radically different from the surface currents, and the temperature at your depth. It's an invaluable tool. I use a Fish Hawk X4. It's a wired transducer that receives a radio signal from the wireless, battery-powered probe and displays the data on a head unit:

For riggers, any brand that you buy new is going to be satisfactory. I personally use Cannon Mag 10's, just because they're a little bit cheaper than the Scotty's and faster than Big Jon's. The Scotty's are awesome but pricey.

The thing with riggers on Starcrafts is that the gunwales were not really made to mount something that's pulling a cantilevered 10-20 pound weight on cable, so they need to be reinforced. You can do that with starboard or plywood under the gunwales, or, as I opted to do, install a downrigger bar across the stern. Here's what my setup looks like (with my old riggers in the photos). It's on tracks so it's removeable...I see you have stern seats so if you go this route you'll want to be able to remove it. They also make clamp-on models that you'll find if you do a google search.

New downriggers:

The overall boat setup:

You can see that I just use a tablet with a GPS chip and the Navionics app for a chartplotter. No issues as long as you can keep it dry and charged.

I have a Minn Kota on the bow that I use for "autopilot." I put the kicker in gear and lock it straight, then use the trolling motor with aluminum skeg to steer on a magnetic compass setting. It's awesome when fishing solo, which is most of the time for me:

This likely won't apply to your boat since it's i/o and I'm assuming you'll be able to go slow enough, but I also have kicker throttle servo controller at the helm, which allows me to fine tune the speed:

I think that covers all the gear that I use other than tackle. As you can see, you can drop some serious money on this hobby once you get into it. Good luck. You've got a great boat and fishing platform for this stuff.

 

[jml82]

Thanks laurentide - what a great response - just the type of detail I was looking for - I know I can’t buy everything at once.

Thinking chart plotter first so I don’t get lost or grounded - thought a kicker backup motor might be second so if primary takes a dump I can get back - have Boatus.

After that I’m itching to fish - have planer boards and a couple of poles but no rod holders - thinking I could start with dipseys to get lower.

Want to minimize holes - considered gimbal mounts for riggers but I see you point about weak gunnels. Like your transom bar - but it looks like you secure it with lengths of track which would be more holes.

Thanks again this is really helping me think this thru.

 

[Watermann]

I'm really happy with my Raymarine DragonFly with Chirp downvision but if I were to be inclined to spend twice as much then the Axiom would be the way to go.

 

[laurentide]

Thanks laurentide - what a great response - just the type of detail I was looking for - I know I can’t buy everything at once.

Thinking chart plotter first so I don’t get lost or grounded - thought a kicker backup motor might be second so if primary takes a dump I can get back - have Boatus.

After that I’m itching to fish - have planer boards and a couple of poles but no rod holders - thinking I could start with dipseys to get lower.

Want to minimize holes - considered gimbal mounts for riggers but I see you point about weak gunnels. Like your transom bar - but it looks like you secure it with lengths of track which would be more holes.

Thanks again this is really helping me think this thru.

If you have any specific questions you can PM me or post them here. I'd say if you're going to fish a bunch to install tracks. They're great for rod holders and a whole bunch of other accessories. I believe you can even put a planer mast on them. I know holes in the gunwales suck but you can just leave them there forever. Another accessory for them is step pads.

Tackle-wise, one thing that works really well here on Champlain for Atlantics are Slide Divers, specifically the "Lite Bite" Slide Divers. They're like Dipsy's but allow you to put out as much leader as you want. When they trip, the diver slides to a bead down by the lure. But since you're on the Great Lakes you're probably good with Dipsy's. They seem to work well there and you guys have bigger species there. If you don't want a mast the inline planer boards work great as well.

Watermann mentioned the Dragonfly chartplotter/finder, and I've seen good reviews for them and they're significantly less expensive than the Lowrance and Furuno models. But if you're adding radar/engine data you probably want something that'll work with that stuff (I don't know if the Dragonfly does or not).

Good luck. You can get away with leadcore and swimbaits until the water warms up. No fancy stuff required when the fish are shallow.

If I were starting fresh I'd be looking for a plotter/finder combo, electric riggers, and a speed temp probe. Those things will take you a long way.