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I'm going to mount my outriggers this afternoon and I have a few questions:

1) I bought the 22' Lee's that fit into the Lee wishbone bases. Is there a particular spot on the gunnel that I should attach the halyard so the outrigger line stays tight with the outrigger in the upright and deployed positions?

2) As suggested, I'm going to use Tef Gel on the threads, but what do you guy's use to protect the aluminum? I seem to remember someone saying they wiped them down with CX. I also have seen a product called Rupp Guard.

Thanks,

JR

Wipe with CX

Ditto, use CX. The Rupp Guard is a silicone product and does not last very long.

I use "tag lines" off the outrigger "clothes lines"....the tag line is the same length as the outrigger and the fishing line clips via a rubber band to the end of it, the net result is your fishing linegoes from the rod tip to the rubber band which is way behind the transon....when you get a strike, the outrigger bends, the rubber band stretches before it pops, and the angle between the rod tip and the fish is near zero when the rubber band pops.

I use braided nylon rope - 1/8" - for my outrigger and tag lines. Mono is too slippery for me. I put a Witchard clip on one end of the clothes line and tie a little loop in the other end, and have a small hollow base cleat on the gunnel where the clothes line passes thru its base. The cleat is on the raised part of the gunnel near the back of the motor boxes. That spot keeps the clothes line tight when the outrigger is deployed or raised, and the tag line attaches to a little strap aft of that when the outrigger is raised.

Final trick on the tag lines: tie a Witchard clip on the bitter end and tie a loop about three feet up from it....pass the witchard clip thru the rubber band and back up to the loop and clip it there - now you don't have the clip near the rubber band to catch the line.

UV

I have used both Rupp and CX and prefer CX.

all my metal gets wiped down with cx, even the engines after every oil change, i keep a rag that has been saturated with cx in a plastic zip bag.

Thanks for the pointers.

I've had problems in the past with the outrigger clip creeping down from the end of the outrigger, so I bought a Hal-Lock with 2 pulleys:

http://www.gotomop.com/Products.htm

I am hoping to run 2 lines off of each outrigger with this set up. I've fished on other boats that did this, but I'm not sure a 22' Outrigger is long enough to fish 2 lines from.

Vic, that sounds like a neat system. Great minds think alike: I bought some 1/8 braided nylon this morning. Maybe you can show me how it works when we run up the river to come see you. I hope BP can get things under control down river so we can fish later in the summer. I'm wondering how long it will take the oil to clear once they get the thing capped off.

JR

I plan on securing my halyards near the on the covering boards near the aft end of the engine boxes so I have easy access for halyard retrieval once they have been tripped

Marlin,

That's about where I thought I would secure mine. I was able to get the outriggers put together and mounted just in time for a huge thunderstorm. Going to try to figure out the halyards today.

JR

Vic, I get the basics of what your saying with the tag lines..Do you have any pictures of your set up?? Thanks BH.

Bob - I'll look for some, if not I'm going to the boat tomorrow and can take some. My outriggers are 18' Lees with no spreaders (I like them to flex) and I have the Lee Sr. bases adjusted so they lay out at almost a 90 degree angle from the boat - spread as far apart as they can - then the tag lines drop back off the tips to put the rubber band back behind the transom. Some folks use a sliding hollow weight to automatically bring the tag line back to the base after a strike but I find they keep the clothes line from pulling the tag line to the tip.

The trick at the fishing line end of the tag line where the clip is tied to the bitter end, passed thru the rubber band (I use #64s wrapped 7 times around the fishing line on my 80# stuff) then back to a loop tied in the tag line about 3' up from the end is something I invented after losing a couple of big fish when the fishing line wrapped around the clip in rough weather. This way you have about 18 inches of just tag line between the clip/loop and the rubber band, so if the fishing line wraps up on the tag line there is nothing for it to catch on.

Another trick I learned is to "X" the reels when you clear the cockpit after a strike. All this involves is teaching your crew to move the fishing line back and forth across the reel when they first begin to wind in the lines, creating an X pattern on the reel....when you put the lines back out just free spool until the "X" appears then stop.....and vola! the bait is in the same place in your spread.....I also number the rods and rod holders with little strips of blue tape so the right rod goes in the right holder every time. These two tricks speed up re-deploying the spread after a strike, and that's important 'cause if you had a strike, you be'z in the right place.

UV

We fish 6 lines for wahoo at 12-15 knots with heavy artificials . 2 longs on tag lines with rubber bands attached to dental floss loops that has been woven securly at predetermined lengths. We constantly are making sharp turns ,letting the inside lures drop down. We stagger the lines approx 25' apart and mark the lines length by again wrapping floss at these lengths, and mark a piece of colored vinyl tape with a sharpie indicating the length. I often take guests that have little experience and this system works well

Vic, I think I follow your explanation of the end of your tag line.

As for attaching the rubber band to your fishing line, this is how we fish rubber band "release clips" on planar boards in the Chesapeake.

When you've let out the amount of line you want from your reel, make one loop in the fishing line (using both hands) and then a second loop overlapping. Put the rubber band through these two loops and through it's self. Pull the rubber band tight and clip the rubber band to your tag line. The loops in the mono close up. The rubber band will not slip from these loops. When the rubber band snaps the loops become straight again.

I also like Marlin's dental floss loops for marking predetermined lengths.

I loop one end of the $64 around my left index finger, grab the fishing line with my right hand and wrap the other end of the rubber band 7 times around the line then loop it around my left index finger that already has the other end looped on it....then stretch both loops and pass the Witchard clip thru it and back to the tab line loop....pull the tag line to the top of the rigger then let out line from the reel until its tight and strung out all the way.

I took a couple of pix this weekend of where my gunnel cleat is located in relation to the Lee Sr. riggers. If anyone wants to see it, gimme a shout at royvictor@cox.net I also have a nice pix of the big ass snake that was slitherling down my dock headed for AJ before I dispached his ass with one blast from my 12 ga. pump.....#4 steel shot, offhand snap shot from the upstairs porch. Camp neighbor thought I'd shot his worthless dawg...no such luck.

UV