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So went out from Pastrick about 3 PM and headed out. Knew they were calling for possible storms again around 7 so didn't want to venture to far out and Traffic was horrible so bailed on Portage. Went out and decided to just try for some Lakers since I was not going to be able to run far enough North to get silver. the weather was wonderful but the fishing not so much. I had one Dippsie scream for a minute but by the time I got to it there was nothing there. Had a Down rigger pop 3 times and twice I am 99% sure it was a fish but again nothing to show for it. Called it a night @ 7 PM and enjoyed the evening sky and cooler temps on the ride back. Bad part is I got home and found one of my rigger arms was snapped off. Not sure if it caught a tree one way home or something or the waves bouncing the arm for 3 hours took a toll on it. I was not expecting much from the night and I wasted time trying to decided where and what to fish for. Now I just need to see what I can replace the rigger arm with until I can get a replacement.

dang........what king of riggers Ed?

Big Jon Capts pak with Fiberglass arms. They are long arms so for now I am just going to cut off the one end. I got them from the one member here for really cheap so at least I didn't pay big money up front. If I have to buy new a new arm I will most likely get the newer metal ones. I think I am going to have to keep the arms tied down while I am towing the boat so I don't snap any more.

That sucks Ed....learned few hard lessons like that myself. Even had handles of my cannons spin off down the highway. Heard of straps breaking and losing coolers of fish, etc, etc. I take my riggers off for traveling. Ask my crew how anal I am bout securing everything for the run, water and highway!

I know they are not popular on Lake Michigan it seems, but the Scotty electrics I use have an 1 1/4 inch stainless tube for an arm. They telescope in and out, no threads to break on the arm like a big jon has. I do what GC talks about also. I remove my riggers for the long trip up and back from the lake. That vibration from the road would test most equipment. On my boat the gunnels are 3/4 plywood with a thin sheet of aluminum and carpet on them. It would probably wear the bolts out of the wood if I tried driving with them mounted. Your Alumacraft has a better gunnel as yours is all metal and your alumatrac is part of the extrusion. Trophies like I have use a separate alumatrac channel that is wood screwed to the edge of the 3/4 plywood gunnel top. It is a weak set up in my opinion. There is some flexing going on.

My Big Jon's are older so it is a single fiberglass arm with no threads. I just had to cut about a feet off the end and put it back into the mount clamp. I checked and it is good to go.

The Alumarail is nice but I actually have a 2 x 6 board across the back that is held on with J-Bolts, The riggers are attached to that on a 12" riser so the ball clears the back.

I am looking to see if the Cannon Tab mount will work with the Big Jon base plate so I can just quick connect them rather than having to bolt them down every time.

I believe I actually broke it off right in front of the house. I pulled to the side of the road so the wife could get the other vehicle out of the drive way so I could get the boat in and forgot about the riggers when I pulled under a low hanging tree. It was also dark out which didn't help since I didnt really notice the tree. A lesson learned and in the end it should cost me less than $15 to get back in action (just one riggers arm is a little shorter).

Hey Ed, try to get a hold of big jon to see if you can replace them with the metal arms. They looked like they were the same diameter. Mike

raven wrote:

Hey Ed, try to get a hold of big jon to see if you can replace them with the metal arms. They looked like they were the same diameter. Mike

I would have to confirm but I agree - they look like the same size. Only change I might have to make is also switch the mounting block - it appears the metal one screws into the block where mine clamps down on it. I am sure it would work but wouldn't want to bugger up the theads on a new arm. That and the new arm is like $144 so for now I will just use the rigger with the arm about 10" shorter (they were 4' arms to start so not like its really short).