I broke down and bought a Scotty 1114 electric downrigger. Went to fish307 and picked it up Monday then drove up to Ticonderoga and put in at mossy point on the upper end of Lake George. It worked great but didn't catch any fish. Here is the web site www.fish307.com

Okay Frank, you finally broke down and bought an electric downrigger for your lovely fishing partner; so now when will you get another one for you? Why is it that most people that go fishing with me on my boat, that they eventually end up buying electric downriggers? I know why... cranking up those balls from deep water gets old quick and the older we get, the quicker we go electric.

I have never fished with a manual downrigger. Trolling for salmon in Lk.Mich with 4 lines down 80-120 feet would get old real fast with manuals!

Come on Frank.... you can use 3 rods now in NY except Lake Champlain. Can't you see you and your lovely partner fishing with 6 rods on Lake George? You're gonna want another DR.

I just don't see me running 3 rods alone as I can't sometimes handle two. And 6 rods with 2 of us just seems to be getting crowded. I hate spending my time untangling lines. I can't imagine fishing with 3 guys and 3 rods each from my boat; it would be a cluster for sure.

I agree Walt, I can use 3 rods when Pike or musky fishing. I can put two out with live perch and another either jigging perch or casting lures. I won't even try to have two rods out with the downrigger if the water is rough and I'm alone.

I guess it is in the learning curve. Many of the salmon trollers on Lk Mich will run as many as 15 lines off the back of the boat. On the rare instance there is a tangle, it is a real mess! It took my partner and I about 3 years of fishing together to get to a point where we could put 4 guys on the boat and fish 12 lines successfully. With just the two of us aboard we rarely fish more than 2 downriggers but will usually have 2 divers out on each side and perhaps a lead core down the chute. We can run 3 lines per angler on Michigan.

I would try 4 lines out with two people, but what Walt was saying when your by yourself things can get hairy fast. When you don't have someone to steer the boat and net the fish.

My buddy has an autopilot on his boat but if it's windy or rough it is still a challenge to run 6 lines with 2 guys. Calm days are OK until a double comes along. We normally troll on one engine and often need to switch engines when we reverse course to allow the autopilot to cope. Docking the boat after sundown is also a real challenge with only two on board.

I am not operating a charter where you could have 5 guys fishing and I operate the boat and either the guys handle their own lines or I might have a mate aboard to help run the show. So when there is only two of us, things can get tricky tending multiple lines, netting fish and still operating the boat. I even use remote control steering so I can steer my boat from any position in the boat; but I still only have two hands and eyes eveywhere. With 3 people aboard life gets a little easier but then 9 lines on any smaller vessel gets a bit crowded. It is Murphy's Law that when you have many lines out and one fires, other rods will also fire off too. I now carry two nets aboard just for that reason. Now as far as autopilot is concerned... if you get busy tending a bunch of lines and play multiple fish... and if you take your complete attention off operating the boat, 3 lines per person might be the least of your concern if you have a boating accident. Don't forget that autopilot follows the GPS heading and sees nothing in front of the boat; so when another boat crosses your path the autopilot won't correct anything.

When it comes down to 2 rods or 3 rods, I like to think of fishing as a sport I enjoy and that I fish for quality and not quanity. So with one or two lines I should be able make a sport out of it and catch the targeted trophy I am after.