Scotty vs Big Jon

[tuckhunts87]

i'm lookin for imput on riggers. i really want a couple scottys but i dnt really know anything about them. i need something with a good flexible boom so i can bounce bottom for lakers and i dnt kno if the scottys are flexible llike that. any and all imput would be greatly appriciated... thanks!

[Wallyandre (Andre)]

The Scotty booms are nor flexible but the fact that the pulley are horizontal instead of vertical the cable never jump over the spool like on the Cannon (older model) and the Big Jon

[Reelax]

Years ago I would have said big Jon all the way, but since I have used Scotty, I will never go back. I do agree the big Jon booms with the bounce can be good, but I'll take my Scottie speed and durability every time now...

[Thorny]

I think Scotty has the advantage over Big John when it comes to Speed up,Speed down and Auto stop. I have never liked the rocker switch on Big Johns. I always find myself overrunning the spool. They both make great products with good support and service. I have been fishing lakers for ever with stiff boomed Cannons and now Scottys and have never had a problem.

[fishingmachine]

big jon also makes fast riggers now, I have 4 big jons but if I had to replace them I would deffinately consider scottys,trouble is the damn big jons never break

[Thorny]

Frank
Have you fished with a Brute?

[fishingmachine]

no.I haven't tried them

[Fishdawg]

I transferred my Big Jons from my old boat to the new one. They are quite old (early 90's?)but have been reliable.
I am upgrading one (wife gave for bday) to the high speed Big Jon with the auto stop. I'm anxious to try. Having seen and used the Scotties, I wouldn't hesitate to run those as well. They're all good!

[pete]

If price matters i think you will find a lot more bigjons used cheap! Talk to george at big river he is a dealer can service them and gets a lot of used units in his shop.

[fishingmachine]

I wonder if you can change the motor on an older big jon to the higher speed motor,my guess is they would make them so they won't interchange

[Thorny]

I have used a Brute,and they are a BRUTE. Herky jerky, overpowered, loud and a little scary. This was an older one. But definitely something I would never want on my boat. Maybe they have been improved. I would be interested in an owners opinion.

[4cs]

I wonder if you can change the motor on an older big jon to the higher speed motor,my guess is they would make them so they won't interchange

Hey Frank

Yes you can, had to replace a motor on one of my 23yr old Big Jon's so I called Big Jon and went with the faster Pro Tournament motor, just give them a call and they'll hook you up.

Pat

[Fishdawg]

The new rigger that I just added is the "Pro Tournament". Big Jon advertises them as having the "new sealed high torque" motor. The motor canister appears to be just a tad larger than my old rigger but the rest of the motor unit appears the same and appears interchangeable. Cant wait to test it out!

[Wallyandre (Andre)]

I test those and they are a bit faster but coming from Scotty to those was a no brainer; the regular Scotty are much faster and like I said I prefer the horizontal pulley and also I prefer the Scotty on the downside to, easy to control the speed regarding the weight of the lure.

But at the end it's a personnal choice.

[FISHCRAZY(LALLY)]

I have had the great pleasure of fishing with every major brand of riggers made. When I outfitted a new boat project last spring it was Scotty's all around for me. I like them the best and when it comes to dragging the bottom, well that just scares the S$@! out of me so I don't do it LOL!! The Scotty's are nice and fast and draw very little juice from the batteries....I ran a 4 rigger program for 3 day straight on lake O without ever needing to charge the batteries. I also fished on a boat with Scotty's "High Speed" models and honestly have no idea why anyone in fresh water needs that kind of speed? Was kind of scary actually!!! I did not care for them or the digital depth readout either. I much prefer the standard Scotty's. Just my opinion though