Trolling is the bread and butter of NW salmon fishing. The leader in control depth fishing on the West Coast is Scotty. For years now the 1100 series Scotty downriggers has been the go to gear for anglers targeting salmon in the cold deep waters of the NW region.

Scotty has just unveiled its latest innovations in a series of electric downriggers named the High Performance (HP) Model 2100 series.

The first thing you will notice about the HP is its new shape. The motor cover is oval; this is to incorporate the new larger electric motor capable of pulling a 15lb downrigger ball at an amazing 295ft a minute! To say it is faster is an understatement. I have been testing the prototype of this downrigger on the Salt Patrol boat this past summer and can say it’s an amazingly fast downrigger.

The cover has slide locks on both sides so there is no way it can come loose or pop open for the wind to catch while towing your boat on the freeway.

The next standout feature of the Scotty High Performance is the new digital line counter. It’s much larger and has a backlit LED resettable and hermetically sealed depth display. No more opening the lid and wiping the condensation off the counter window or using a flashlight to check your depth in the early morning hours. You can see this counter from 8ft ft away!!

The drive belt for the new Scotty High Performance is ¼ inch Kevlar Optibelt; the same used in European race cars.

 The clutch brake is the largest on the market with the most braking surface allowing for ultra fast descents and max braking.

Other new features include a new stainless steel gimbal rod holder and each High Performance downrigger will come with 300 Feet of 180lb 316 grade stainless steel extra heavy duty corrosion resistant downrigger wire. There is also a pre-mounted weight storage hook included on the boom. Testing revealed that the new cable was not only as strong as braid but every bit as quiet. Gone were the familiar pops and crackles of the older generation steel cable.

No need to worry as Scotty incorporated the best features of the 1100 series downriggers in the High Performance. The locking tilt boom is still there, as is the Marinco heavy duty corrosion resistant electric plug. The stainless steel extendable boom is still included as well as the tried and true swivel base and tilt mount. This will make it easy to just pull the tilt pin and replace your current downrigger with the new High Performance model. Of course all models still include the incomparable Scotty limited lifetime warranty.

Testing the Scotty High Performance against other brands of downriggers was barely a factor in our review as their models could not keep up with a standard Scotty 1100 series in retrieval speed. So all we could compare the Scotty High Performance models against was a Scotty model 1106 downrigger.

Often when fighting a fish while using downriggers the angler has to decide when or if to pull in the gear on other downriggers in order to prevent losing the fish. Most anglers want to delay pulling all their gear in the hope that all the commotion of a feeding salmon will result in a double hook up. Of course this strategy is a double edged sword as you run the risk of the salmon tangling in the gear on the other downrigger. The incredible speed of the Scotty High Performance helps minimize concerns as it can retrieve your gear so quickly that you can now wait until the last possible minute before pulling your gear.

I have used Scotty downriggers for years now and have found them to be the best downrigger on the market and the most important tool on my boat for producing fish. It’s clear to me that Scotty has a winner with the new High Performance downrigger.

Check out my performance test video on the all new Scotty High Performance downrigger at SaltPatol.com and see how fast it really is!

For more information on the new Scotty High Performance Downrigger visit Scotty.com or see them in person at Outdoor Emporium in Seattle and Sportco in Fife.

Capt John Keizer SaltPatrol.com