Fishing the west coast - what would be your preferences for downrigger cable - braid or stainless? Weight capacity? How about terminal tackle? Use a snubber? No snubber but a simple clip? And weights? Finned or balls? Snubber?

Would be curious to see what the consensus is on what to use with an electric downrigger around Vancouver Island, Washington....

nobody??

I'll jump in rigger - its a question that's come up a lot on a lot of websites so probably why you didn't get any bites.

as you know you have two choices, steel or braid and there are good things about both.

Personally I love braid:
thinner diameter so it fishes deeper, easier
doesn't fray like steel and nick up your hands
no crimps needed, just knots
won't mysteriously just break like steel cable does
requires some sort of snubber, either rubber or gangion as it has no stretch.

The thing about steel cable is, in theory it produces an electrical field around your tackle that can either repel or attract fish, depending on how your boats setup. I'm not sure I buy this theory but its been around for decades so a lot of guys believe it.

Most guys that go to braid never go back to steel but I'm sure some hate braid.

The big thing is DO NOT buy the scotty 200-250lb braid, its not needed, just 130-160lb test is plenty.

Either way you go have the tackle shop spool up your rigger and attach all the bits and parts to the rig if you haven't done it yourself before.

I run Scotty electrics for around here.......you get real tired of "handcranking" from 200 ft. real fast.

I've ran wire and braid.

All wire cables throw off a "charge" in saltwater. The ideal voltage for Chinooks is .60, Coho .65.

The longer you use your wire cables the less sensitive they are..which can be a plus, because new wire straight out of the package has a high natural reading.

My last new wires read .78 on the meter. This is too high. Although that charge decreases with depth. If no black box...then depending on your fishing depth is what the charge in the line is. You can't change it unless you have a black box.
I had a black box.
Guys go to allsorts of methods to get the right voltage on the line.....adding and subtracting zincs, common-wiring the boat, checking for electric hull leaks etc. etc. The list goes on and on.

With the black box you can correct this...somewhat...and that's a big "somewhat".

The black box has it's limitations when you start digging into the electric theory behind it.

I know, because I ran one for 5 years and had my all-arounds and ups-and-downs with it.
I've caught fish on wire without the black box...I've caught fish using the black box.
I tend to shy away from using wire without having any means to calibrate it correctly.
Which is why I went to braid.I catch fish on braid.
Gotta watch your braid though. Doesn't take much to cut it if it rubs against something like anti-cavitation plate or rough spot on the hull etc.

Thats really helpful guys - thanks! (I will start looking at other websites too. Sounds like there is more info to be had out there!)

SeaFever - I thought for quite a while about selecting between the manuals and electrics ("Go to the Cheap Side Luke!" ha) and my Scottish bent lost out. I picked up a couple of electric telescoping 1106's and am pretty much mounted andready to go with them. They were used and in excellent shape. The previous owner though just chopped off whatever was on there for terminal hardware. One spool is SS the other is a braid of some sort.

I am wanting to replace the line in both because it is a maintenance item anyway and I don't know what the previous line went through.

My boat came with a black box. It doesn't have the wire end things that contact the downrigger wire so I would have to do a little work to get it up and running. I am not convinced about this black box idea though and I see that SeaFever has changed over to braid (yeah?) rather than continue with the black box and SS

I must admit I like the idea of knotting the braid as that saves some steps. Also the notion that no wire injuries occur sounds positive. Ouch!

I guess it would be easier for me to set up with braid and then later when I have finally figured out how to catch the odd beastie, I can enterain whether to switch over to SS and p*ss around with the black box.

You guys are making my mind up all over the place on this web forum - it is very much appreciated. Trying to sort this out initially feels like a pretty big project. I also realize I could blow a lot of cash on stuff that is not a good fit. So thank you again folks.

I guess it is the braid with snubbers for me (and thanks Moisture Missile for the tip regarding the weight rating for braid. I would have picked up the Scotty >250 for sure. Now I can drop the saved money on a bunch of other stuff!)


I have one 10lb ball right now. It would be cheapest for me to buy one more ball rather than two different sorts. Can I get away with this or is the issue of the ball spinning and causing problems genuine? I see that Scotty sells a plastic end thing that is like a fin that is supposed to fix this problem. Any thoughts on this part?

IMO - its more myth then fact, I'd sell the black box and use the money to buy braid for the riggers. Think about it, 120' down and 15' back on the ball is there really going to be much voltage near the gear, I don't think so.



The balls don't spin while underway, only when stop or have the balls at the surface, just make sure you have good quality sampo swivels and you won't have any problems. Commercial balls don't have fins....

Sounds like you're on your way and asking all the right questions though!

Usually you have a big swivel of some sort where the cannon ball connects the downrigger line.
If you are running wire line you need to isolate the ball from the wire electrically.
Scotty makes a plastic swivel/clip that works great.
If for any reason the ball rotates, the swivel stops your line from twisting.
I use 12lb balls......most of those come with a built-in fin.
I wouldn't worry about adding a fin if you have a good swivel connector.
You don't need to electrically isolate the ball if you are running braid.

I don't see why you'd need a rubber snubber on your downrigger line for either wire or braid.
I've never used one ever....and never had a problem.

Neither wire nor braid stretches.....and it's never been a detriment to me..

In fact I think the ball bouncing up and down on a snubber whileI was trolling would do more harm than good.....just my two cents worth...
IMO...the ideal world would be to run a separate black box for each wire. IMO, the fun starts when you try to run two wires at different depths off one box.
If you are running one line at 200' and the other at 100' it is impossible to get the correct voltage to each line off one box.
With the box "on" you lose 1/2mv for every 100' ft. of depth.
So if you fished 200' you would need to set the dial at .70 to get .60 at that depth.
Problem is your other line is at 100 ft......so it's getting .65 which might be too high for "Nooks.
And.......it'll be foggy a Friday before you get EXACTLY the same surface test reading with a meter on both lines to find out what your "normal" is.
One side will invariably be a shade hotter or cooler than the other side.
And now you've got to figure out how to calibrate this whole shmoo off one box.
Did I say "spastic hair-pulling sh*t-fit on the water"?.......

I suggest a snubber or gangion line(thats what I use) for a few reasons. Like you said the line has no stretch and I bounce bottom a lot so I like to have a bit of a shock absorber instead of a system with no stretch, pretty hard on the rigger if hang up on a rock IMO.

For braid I like the gangion as well as it gives somewhere to clip the DR release so it won't slide on the braid and also I have somewhere to grab if need be without slicing my hand up on the braid.

Most commercial setups have a snubber between the ball and cable, isolates the line from the lead ball as well as ads a bit of a buffer and seems to no hang up as much as without.

Not necessary by any means but gangion costs pennies to run so for me its a no brainer.


Lol - no thanks!!

Great info you've been posting lately SeaFever, thanks!

I have not been able to find more about the gangion (ganglion?) line. I haven't come up with anything on google. Is this some sort of stretchy line or???

thnx!

No it's relatively hard braided nylon line.

Do you live near a commercial fishing store at all?

Check through these to find a match-most guys here use the black stuff someone is sure to chime in with their favourite.

http://www.pacificnetandtwine.com/?cat= ... 4a&filter=