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Topic: Downrigger lines  (Read 1922 times)

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redfish85

  • Lingcod
  • *****
  • sunrise OK Prowler T13
  • Location: Seattle, wa
  • Date Registered: Jun 2007
  • Posts: 234
Just thought I'd throw it out there, but how does one go about choosing a replacement line for thier downrigger? Do you use the same principal as a shock leader and times the ball weight by 10 or is it just personal preference? I'm going to be using an 8lb ball and so far what I can gather from other posts it seems like the norm is anywhere from 50-100lb braid... Just looking for some input and insight on how you came to your decisions is all, also curious as to what you did with the wire taken off the downrigger?


Trident 13

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Location: Kent
  • Date Registered: Jul 2016
  • Posts: 791
I use 80 lb braid for an 8 lb weight. Works fine. I use about a 4 inch subber. I also use about a 4 ft piece of braid connected direct to the ball and then to the release. The length helps seeing shakers.
Keep the downrigger line. It great stuff, although I’ve only used about 4 of the 200 feet I have.  ;D


AndyFishes

  • Rockfish
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  • Location: Port Townsend
  • Date Registered: Oct 2016
  • Posts: 109
Good question. I've been hoping to clear this up for myself for a while...

When you say "80 pound braid" is that just something like PowerPro? Essentially just high # test dacron fishing line. I ask because searching for downrigger and braid turns up mostly Scotty brand, which is usually at least 100# or so. If it is, just heavy braided fishing line, any troubles with the way it spools on the downrigger? Line counters still reasonably accurate?


pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
The hum from steel downrigger cables irritates me, so I replace them with braided downrigger line, which doesn't have any hum, and which has less drag.  I use an 8 pound weight, and I prefer Scotty 150lb low drag braided downrigger line.  There are various other options, including Scotty 200lb premium power braid, Scotty 250lb heavy duty premium microfilament, and Power Pro 250lb braided downrigger fishing cable.  I got some sonar return from heavier braided downrigger line, which obscured fish at the top of the water column.  I complained to Scotty about that, and they swore that nobody had ever complained about that before, ever.  I don't have any sonar return problem with the 150lb line.

Downrigger weights are expensive.  I've never lost one, and I don't want to.  If you use lower breaking strength line for a downrigger cable, you have a greater risk of breaking your downrigger cable and losing your weight.  Although it would be pretty tough to break even an 80 pound braided downrigger cable from a kayak by snagging it on the bottom.

When comparing prices for braided downrigger cable, be sure to check whether each spool of cable comes with a terminal clip.  If you get a spool which doesn't include a clip, you could cut the clip off the steel cable which came with your downrigger.  Use a Palomar knot to attach the clip to a braided downrigger cable.

Try to avoid banging your clip on the pulley of your downrigger when your weight gets to the surface.  It puts a lot of stress on the end of your braided downrigger line and the knot which attaches the line to the clip.  Stop cranking before the clip hits your cable, and be sure to include a rubber bumper above the clip so when you screw up and slam the clip into the pulley, the bumper will reduce the shock a bit. About once a year I cut my downrigger weight off my downrigger line and retie it, in case the knot and the end of the line got stressed.

It seems like there should be some uses for steel downrigger cable which has been removed from a downrigger, but I haven't used any of it yet.  It's easy to make loops in the end of steel downrigger cable with ferrules like the ones used to make wire leaders.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2018, 11:31:40 PM by pmmpete »


Trident 13

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Location: Kent
  • Date Registered: Jul 2016
  • Posts: 791
Quote
If you use lower breaking strength line for a downrigger cable, you have a greater risk of breaking your downrigger cable and losing your weight.

The reason I use 80-lb is that a $25 weight is I figure that would usually cheaper than a surprise spin-cycle due to a stuck weight. You know currents in Puget Sound are a lot different than in a lake.  I've had to crank like crazy while holding my knife just in case when a humpback whale came from behind and dove under me. If the DR is out, so it my cutter.  It would be interesting to see if the 80 would break, but I'm not going to try unless I have to.  I have bounced bottom but never hung up and try to be careful.  Andy fishes in some high current/big wave areas and it's all a personal choice.  I consider the weight $ (gasp) expendable. 


pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
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  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
Quote
If you use lower breaking strength line for a downrigger cable, you have a greater risk of breaking your downrigger cable and losing your weight.

The reason I use 80-lb is that a $25 weight is I figure that would usually cheaper than a surprise spin-cycle due to a stuck weight. You know currents in Puget Sound are a lot different than in a lake.  I've had to crank like crazy while holding my knife just in case when a humpback whale came from behind and dove under me. If the DR is out, so it my cutter.  It would be interesting to see if the 80 would break, but I'm not going to try unless I have to.  I have bounced bottom but never hung up and try to be careful.  Andy fishes in some high current/big wave areas and it's all a personal choice.  I consider the weight $ (gasp) expendable.
I don't downrigger troll in current unless my weight is way above the bottom, because bad things could happen very quickly if you snag your downrigger weight on the bottom in current.  However, I had not thought about the possibility that a whale could snag my downrigger cable.  If that happened, I suspect that I would end up in the water before I had a chance to blink, much less cut my downrigger cable.  Trident's comment has made me lose interest in downrigger trolling in areas with whales!

Snagging your downrigger weight in a lake without current isn't a problem.  When it's happened to me, the weight got pulled back out of the cone of my sonar and disappeared from my fish finder screen, and my kayak ground to a stop and turned slightly to the side on which my downrigger was mounted.  I've always been able to let out downrigger line, backtrack, and pull my weight off the obstruction.


Trident 13

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Location: Kent
  • Date Registered: Jul 2016
  • Posts: 791
Quote
I don't downrigger troll in current unless my weight is way above the bottom, because bad things could happen very quickly if you snag your downrigger weight on the bottom in current.

Pete, in Puget Sound there's always current and it's something you live with or you wouldn't use the DR much, which many choose not to do.  One of the things that make the group so valuable is we've got a dog from every town and there are many perspectives. 

I hope to fish Tacoma early Friday AM for the opener.  Between about 6 AM and noon there's over 11 feet of water moving out of Puget Sound in 6 hours and over 13 coming in that PM.  Diferent directions make different conditions, rips and back eddies.  In areas like Pt Defiance, it gets squeezed through a narrow slot.  "That's" a current and when combined with container ship waves and many PB in close proximity it's interesting. In the area Andy fishes, Pt Townsend, the run-out is 8 feet over the same period, but it's a much wider area with fewer rips but he has swells to consider.  In the ocean, the tide is usually less but the swell and other conditions are critical.  In Montana you have big winds in different conditions.

It's good for new members to see the diverse environments, learn to check several factors and pay attention to suggestions of others who are working in their territory.  I tip my hat to the administrators and others like you who make this possible.

« Last Edit: May 31, 2018, 12:04:59 PM by Trident 13 »


redfish85

  • Lingcod
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  • sunrise OK Prowler T13
  • Location: Seattle, wa
  • Date Registered: Jun 2007
  • Posts: 234
That current rip in the narrows is no joke either couple years ago I launched at Redondo and went alittle to far south of poverty bay fishing for pinks and almost got caught in it. Luckily I was just on the outside of the rip seam and while it was really hard to get out of I still managed to get north enough to avoid taking an unplanned trip to Tacoma, still though I found that if I stopped paddling even briefly I totally lost all my forward momentum almost instantly. Needless to say I have alot of respect for guys who take kayaks out there. Living up north now I don't have to deal with a ton of current out at Edmonds which I like, just gotta be mindful of rollers and the ferries lol (ohh and the whales to apparently I found out on one of my lingcod trips)


 

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