Savvy fishermen know downrigging is one of the best ways to control the depth of their fishing lure-short of dropping anchor. Ideally, of course, you want to be able to keep your lure in the depth range where you want it-at the depth where your fish finder is indicating the fish are located-at any given point in time. It will take a little trial and error, patience, and a bit of record keeping, but you can become adept at doing this.
I preferr.I have used other brands but was never satisfied with thier performance or durability. They generally fell apart too soon or rusted long before they should have, and I didn't feel I got a real value for my money.
But Cannon produces some really great downrigging systems.There are more complex systems, but I like to work with something a little easier, like the Mag 10TS, for example.The Magmun has long been trusted by experienced fishermen and boaters because it has proven to be dependable and durable.It includes a fast retreival rate of 250 feet per minute, also has a short stop feature to stop the motor after the ball leaves the water so as to not hit the boat and can handle the work load of a deep sea fisherman. In particular, the Mag 10TS has a spool constructed of stainless steel that can deal with the "super lines" popular these days or monofilament. It looks stylish with an attractive metallic white finish, and it features Positive Ion Control designed to make your boat a fish-finding magnet by creating an electrical field fish are drawn into.
To start, you need to determine how deep you want to be and how fast you plan to troll.When trolling faster or going deeper, more weight will be needed. This is because you must compensate for the drag of the water that increases with your trolling speed. As an example, many Great Lakes fishermen who are trying to catch salmon troll at 1.5 up to 3 miles per hour and aim for a depth of 15 to 30 feet down, so they don't have a significant drag and can use a 5lb ball.However deep sea fishermen fishing for grouper-which often are at 60 feet below the surface or even deeper-troll at around 5 knots.There is a lot moe drag with deep water and higher speeds. So they probably need to use a 20lb weight.
After you have determined the weight ball you need you will still need to experiment some to be sure you're on track. Head out on the water to a depth similar to the depth at which you plan to fish. Adjust your boat speed to troll at the rate you plan to use based on the kind of fish you plan to catch. Now drop the ball all the way to the bottom at which point you will you see the cable start to slack up.Then stop it quickly and retrieve some of the cable to tighten it up. Now take a look at the depth gauge on your downrigger.This is were keeping records begins.Record that depth, your speed, ball weight and the depth of the water.
Now try experimenting a bit. Adjust your speed and repeat, making note of the new information.Adjust the ball depth at the different speeds and take note of that.What you want to determine is how many feet of cable to let out for a particular depth and speed to get to the fish you are trying to catch. Using a percentage of the total length of cable required to reach the bottom-or some simple subtraction-you should then be able to calculate how much cable to let out if you want to run at 20 feet from the bottom-or 10 feet or 5 feet above or wherever you want to be.
Personally, I like to stay right around 10 feet above the bottom.For one thing, I'm sure fish will chase the right bait at that distance. They'll come up to get it.I also don't care for the idea of getting hung up on something on the bottom and being forced to cut loose my cable.
I also recommend keeping the lead line at ten feet or less-from the ball to the lure or bait you're using-so you can get the advantage of the negative Ion field that surrounds the ball itself.It has to be that close to use it.When there is too long a lenght of leader in between it will not work.
In addition to the Cannon downrigger Mag 10TS, you'll need some basics to get started.Using a good sturdy 7' rod with a conventioal reel attached and the proper strenght line for the fish you are targeting, a well made line release attached to your ball, the right bait and a decent boat, you'llsoon be downrigging like a pro. Downrigging is an enjoyable way to fish and a skill you'll soon master.
You can get more information about all of the Cannon downriggers plus accessories-and all kinds of other fishing and boating electroncs-at the eFishBox.com website.
In addition, you'll find lots of great fishing articles and advice at MyTackleSpace.There are some blogs and discussion forums on fishing and equipment ideas!Have a look.
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