Electric Fishing Reel Forum

Savvy fishermen know downrigging is one of the best ways to control the depth of their fishing lure-short of 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. You can become quite good at doing this after some trial and error, a bit of record keeping and lots of patience.

I like to use the best. I have used other brands but was never satisfied with their performance or durability. Most of them fell apart too soon or rusted out prematurely, so I didn’t think that I received fair value for the dollars spent.

But Cannon produces some really great downrigging systems. They have more complex systems, but I like to work with something a little simpler, like the Mag 10TS, for example. Experienced boaters and fishermen trust the Magnum because it has been proven to be extremely durable and dependable. It includes a fast retrieval 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. One example is most Great Lakes fishermen trolling for salmon set a speed of 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. But deep sea anglers fishing for grouper-which often are at 60 feet deep or even deeper-troll at around 5 knots. With water depth like that and a higher speed you get a lot more drag. So they likely will need a 20lb ball weight.

Once you have an idea of the size of weight you want to use, you’ll still need to experiment a bit to be sure you’re on track. Go out on the water to the same depth range that 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 lower the ball all the way to the bottom were you will notice the cable becoming slack. Then stop it quickly and retrieve some of the cable to tighten it up. Now check the line counter on your downrigger. Here’s where the record keeping comes in. Write down that depth along with your trolling speed, the ball weight, and the water depth.

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 make a 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. By using some simple math like a percentage of cable needed to reach a certain depth or bottom you will be able to calculate how much cable to let out to be in the depth you desire.

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 will swim up for it. But also, I don’t like the idea of getting hooked on something lying on the bottom and having to cut my cable.

Another recommendation is to keep your lead line at 10′ or less from the ball to your bait so that you get the benefit of the negative Ion field that surrounds the ball. You need to be this close to utilize that. If you’ve got too much lead line in between there, it won’t work.

Beside the Cannon Mag 10TS there are some other basic needs to get started. Using a good sturdy 7′ rod with a conventional reel attached and the proper strength line for the fish you are targeting, a well made line release attached to your ball, the right bait and a decent boat, you’ll soon be downrigging like a pro. Downrigger fishing is a fun and enjoyable method of fishing and one that easy to master.

For more information about Cannon Downriggers and Accessories plus all types of other fishing and boating electronics visit us at eFishBox.com.com website.

In addition, you’ll find lots of great fishing articles and advice at MyTackleSpace. There are also forums and blogs to help generate lots of ideas and great fishing discussions! Have a look.

eFishBox is a Fishing and Boating Electronics Outfitter Store. We offer great customer care and same day shipping. For more information on Cannon Downriggers see our Downriggers Page.

eFishBox is a Fishing and Boating Electronics Outfitter Store. We offer great customer care and same day shipping. For more information on Cannon Downriggers see our Downriggers Page.