Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

[fabrimacator21]

I was trolling at about 40 feet when one of my weights caught a buoy cable... Luckily I threw it in reverse as soon as I saw it but what would have happened if I didn't catch it? Would it rip the downriger off my boat? The was some serious stress on the downrigger mount but nothing pulled out or broke. Do they have drag on them or is the cable snapping the only thing that'll keep them from ripping off?

 

[LongLine]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

Depends on what kind of rigger you have. My manual Cannons will slip. It all depends on how tight I crank the handle after I put it down to the depth I want. I would imagine all have some kind of slip clutch but am not sure.

Tom B.
(LongLine)

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

Big Jon's have a "clutch" or tension which can be adjusted to stop unreeling if you crank it down enough. I am not sure if that was the intent or not or if it was just designed that way as a brake to keep it from freespooling when letting the weight down. I have a friend who is always worried about ripping downriggers off but I don't worry about it much. I've found bottom a few times, and haven't lost anything yet, and some lake trout techniques involve bouncing the ball right off the bottom. I guess on purpose or by mistake, contacting bottom increases the risk of loss, but I haven't had a loss yet.

 

[fabrimacator21]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

I don't remember if it slipped at all as I was busy putting it in reverse....

They are cannon manual downriggers. About 150 a piece.


Good info... keep it coming.

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

I don't have Cannon's but a friend does- they ratchet on retrieve but I do not remember how they function as far as "drag" or free-spooling brake. I would go to Cannon's website and review the owner's manual specs they have for the model you own.

I hope this helps. Not trying to be obnoxious but sometimes the obvious is what I forget - thought I would suggest that.

 

[soundman2424]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

Yes, you can use the handle on a Cannon manual downrigger as a "drag" or clutch. Fishing for salmon on Lake Sakakawea, I do it all the time. The bottom of that lake is not forgiving especially around the spillway of the damn, there's trees down there.

 

[fabrimacator21]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

Yes, you can use the handle on a Cannon manual downrigger as a "drag" or clutch. Fishing for salmon on Lake Sakakawea, I do it all the time. The bottom of that lake is not forgiving especially around the spillway of the damn, there's trees down there.

How do you use the handle as drag? Just back it up a little after it locks?

 

[NW Redneck]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

Most DR's I've seen have some kind of drag or tension adjustment but maybe not all.

Quick story: I was working on a fishfarm and watched some guy in a nice looking boat trolling along with 2 DR's out. His course was ging to take him right close to the end of our farm, just a few yards past the large bouys that attach to the farms anchors. What he didn't realise was that the anchor lines run out from those bouys at about 45*. We started shouting and waving at him trying to get him to turn away. He looked up at us, waved, then turned away to talk to his friend or whatever. Sure enough as he passed the end of the farm the DR's hooked the anchor lines and promptly tore both of them off of his boat. He then pulled up to the farm and started going ape sh*t about how we were going to have to pay for the damages. A quick call the the coast guard set him straight.

 

[soundman2424]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

How do you use the handle as drag? Just back it up a little after it locks?

Yep, after you set your depth and lock it in, back the handle off just far enough so that it doesn't slip. It may take a try or two but you'll get the hang of it. You put just enough tension on the clutch discs to hold the weight of your ball and the drag of whatever your fishing with and if you happen to snag into something, it will pull cable instead of gear.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

The Penn downriggers have a huge yellow drag knob that works just like a baitcaster drag, same for the electric Big John riggers only the knob is black.

If you keep it somewhat tight it will let line out way before it would rip the rigger off the gunwale or break the cable.

We've had issues snagging illegal/unmarked gillnets here in the great lakes so they do come in handy. It's not a problem when the nets are marked per state law.

It's no fun to pull up cable with a 10 lb weight on it by hand after a weak spot in the cable snapped.

 

[scott11]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

I have 2 electric cannons and you can set the drag basically the same way as the manuals. Ive never had my riggers snag anything yet so i dont know how good it works (knock on wood).

 

[grego]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

downriggers are desighned to bounce over almost everything.

 

[soundman2424]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

downriggers are desighned to bounce over almost everything.

Huh?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

I have 2 electric cannons and you can set the drag basically the same way as the manuals. Ive never had my riggers snag anything yet so i dont know how good it works (knock on wood).

Ayuh,... I have Digi-trolls,+ Yes there's a drag system...
The Problem with Cannon's drag system is the knob is lefthanded threads, in that lefty, Ain't looser...
I left 1/2 of a $1100. Cannon on the bottom of the pond a few years ago...
That's when I discovered the knob is turned Righthanded to Loosen the drag....

downriggers are desighned to bounce over almost everything.

Ayuh,... When the bottom goes from 140' to 40',... There ain't much bouncin' going on....

 

[wifesbitch]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

I was trolling at about 40 feet when one of my weights caught a buoy cable... Luckily I threw it in reverse as soon as I saw it but what would have happened if I didn't catch it? Would it rip the downriger off my boat? The was some serious stress on the downrigger mount but nothing pulled out or broke. Do they have drag on them or is the cable snapping the only thing that'll keep them from ripping off?

This happened to me a few times. I have a pair of no longer in production Luhr Jensen manual downriggers. I had four at one time. The other two broke when this happened. The first one's arm bent and broke off. And the second had its clutch snapped in half releasing cable with the speed I was going at. What I'm trying to say is your rigger will more than likely break before the bolts on the plate go. Better to spend $150.00 than how ever much it costs you to fix your boat. After the last time this happened to me I bought a second depth finder and mounted the transducer near the bow. Now I can see the shallows or in your case Buoy cable coming from a good distance. You might wanna look into that.

 

[fabrimacator21]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

I defenetly want a depth finder... just can't shell out the money for one. I want to get a gps/chartplotter/fishfinder combo.

I figured the "drag" setup on my cannons. Just like you guys said, just back the handle off. I try to stay out a ways from dams and buoys now but it's nice to know that if I snag something I won't have a hole in the side of my boat.

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

I defenetly want a depth finder... just can't shell out the money for one. I want to get a gps/chartplotter/fishfinder combo

I would suggest getting a fairly good graph to start with- Eagle 480 I just picked up is a pretty good value at only $185. then save your money for a separate GPS. You *can* do without a GPS but I find that a sonar graph is indispensable.

I ran my Supra Pro ID I got in 1994-ish until this summer. Even though the pixel count was low, as a navigation aid it saved me a lot of headaches- Plus, unless your are fishing bass or something else somewhat shallow where your eyes can do the work, fishing without sonar is fishing blind when you are trying for structure-sensitive fish like walleye and lakers. Baitfish schools, suspended fish, wow! I would rather fish with the old Supra Pro ID than fish blind! I almost panic when I am in other's boats who don't have good sonar equip or signal.

GPS is nice ( I use an old Garmin I was given) but you can use a paper chart and a pencil to record the basic stuff you need to find fish.

I wish they made "stealth" cannonballs though cuz I hate watching the black line on my screen. It is nice to see when you are going to bang bottom, I guess, but it keeps me from seeing fish at the depth it is at. Then again, I have a lot of fun watching fishmarks move up from below the ball to check it out. Maybe next year I should try running one foot leaders off the releases LOL.

 

[fabrimacator21]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

I'm more interested in being able to set way points then anything else gps offers. It would make finding a good spot alot easier.

Can the handheld gps units set waypoints?

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

no longer a 'do down riggers have any sort of drag?' thread

no longer a 'do down riggers have any sort of drag?' thread

I'm more interested in being able to set way points then anything else gps offers. It would make finding a good spot alot easier. Can the handheld gps units set waypoints?

Yes they can, but the fishing-specific GPS units can give you bottom contours, navigation hazards, and more with optional cards like Navionics.

The waypoint feature is handy (like finding camp on a fishing trip to an unfamiliar lake at 11pm!) and you *can* record places you consistently catch fish.

But I think being able to "look" at the bottom with a good sonar and see "active" bottom contour charts have many times more of an impact on catching and finding fish than marking a particular spot. The "spot" is less important than a combination of factors - factors that a good GPS along with a better sonar will reveal. They won't tell you everything, but I feel a lot more confident seeing what's down there than I do returning to a particular coordinate. Good GPS: good for contour, retracing a route, registering speed, marking that place you always get snagged, marking today's (or this hour's) location of a cloud of bait you want to troll around, etc. Better sonar: good for water surface temp, marking fish and bait, determining bottom composition, bottom depth, confirmation of cannonball depth, alerting you to unexpected shallow water, finding weed bed edges, drop-offs, mid-lake humps, holes, and shallow breaks.

Handheld GPS only retraces your track and marks coordinates with no reference to what the surrounding structure might look like or what it is made up of: sand, mud, stones, rock. No indication of why you caught fish there, no reference to if they were suspended or holding off structure or just that was where the bait happened to be.

I guess it all depends on how psycho a fisherman you are. I don't buy expensive stuff, but I won't buy cheap stuff that just gets me by, either. Fishing-specific equipment like GPS and better sonar makes me a better fisherman. When we have a poor day fishing, it is just a poor day fishing- sometimes they don't bite. But good equipment ups my chances and gets me on fish.

My 2 cents. Let us all know how your fishing is going with other posts down the road!

 

[fabrimacator21]

Re: Do down riggers have any sort of drag?

Will do. Thanks for all the info.

I'm planning on heading out to Shasta lake next weekend. Been hearing some promising stories about the trout bite up there. Hopefully the weather holds out.:redface: