Downrigger: switch to braid or no?

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of switching my Cannon Lake Troll downrigger from the stainless cable to braided line. Thoughts? What do you use for a stopper? The main reason I was thinking of switching is to reduce hum (which is LOUD on my Revo 13' rig)

Thanks for any opinions!

By the way, I'm fishing in freshwater in case that matters...

Last year, I converted my Scotty #1050 Depthmaster from the stainless cable to Scotty #2300K low drag microfilament power braid....a 200' spool of power braid.
It's quieter than the original SS cable and at 175Lb. test, is plenty strong.

Actually, I spliced the power braid on to the end of the SS cable......I wound on 3 layers of 3M blue painters tape over the SS cable as a cushion/base and wound the power braid right on over the SS cable.
My spool was plenty big in diameter/capacity and the 200' of additional new line hardly made a dent in the capacity of the spool.

_________________
Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

Thanks, Doctor.

Did you put a stopper on the power braid so you don't lift the ball too high? Or just tie on to the downrigger clip with no stopper? Any downside to the braid that you have noted such as wear or line counter not working?

Also, how did you transition from the SS to the braid? Swivel or other?

I first removed the steel cable from my Cannon Lake-Troll and replaced it with Scotty 250 pound Dyneema braided downrigger line. The Dyneema eliminated the irritating hum from the steel cable, but replaced it with a problem which I hadn't had when using steel cable - I got a sonar return from the braided line which created extensive streaking in the upper portions of the water column on my sonar screen which made it impossible to see if there were any fish in that area. I complained to Scotty and about this problem and was told that nobody in the universe had ever encountered this problem but me, which I doubt. So I switched to Scotty 175 pound low drag Spectra braided line, which also eliminated the hum problem, and creates little or no sonar return. I've been real happy with the Spectra downrigger line.

A problem I had with braided line which I didn't have with steel cable is that some times when transporting my downrigger, the braided line would come out of the groove in the pulley and get stuck between the pulley wheel and the side of the housing. The only way to get the line back in the groove is to cut off the snap, pull the braid back through the groove with a pipe cleaner or other stiff wire, and tie the snap back on. This is a pain in the butt. Cannon should re-design its pulley to prevent this from happening. To prevent the braided line from coming out of the groove, I keep the line under tension when I'm transporting the downrigger, by hanging the ball on a hook which I've installed on the base of my downrigger. Since I started doing this, I haven't had any problems with the braided line coming off the pulley wheel.



At the end of the braided line, I use the standard Scotty terminal kit, which includes a snap with a swivel and a bumper, tied on with a Palomar knot. I worry about bringing my downrigger weight up too fast and busting the downrigger line when the weight slams into the downrigger pulley. But it's easy to avoid that, because if you watch the line as the weight approaches your kayak, it's obvious when it's only a few feet below the surface, so you can crank more slowly. If you're worried about wear on the end of the braided line, just cut off the snap and re-tie the line, which only takes a minute.

braid is also safer because you can cut it quickly if need be like with a sang in a river current where you might get pulled under or a recent post on a west coast forum where a guy hooked a whale and was able to cut the rigger line before getting spooled.

Excellent info, guys! I also worried about getting the cannonball stuck and having it pull me over (a real possibility with a kayak but not a problem with a power boat). I kept reminding myself to keep a pair of wire cutters handy with the SS cable, but with braid, I can use my knife or scissors which I already keep at the ready. I will order some braid tonight. I think I can order the Scotty Spectra from Walmart at a pretty good price.

If I snag my downrigger weight when fishing in a lake, I just grind to a stop. I've never had any feeling that the downrigger cable could pull my kayak over. On a couple of occasions, the only way I could tell that I'd snagged my weight was that there was no longer a vee of waves coming off my downrigger cable. When this happens, I release my downrigger brake, and with my downrigger line running out freely I turn around and pedal or paddle back past the weight and try to pull it off the snag. I haven't lost a weight yet.

I've never snagged a downrigger weight when fishing in a river or in ocean currents, but suspect that could get real exciting real fast. I'd release my downrigger brake rather than cutting my line. It's a lot cheaper, and probably a lot faster.

Circumnavigator wrote:
Did you put a stopper on the power braid so you don't lift the ball too high? Or just tie on to the downrigger clip with no stopper? Any downside to the braid that you have noted such as wear or line counter not working?
Also, how did you transition from the SS to the braid? Swivel or other?

I used the Scotty soft bumper ......never "over wound up" my weight as I reset the counter at zero when the weight is hanging down about 18" from the end of the arm.......like pmmpete, I cut down the arm length but not as short....my arm length is 12". No wear issues either.
The Scotty design has the drum in the horizontal plane and the Cannon is in the vertical plane as shown in pmmpetes posting.

I cut off the cable termination hardware and re-crimped the cable end into a "loop"....I tied on the power braid to the loop then added 3 layers of 3M painters tape to both protect the splice and "level out" the SS cable so it does not get wound into the SS cable on the drum/spool.

The counter on the Scotty 1050 Depthmaster is located on top of the drum....no issues counting and unlike pmmpete, I never had an issue with the braid coming off the pulley wheel getting stuck...the Scotty pulley design is much superior....the housing encases the wheel so the braid can't get stuck along side the wheel.

Good luck!

_________________
Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

Thanks! I guess the braid comes with a "kit" including the bumper and the terminal tackle. I ordered it and will attach to the SS cable so my counter remains close to what i'm used to.

I also plan to shorten my boom and I also thought to make it 1 foot long. I figured I can always make it shorter if need be. I ordered a new boom and will cut it when it gets here so I will also have the original length if I want it. A new boom is less than $10.

I'll have to wait until my parts arrive to see how it goes!

Well, I finally got a chance to test out the braided line. It worked perfectly. I am now fishing in silent bliss again. In my case, I just tied the braid onto the end of the SS with an Albright knot and then wound the braid on. I tied the terminal tackle to the braid with a Palomar knot.

I didn't catch any trout with it yet, but hope springs eternal! I ended up switching to a rapala fishing less than 10 feet below the surface and caught some good size smallmouth, a real nice Rainbow and (weirdly) a Kokanee. I never expected the Kokanee on that setup, or to be in the shallow water I was fishing?