black box

[steelydan]

i am going to get a black box to control the electrical charge on my boat. my question is, should i get the transom mount, or get the downrigger mounts. will the transom mount do it all or should i just worry about the riggers?thanks in advace

[jason]

Save you money and dont buy it. Its just a gimick.

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[Tim Bromund]

I don't necessarily agree with Jason. Have you already determined you have an electrical charge/grounding problem? If not, you should definitely do that before you make the purchase.

When I got my current boat, I couldn't get a rigger bite to save my life, plenty of diver and lead core shots, but I could count the number of rigger bites over the course of a season on two hands and have fingers left over, so I took my multi meter and determined that I was putting between .2 and .3 v down the rigger cables. so I bought the Cabela's black box (same as the ProTroll unit) installed it and all of a sudden, I had a rigger bite again.

Over the years, I've done so much work on the boat that I corrected whatever the grounding problem was and it's no longer necessary, so I don't even have it installed on the boat anymore, but I absolutely believe it helped at the time.

So, to summarize, if you don't currently have a grounding problem and aren't throwing a repelling charge in the water, it is a waste of money. If you do have a ground problem somewhere, it can be a very helpful solution while you trouble shoot and track down/fix the cause of the issue.

The Cabelas/Pro Troll unit has a transmitting coil that goes on each rigger cable and that worked great for me.

Tim

[steelydan]

same boat as you tim, ever since i switched to electric downriggers, i cannot get a bite on the riggers. leadcore and wire rods are fine, but not the riggers.i have not checked for current coming from the boat, i just am hoping that the black box will take care of it.thanks for the info, hopefully i can fix this soon.

[Chas0218]

So if your riggers out perform your dipsys 2 to 1 it would be a good assumption that you don't have a current/voltage problem. Does this apply to fiberglass boats or only aluminum? I always thought that fiberglass doesn't conduct enough electricity to make it a problem. I am not trying to be a smart ass just had some of the same concerns.

[steelydan]

not sure about hull materials. i run a fiberglass hull and have some kind of problem.i think it comes from the riggers, i ran manuals prior this year with no problems.this seems to have started when i switched to electric.

[Lip Rippers]

im curious about this as it is new to me as i am still new to trolling can you go into some detail on how to test with the multi meter and reason that could cause this issue and if i had it where would i start to look for the issue

[magic7777]

Hi guys I'm not positive but think Cannon has a section on this. it's called ion control. On some of there riggers I have seen a ion contol adjustment. The guy I fished with this year ussed a DVOM and dialed in the rigger to the wanted positive voltage then we adjust it from there to catch fish. That info should be correct but maybe Don Soupon can add to this. He's been doing it for awhile. Dave

[steelydan]

use a volt meter with a dc scale that measures zero to 1 volt.put your boat in the water and lower the rigger weights about 10 ft. put the neg lead from reader to the neg battery terminal,and the positive lead to the rigger cable.turn everything electrical off and you should have a voltage reading of .7 to .8 volts, if not then you have a problem. from there you can start trouble shooting to isolate the problem. the black box can adjust the voltage for you.you can select and adjust the voltage to attract different species of fish.

[Fish Hunter]

I have one that I frogged around with.

Didn't seem to have more or less bites, but we never had a problem with the riggers getting bit either.

[pokepole39]

or you can go old school and run long leads and it is not as much of a problem everyone want to run short leads now sometimes it is not a good thing also afects stackers if to close to the wire

[Chas0218]

or you can go old school and run long leads and it is not as much of a problem everyone want to run short leads now sometimes it is not a good thing also afects stackers if to close to the wire

Maybe it is me but what is considered a short leader? I run leaders around the 40' range would that be considered short?

[Tim Bromund]

40' is long IMO. I seldom have leads longer than 15-20'. Many times, particularly with flashers, I'm only 8-10' off the ball.

[Chas0218]

Really? wow I didn't know they should be ran that close to the ball.

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

Chas, Tim is right down west here, and when talking Salmon and Trout. In your neck of the woods, you are encountering clearer water so it can be different. Also, when trolling Walleyes much longer downrigger leads are the norm.

[Tim Bromund]

Yes I was talking about Salmon and Trout on the West End. I fish out of the same port that Vince does (Olcott). On the rare occasion I fish walleye (on Erie) leads are much much longer, if we even run riggers. They are so much less effective than cores and divers, we seldom put the riggers in the water.

Tim

[Fish Hunter]

We use looooooong leads for Walleyes on Oneida.

[jason]

My max leads is 16ft for spoons and flasher. I figured if the fish pound 4ft sliders why run longer leads off the ball.

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[Chas0218]

I knew walleyes need longer leads. I guess it was just habit to run long leads from my walleye fishing.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Sk8man]

Just a thought but if your riggers are not brand new....check the power cables very closely and look for cracks or breaks in the insulation (ultraviolet and weathering cracks it over time). I was having a problem getting hits and when I examined the power cables I noticed that they were cracked. I installed new ones and have had much better results on the riggers afterward.....not sure if that was it but it may have been.