To trust the sub troll or not.

[Adm Byrd]

Ok, what is blood run copper stainless downrigger wire? I have never heard of it, didn't find a reference to it on their website? I currently use coated wire that seems to delaminate for one reason or another during each season. One cause is the probe unit usually swims across another rig, I am using 12# weight but am considering going heavier. I too usually drop the unit on an unfished cable and raise to 50 -60"  after I get my info.

[jimski2]

Studies in Lake Huron have shown Kings travel from six hundred foot down to the surface several times a day. We do not see these fish on our graphs but some skippers there are running lines set to three hundred foot deep. A great story on these conditions is in the latest "Great Lakes Angler" magazine.

[Sk8man]

I wonder how many of those deep Kings are actually caught or even hit though because freshwater fish that are found that deep are usually in a rather dormant state (i.e.resting and not feeding maybe?)

[momay4000]

I wonder how many of those deep Kings are actually caught or even hit though because freshwater fish that are found that deep are usually in a rather dormant state (i.e.resting and not feeding maybe?)

 

With all due respect I totally disagree. Read the article that Jimski refers to. I think they referred to the deep water as "downtown" but they wouldn't be targeting this deep water if they weren't catching hungry kings.

 

Chris

[Sk8man]

Could be true... but everything I have ever read or seen myself or heard from others (e.g. Seneca Lake in 500 ft water out by barge suspended 275 -300 ft. never hit- including jigging over them) and other fishermen I've spoken with report the same thing....apparent dormancy. But then again I haven't seen the article either and have not fished those waters either (Huron). Les

[Silver Fox]

I also fish my probe as the highest rigger. Usually in the Summer time I will find 60 degrees with the probe. Park the probe there, and fish everything below it. Also, anything less than 13lb weights on your probe is going to give you a lot of blowback. We never fish anything but a 15lb Torpedo on ours.

Ditto

[Silver Fox]

Our speed jumps 0.5 mph on the probe when we release a rod and I think it's due to our running the Scotty release off the ball. BTW, we run round balls; if we tried to do that with torpedos, I know we'd screw things up for sure.

We adjust speed on a daily basis and use the probe to figure out which direction and how strong the downcurrents are, so it's all relative anyway.

Keith, hook those Scotty's above the weight. I never understood why people attach them on the back of the weights.

[Chas0218]

Ok, what is blood run copper stainless downrigger wire? I have never heard of it, didn't find a reference to it on their website? I currently use coated wire that seems to delaminate for one reason or another during each season. One cause is the probe unit usually swims across another rig, I am using 12# weight but am considering going heavier. I too usually drop the unit on an unfished cable and raise to 50 -60"  after I get my info.

Sorry it is torpedo wire.  That is my fault, wrong company.

 

Here is the link.

https://www.torpedodivers.com/scart/product_details.asp?ItemNum=ZP0010

Edited April 3, 2014 by Chas0218

[jekyll]

Definitely agree with Silver Fox. Light weights with lanyard style releases connected to the ball's tail will pull the ball back and up. This really tilts the probe to a steep, nose down angle which screws up the speed signal as the water doesn't flow over the wheel correctly. You need to connect releases above the probe so that the ball and probe run as level as possible. Try setting a rod/rigger just below the surface and you can see how the line pulls the ball up at trolling speed.  A buddy had trouble with his DR for 2 years after installing it. I finally fished his boat and saw how he was rigging and running using Scotties off the tail of the fish weight. I ****ed, and he switched to a Blacks slider release pinned above the probe and all his issues disappeared. You can also try a Scotties stacker release above the ball if you really want to stick with inch pads. His probe runs great now. 

[tlox]

I have to check out the torpedo wire, my coated cable is a mess.

[Chas0218]

I have to check out the torpedo wire, my coated cable is a mess.

 

It seems to work well giving me what i think is the correct temp and down speed.  It will be going onto it's 2nd season without any issues.  It works great when stacking.  I haven't tried it on an electric rigger but I don't think it would make any difference.

[brucehookedup]

Deep kings do chew, maybe not so aggressively. Put the biggest paddle you own with a big fly or meat so they can see it. My deepest to date is 274ft.

[jimski2]

http://smarttroll.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=5

Smaller, thinner uses a radio signal, not the cable

[Chas0218]

I would use it but run a kicker and according to their site it would interfer with the unit.

Sent from my thinking car!

[JimB]

Thanks for starting this thread. I had the same questions about the Subtroll. Just bought one last year. Had the same thoughts as to how big an angle the

rigger cable was at when trolling at 2-2.5 or so. Ordered 12 pound torpedo weights this spring to see if it helps with blow back. Was using a 10 pound ball

last year. (Max weight for my riggers is 12 pounds, or I would have easily gone with a 14 pound).

Also going to try to tweak the transponder angle to see if I can get it to register the balls. At this point, they "disappear" from the screen when I get above

1.5 mph or so trolling.

It was pretty cool seeing just how much of a current you can be in with the unit. There were times my gps was showing almost 4.5 with a down speed of 2.2 or so.

It was also interesting to finally "see" the thermocline. Water would be mid 60's, and then suddenly in the upper 40's. The first few times it happened I thought

the unit wasn't working correctly....