Manual Downrigger Weight Capacity

[overthelimit]

I have a couple older cannon downriggers. I believe they have an 8 lb weight capacity. Has anyone gone over a couple pounds in order to get a speed/temp probe down? I was thinking of trying a 10 pound herbie weight.

[LongLine]

I run cannon uni's with extendable boom with probe & a 14 Lb home made torpedo (missile).  Haven't had any problems but I don't extend them, bottom bounce or horse around with it.

 

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[bandrus1]

I had older manuals at one time and ran 12's fine.. as said above if ya dont give them hell they will be okay I would say

[Iceman]

Over:

 

How big are your guns? Seems like that would be the main limiting factor. Keep an eye on the how much the boom & frame flex while you deploy your 20 LB Shark!

John 

[overthelimit]

Lol, maybe not how big my guns are but how many fish can I catch. Thinking either 10 or 12 pound herbie or 13 pound torpedo.

[rolmops]

You had better start going to the gym and work on strengthening the wind back up muscles.

[Shawn.Furness]

Would 100' of cable on the down rigger be enough to fish Lake Ontario through out the summer. If not could you put longer cables on the down rigger? I am looking at buying a manual down rigger and it comes with 100' of cable and its max weight is 8lbs..

[fatboyjack1]

 Based on some advice I have got here......I went up to 200' of cable and 10 pound balls. However, I have two 8# balls that I will take as well.....just in case.

 

 Also, if the max weight is 8#'s........you can run 10's. I bought a used set of manual Big Jon's on here from a guy, and when I e-mailed Big Jon about exceeding max weight, they simply said to not add boom extensions if you want to exceed the weight. They also said it is hard on the mounts -

 

Unfortunately that is all I can offer.....   

[Shawn.Furness]

I am looking at buying some used cannon lake trollers(manual) and they come with 100' cable and 8lb wieghts. Is 100' of cable enough? Or do I need 200? I know the fish go to deep water in the summer but how for down are they?

[MadPerry]

In my opinion, 100' is not enough. Considering blowback on an 8lb ball, there could be times when you have 120 or more in the summer. Especially if you want to target lakers. Cable isnt expensive or hard to replace.

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Edited May 19, 2015 by MadPerry

[lineman49]

You had better start going to the gym and work on strengthening the wind back up muscles.

If you crank up 12-14#'s a few times you won't need to go to the gym!

[Shawn.Furness]

Haha.. Thanks!! I have to start with manuals and upgrade later... Gotta start somewhere.. Plus if you never use manuals you will never know how spoiled you are when you have the powered down riggers..

[TyeeTanic]

For sure 100' is not enough on an 8 lb weight, no doubt. The blowback will be VERY big if you

were trying to get the rigger down say 80 ft or more.  I wouldn't be surprised if you needed to put

out 120 ft + of cable to get down 80ft.

[MadPerry]

Haha.. Thanks!! I have to start with manuals and upgrade later... Gotta start somewhere.. Plus if you never use manuals you will never know how spoiled you are when you have the powered down riggers..

You are 100% right about appreciation of electrics.  I started with manuals using 10lb balls.  When the bite is on in deep water, you are going to be working!  I had 2 feet per turn units which helped a lot.  Most manuals seem to be 1 foot per turn.

[Misty IV]

I ran 12lb balls on my manuals and didn't have any issues. I had the Cannon Uni-Trolls and would extend the booms most of the time, but always would watch the tip for excessive bounce, especially in rough seas.

 

As for cable length, I had 200' of cable on each spool which worked fine...most of the time. When I upgraded to my electric Cannons, one of the first things I did was swap to 400' of cable on each spool. In years past, I've had the balls down to almost the 200' mark, but taking into consideration the blowback, I'd have needed more than the 200' to reach 200'. The 400' cables are relatively inexpensive, too.

[eviltroll]

I have two Penn fathom master manuals and use 12 pound torpedoes and haven't had a problem in the three years of fishing them. I just take my riggers apart and make sure everything nothing is in need of being replaced. I also purchased these used but they were like new due to the previous owner being a bass fisherman and never using them.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[BAZOOKAJOE]

13 lbs torpedo weights on cannon uni-trolls are easy to crank up and fishable to 100+ fow. The easy trolls and other models are more geared towards small lakes and light weights. You're wasting your money on those. Spend a few dollars more now to avoid making a mistake...and have to upgrade later.