Downrigger Ball Weight?

[Hunter]

Shawn.... thanks for the nice words..  The pleasure was mine.  I know that a lot of you guys have known each other for a long time..... so thanks for the warm welcome..... felt like family.   

Great weather, great time, new friends, cold beer, hot lead.... and no one went to the hospital...    Doesn't get much better than that!

Westport is on the radar so just might take you up on that fine offer! 

[CompTime]

Uh oh...I am foreseeing a problem here.  :whistle: Most of the DR ball I pre-poured for tomorrow are 15 lbers, because I thought that was the standard.
Here is why I exclusively use 15 lbers: (I have 10 year old Scotty 1106's)
1) Less line angle when fishing deep. I have fished as deep as 260' down on the wire!
2) I can increase my speed without messing up the line angle so easily. I no longer subscribe to the "slow is best" for Kings method. Unless I am fishing bait, I am usually running between 2.5-3.5 mph.
3) I hate carrying multiple sizes of DR balls on the boat, so I just use the 15's even if I am very shallow.
4) It's simple math, 15 is 3 better than 12. :biggrin:
-Shawn

+5) you don't need to keep re adjusting the clutches.

Like Guts mentioned the snubbers are nice. I use the Silver Horde green ones and they are nice on your bare hands and I have had the misfortune of pulling up two crab posts in the past two years. Each time I was ready to cut the brade, but managed to work them up and feel the snubbers may have minimized the stress on the downrigger and the mounting location on the boat.

[Kahunanui]

I am guessing that out in the PNW the ' top ' means one 'end' or the other and if you put the 'loop' in a particular end that end becomes the top and the other end is .... well, a picture is worth a thousand _____________ .

A pipe weight I saw was made from a cut axle shaft... I like the idea of the lead filled SST pipe.
I have plenty of 10 lb weights, lead, and access to SST pipe so it looks like yet another project in the near future.

BB,
do you put the bottom loop on the very bottom or did you fasten a loop a number of inches up from the bottom?

The release loop is at the top

[StreamFixer]

A recommendation was made at the Saltwater Sportsman Show to put about 30 feet of stainless D/R wire on the end of your braid to make stacking more effective...  Kind of a 'well DUH!!' moment for me   

StreamFixer

[Kimbrey]

I forget where I was reading it but I think a lot of the Canadian guys were using tuna cord instead of a snubber.  Nice thing about that if you install the cord long enough the knot will trip the down rigger stop.  IE you won't have to use the beads.

[baddawg]

Used to run 12lb then tried the 15lb, wouldn't switch back!  Lets you fish deep, less blow back so it keeps your gear closer to the boat in combat fisheries.