How To Use Cannon Downriggers

Savvy fishermen know downrigging is one of the best ways to control the depth of their fishing lure-short of dropping anchor. Ideally, of course, you want to be able to keep your lure in the depth range where you want it-at the depth where your fish finder is indicating the fish are located-at any given point in time.You can become quite good at doing this after some trial and error, a bit of record keeping and lots of patience.

I like to use the the best.I have used other brands but was never satisfied with thier performance or durability.Most of them fell apart tto soon or rusted out prematurally, so I didn't think that I received fair value for the dollars spent.

But Cannon produces some really great downrigging systems.There are more complex systems, but I like to work with something a little easier, like the Mag 10TS, for example. Experienced boaters and fishermen trust the Magnum because it has been proven to be extremely durable and dependable.It includes a fast retreival rate of 250 feet per minute, also has a short stop feature to stop the motor after the ball leaves the water so as to not hit the boat and can handle the work load of a deep sea fisherman. In particular, the Mag 10TS has a spool constructed of stainless steel that can deal with the "super lines" popular these days or monofilament.It has a stylish appearance with a nice white finish and includes Positive Ion Control which creates an electronic field around the ball making your boat a fish finding machine.

To begin you want to decide how deep you want to be and at what speed you will troll.When trolling faster or going deeper, more weight will be needed.The reason is that you have to compensate for the extra drag produced by the water as you speed increases. As an example, many Great Lakes fishermen who are trying to catch salmon troll at 1.5 up to 3 miles per hour and aim for a depth of 15 to 30 feet down, so they don't have a significant drag and can use a 5lb ball. But deep sea fishermen trying to catch grouper-which often run at 60 feet below the surface or even deeper-troll at around 5 knots.With water depth like that and a higher speed you get a lot more drag.So they likely will need a 20lb ball weight.

Once you have an idea of the size of weight you want to use, you'll still need to experiment a bit to be sure you're on track.Go out on the water to the same depth range that you plan to fish. Adjust your boat speed to troll at the rate you plan to use based on the kind of fish you plan to catch. Now drop the ball all the way to the bottom at which point you will you see the cable start to slack up. Then quickly stop it and retrieve a bit of cable to tighten it back up.Now check the line counter on your downrigger. Here's where the record keeping comes in. Write down that depth along with your trolling speed, the ball weight, and the water depth.

Now try changing a bit.Each time you adjust your speed make a note of the information aquired.Adjust the ball depth at the different speeds and make a note of that.What you want to determine is how many feet of cable to let out for a particular depth and speed to get to the fish you are trying to catch.By using some simple math like a percentage of cable needed to reach a certain depth or bottom you will be able to calculate how much cable to let out to be in the depth you desire.

Personally, I like to stay right around 10 feet above the bottom. For starters, I know bottom fish will still take the right bait from that distance.They will swim up for it.I also don't care for the idea of getting hung up on something on the bottom and being forced to cut loose my cable.

Another recommendation is to keep your lead line at 10' or less from the ball to your bait so that you get the benifit of the negative Ion field that surrouds the ball.It has to be that close to use it. If you've got too much lead line in between there, it won't work.

In addition to the Cannon downrigger Mag 10TS, you'll need some basics to get started. With a nice sturdy 7' rod, a conventional reel and line based on what you're planning to catch, a good line released hooked to your ball, the perfect bait, and a nice boat, you'll soon be in business.Downrigger fishing is a fun and enjoyable method of fihing and one that easy to master.

You can get more information about all of the Cannon downriggers plus accessories-and all kinds of other fishing and boating electroncs-at the eFishBox.com website.

In addition, you'll find lots of great fishing articles and advice at MyTackleSpace. There are also forums and blogs to help generate lots of ideas and great fishing discussions! Check it out.