Lets say I am in 40 foot of water and I'm targeting walleyes 3 inches of bottom using downriggers. I'm using 10ft. lead off ball trolling 1.2 -1.5 . Is Running 34ft. the correct deepth I should run. oh yea! using Bandits deep walleye!!
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Lets say I am in 40 foot of water and I'm targeting walleyes 3 inches of bottom using downriggers. I'm using 10ft. lead off ball trolling 1.2 -1.5 . Is Running 34ft. the correct deepth I should run. oh yea! using Bandits deep walleye!!
My guess is the precision dive chart is good just from ball instead of board. I’d say 30-32 down would get you 40 with a 10’ lead of 10#.
Forget 30lb. Braid like 10lb.mono
Hi Gator Bait.
When using downriggers one of the critical factors is blowback. Blowback is how high your ball rises in the water. This is controlled by weight of the ball and your speed. The lighter the ball or the faster you troll the more the ball rises up in the water.
Because of blowback you can't use the precision trolling app exactly, you have to adjust for your particular blowback. In general you will have to set the rigger deeper than what the app says.
The easiest and best way it to use a fish hawk that tells you the exact depth (and speed) of your ball and hence bait. But like everything else they can be pricey. Before we had fish hawks we would let the rigger down when at trolling speed until it just bumped bottom. The difference between the rigger counter and your depth sounder is your blowback. Once you know this you are good to dial the rigger precisely to the depth you want for any depth.
It is not as bad as it sounds because after a few times you will know your boat/rigger blowback and won't need to check anymore.
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Originally Posted by Fishing Tiger
I should of put that in description too. running 12lb. flat round wt. with fin i do have a hawk cause trolling for them salmon and coho's you got smaller window. I didn't know it was called blowback i called it drift lol and uses hawk and solix to zero in on on that depth. and speed. thanks Tiger
If you're running bandits off the ball I'd run the shallow Bandits as opposed to the deep ones.
I never attach a crank bait directly to the connon ball. Instead, I use a stacker release and attach my crank above the ball. This allows you to run a longer lead if desired. Just use a trolling app for you distance back to depth ratio above the ball for your stacker. You mentioned fishing for fish on the bottom. Keep this in mind that walleye tend to feed UP. That is why I always keep the ball a foot or two off bottom. If the fish are really biting, I take a six foot leader and attach it directly to the cannon ball and run a spoon. Just remember this constitutes another two rods.
fish hawk ty I do understand what your saying I do have the rods to run 6 a side!! but will have to invest in my stackers...lol but between boards weights and length of bandits trolled behind usally don't have much trouble.... Just wanted to try on slow days.. that saying I know a capt. that besides running 4boards a side also runs downriggers with snubbers attached to ball and just checks it periodalicy for fish... lol i just wanted to run a pole on that concept instead of bringing up ball to check for fish.../.just saying :rolleyes:
I’m new to downrigging. I read your comment fishhawk about clipping directly to the ball with a crankbait. Why not clip there instead of right about it on the cable?
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Originally Posted by Bamatroller
Not quite sure what you're are asking. What I attach to the ball is a short(6ft) lead and run a spoon off it. I run my primary bait off a stacker release above the ball.