Had my first down rigger mishap today.

[WAcoueshunter]

Yeah down rigger mishaps can be sad....or quite funny depending on your perspective.

One year off Cape Flattery I watched my dads fishing buddy hook up the big torpedo ball on his rig...ease it over the side....then his gear slipped the ratchet and it took off for the bottom, peeling out cable, then BANG-the ratchet caught and snapped off the huge weight.... Lots of cussing.... So he reels it up and clamps on another gear set. His rigger did it again, another 12+lber to the bottom. Man was he pissed... 

Ain't that the truth...

Same place, different mishap.  I was about five.  My dad had cranked up one of the downriggers but left the ball in the water while he cleared the other side.  He then forgot that the ball was still in the water and hit the gas.  Ripped the whole downrigger right off the mount!  Man was he pissed.   He's now retired and repairs Scotty's for one of the local fishing stores.  Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer....   

[lokidog]

A few years ago at Westport ,we were fishing for Kings. Both of my Cannon Digitroll IV's tripped at the same time. To our surprise they did not release and let the rod tips come up  instead both rods pegged to the water. Both downriggers started spooling cable. I hit auto up on the starboard rigger. It seemed to come free. When the port rigger was put in auto up the wire started going away from the boat like it was coming to the surface. Both rods were still spooling line. To our surprise a 16' Great white jumped 6' out of the water 15' behind my boat with all of my gear ,including the downrigger ball in his mouth. His eyes were rolled back and his mouth was wide open. He hit the water and LEFT the scene. I grabbed the spool of my downrigger. He took almost all of the 500' of cable off of the spool . I was finally able to clamp down hard enough that it broke the 150lb steel cable. My buddy said. "we need a bigger boat" A week later a commercial fisherman in a 40' boat caught a 16' great white. It drug them for almost an hour before they killed it. Wish I had a video camera running.

I had something similar happen out there.  Trolling along in 200' of water, nothing showing on the depthfinder and zzz  zzzz  zzz zzzzz  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz   BANG! before I could get the boat stopped.  This was with cable.  I think I hooked an old crab pot is all I can figure. 

Another time out there, one rod popped off the rigger and then just plumetted like a 20 lb weight was attached before the 50 lb braid broke, weird stuff out there.

I don't trust that non-metal line, but with my Cannons, I need the electric conductivity of the wire as well.

[ravdakot]

Hey gasman, I was the guy in a kayak ended up with 2 in the boat, and lost 3 more. Just couldn't finish for some reason.



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[wildmanoutdoors]

If you dont want to lose your balls put a 10 amp fuse on. This will pop before your cable. Coarse thats with cable. The braid is quirky at best. But ya, we use 10 to 15 amp fuses inline so they pop first.

[lokidog]

If you dont want to lose your balls....

Hmmmm......         

Another thing to stay away from is that plastic ball clip made by Scotty, dropped two balls off one of those on one day, one even in the marina.     The little plastic tab can easily swing out around the hook and open up.

[gasman]

Hey gasman, I was the guy in a kayak ended up with 2 in the boat, and lost 3 more. Just couldn't finish for some reason.



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Well you had better luck then us.
Good talking to you out ther and next time you see me, say hi again 

Pete

[Kc_Kracker]

One reason I still use cable.

x2

[BobW]

One other thing I learned from Tom at SportCo.  If you are using braid be sure there are no sharp edges on the pully or pully housing on the end of the boom.  If they ever ran cable there are some edges there. It will saw off braid in a heart beat.

[gasman]

One other thing I learned from Tom at SportCo.  If you are using braid be sure there are no sharp edges on the pully or pully housing on the end of the boom.  If they ever ran cable there are some edges there. It will saw off braid in a heart beat.

Thanks for the tip Bob 

I will defiantly keep and eye out for any.

[Encore 280]

Aye Gasman, before I put the braided on there I ran 3/16" steel cable for pulling crab and shrimp pots, forgot to tell ya that. So ya might want to check the fairlead on the boom for any nicks. I used a 3/8" rat tail wood rasp to smooth the nicks out but not sure if I got all of them or not. So sorry if you lost a ball and gear due to the fairlead being a little rough on the edges. Oh and I still have the pole holder for that too, you should see it! l8r dude!!

[gasman]

Aye Gasman, before I put the braided on there I ran 3/16" steel cable for pulling crab and shrimp pots, forgot to tell ya that. So ya might want to check the fairlead on the boom for any nicks. I used a 3/8" rat tail wood rasp to smooth the nicks out but not sure if I got all of them or not. So sorry if you lost a ball and gear due to the fairlead being a little rough on the edges. Oh and I still have the pole holder for that too, you should see it! l8r dude!!

Its all good 

I believe the cause of the mishap was from the wrong stoppers on the braided line. To my understanding, the stoppers for braided are red and there was still the yellow and black stoppers on it, and that would give reason to why the stoppers slid so easy on the line.

Live and learn I guess 

We will defiantly hook up and get the pole holder from you and maybe get some GPS cords from you on your hot spots 

[Buzz2401]

I got rid of the stoppers all together and just tied a 200lb Sampo ball bearing swivel in line where I wanted the stopper to be then more braid down to my clip.  Works good and no more buying stupid stoppers.

[Encore 280]

I like the braid better than the wire where as the braid doesn't get kinks in it like the wire and doesn't end up with rust and the strands separating in no time flat. I even rinsed with fresh water after I used them but that didn't seem to help. I like the ball bearing swivel idea. I also use the rubber snubber between the clip and cannon ball to absorb some of the shock from the boat rolling or whatever happens.