downrigger ball on your fish finder

[funkster]

while this topic is active, is there a cure for a singing wire?

Yep, hook up and bring up the wire, problem solved👍🏼👍🏼

Jokes aside, this is a good question!

[Wetwoodshunter]

while this topic is active, is there a cure for a singing wire?

Switch to braid or use a heavier downrigger ball. I have never heard braid sing. Also, its nice being able to tie on terminal gear and not having to mess with corrosion, rust, and kinks.

[KP-Skagit]

I wish I could get my FF to not mark the downriggers, sometimes it marks so hard it shows my top ball as bottom. Kokanee fishing, with 3 pound balls.

[Stein]

while this topic is active, is there a cure for a singing wire?

Switch to braid or use a heavier downrigger ball. I have never heard braid sing. Also, its nice being able to tie on terminal gear and not having to mess with corrosion, rust, and kinks.

 

Braid is so much superior to wire on downriggers it's hard to even explain until you try it.

[Crunchy]

I switched one downrigger to braid this year and still running wire on the other.  I like the braid better, but not by a lot.  Same basic concept, and will not fray or rust.  Performance wise it is the same, lowers and raises downrigger ball.

[KP-Skagit]

I for one love singing wire. If I could I would play a recording of it to fall asleep to at night.

[dilleytech]

My down rigger with 8# ball set about 4’ in front of the stern and out of the side about 4’ shows up just fine as shallow as 10’. The guy recommending it far forward must fish really deep. Switching from steel cable to heavy braided fishing line will help with the hum but your more likely to snap off a ball and maybe your rod with it.

[Stein]

My downrigger braid is 250 lb and doesn't rust.  I think steel cable is 150 or 180 lb.  I've lost balls due to wire breaking from rusting where you can't see it but haven't ever had braid break.  My guess is the downrigger boom would break far before the braid.  I've actually thought about putting in some sort of breakaway at the ball in case it hangs up because the braid won't break before bad stuff would start to happen.

[NRA4LIFE]

I also run 250 lb braid.  Never looked back from the cable days.  I can watch the balls (12, 15 lbs) all the way down, plain as day.  Not having to deal with terminal kits vs just tying knots rules.  I have never lost a ball with the braid (or with wire to make it fair). 

[SteelheadTed]

My downrigger braid is 250 lb and doesn't rust.  I think steel cable is 150 or 180 lb.  I've lost balls due to wire breaking from rusting where you can't see it but haven't ever had braid break.  My guess is the downrigger boom would break far before the braid.  I've actually thought about putting in some sort of breakaway at the ball in case it hangs up because the braid won't break before bad stuff would start to happen.

I run a snubber for this reason, it's supposed to break at 75 pounds or so, which seems like a good number to prevent the bad things happening.

[SteelheadTed]

Do you see it on the finder when you balls are dropping at any point? Is your transducer relatively level in relation to the water?

No, I don't see the balls on the sonar at any point.  I mounted the transducer myself so I may have some adjusting to do.  I was having a heck of a time with the transducer creating a rooster tail so I had to bring it up about 2 inches.  I'll check the angle, it seems right but maybe it is facing too far back and only looking past the stern and missing the balls altogether.  I'll experiment with the angle.  I have a Humminbird Helix 7 CHIRP SI.

[Stein]

Next time you are on the water, see what angle your boat floats or trolls at.  You can get a level app for your phone or use a small bubble level and coins or something under it until it's level that you can replicate when you get it back on the trailer.

If you moved it up that far your hull may be blocking the pings from going forward to where your downrigger is.

Then, when back at home you can adjust the trailer jack to get the boat at the same angle it fishes at and then either level the transducer or point it whatever way you want.

The ball is a big chunk of metal, it should show up very prominently.  That said, I wish mine didn't show up so well as it blocks some stuff underneath it sometimes and the auto range sometimes locks on it as bottom as someone above mentioned.  The sonar depth and line counter depth pretty much match so it's not any value being able to see it.

[fishngamereaper]

Do you see it on the finder when you balls are dropping at any point? Is your transducer relatively level in relation to the water?

No, I don't see the balls on the sonar at any point.  I mounted the transducer myself so I may have some adjusting to do.  I was having a heck of a time with the transducer creating a rooster tail so I had to bring it up about 2 inches.  I'll check the angle, it seems right but maybe it is facing too far back and only looking past the stern and missing the balls altogether.  I'll experiment with the angle.  I have a Humminbird Helix 7 CHIRP SI.

A properly installed transducer is flat along the same lines of the hull of your boat with maybe a slight degree of rear up. To much Angle will only create problems. If you want a wider cone change your settings or change your ducer. Wider the cone the less detail down deep. I fish a lot of deep water so run a pretty narrow cone. I like to see halibut chasing my gear in 300-400ft of water. And some of the offshore salmon spots the fish run 250-300 ft deep.

Also with braid it helps to re tie a couple times a year. Especially if your bouncing bottom a lot. I switched to braid 4 years ago and will never go back to wire.

[funkster]

while this topic is active, is there a cure for a singing wire?

Switch to braid or use a heavier downrigger ball. I have never heard braid sing. Also, its nice being able to tie on terminal gear and not having to mess with corrosion, rust, and kinks.

 

Braid is so much superior to wire on downriggers it's hard to even explain until you try it.

Agreed, both of mine are braid, I still hear a little singing from time to time.

[Stein]

You need new fishing buddies if you hear singing 😆


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