The Outdoor Line Forum

Since I've been asked about Bottom Track several times lately, I'll do my best to answer and describe the feature here.

Bottom Track is a feature that allows your Cannon Downrigger to keep your weight a set distance off the bottom.
This feature is available on the new STX Digitrol 10 and Digitrol 5. You'll also find it on the older DT 4's
The DT10 has a plug for it's own transom-mount transducer and has a built-in digital depthfinder.

To engage Bottom Track, you simply press MENU and then RUN on the key pad.

For effective Bottom Tracking, you must set three parameters:
1. Maximum depth to track (could be as much wire as you have on the spool)
2. Sensitivity (Amount bottom must change before the rigger changes depth. I usually set mine to 3 feet)
3. Distance off bottom (Also known as "Blowback", the range of this feature is -20 to +20 feet.

You will find that you will be changing the blowback with changing troll speeds, direction and tidal flows.
The mechanical effiency of Cannon's Bottom Track is a HUGE advantage and I will have a blog and video out with a complete discription soon

While guiding in Alaska I used bottom track a bit it can work well when you get it tuned . We mostly used it to fish for Coho 50 to 75 ft off the bottom in about 100 ft of water but the most fun was using it to troll halibut in 275 to 325 somthing to be said for pulling in halibut with just 2 hooks on the end of your line.

Jadeo wrote:While guiding in Alaska I used bottom track a bit it can work well when you get it tuned . We mostly used it to fish for Coho 50 to 75 ft off the bottom in about 100 ft of water but the most fun was using it to troll halibut in 275 to 325 somthing to be said for pulling in halibut with just 2 hooks on the end of your line.

You're right on the money with the flat ones and Bottom Track (BT)

In Puget Sound, we have caught more halibut incidentially on my boat during salmon season than I did during our halibut season last May!

Cannon has made some serious improvements with this version of Bottom Track. For example, the BT transducer is a wide-angle 120 kHz unit that will "see" around large schools of bait and operate at a frequency that will not interfere with your other underwater electronics!

Im savin up my pennys for this. For as much as I like to pound the bottom for nooks this is the way to go.

It seems to me that the units that I was using in Alaska would only haul a 10# ball any heavier and they would trip the breaker the new ones I am told will lift a 20# that is good and I am also told that they come in a "very pretty white color".

You've got that right J,
The new Cannon Digitrol 5's and Digitrol 10's will haul 20lb cannonballs all day long!

I never use anything more than a 15 but it's nice to know they will do it if needed.

As far as color goes...yes, they do come in white...or black....but mostly black

I have two quick questions on this subject:

1) when the downrigger line comes up because the bottom is shallower doesn't this make for a lot of excess line on your fishing pole; so if a fish strikes then are you more likely to loose it due to the slack?

2) if you use the pancake style of DR weights, can you use less weight since they have a lower profile and potentially less drag and therefore less blowback?
Thx.
Dan

I used bottom track with bait only . I also belive in feeding fish so I rarely load the rod to the point of breaking if there is extra slack it just lets the fish turn with the bait giving you plenty of time for a sweeping hookset putting that 5/0 right where it belongs. This method can be hard to get used to but you will find that fish hooked in this manner rarely escape the cooler.

I find that the pancake weights blowback to be about the same maybe a little less but they seem to track much straighter. " Won't a pound of lead will always take up the same amount of space? "

Dan Carney wrote:I have two quick questions on this subject:

1) when the downrigger line comes up because the bottom is shallower doesn't this make for a lot of excess line on your fishing pole; so if a fish strikes then are you more likely to loose it due to the slack?

2) if you use the pancake style of DR weights, can you use less weight since they have a lower profile and potentially less drag and therefore less blowback?
Thx.
Dan

Hey Dan,
Great questions!
First, think of Cannon's Bottom Track as you would a boat's autopilot: It's a labor-saving device that is not meant to replace your involvement and attention. An autopilot can run a straighter course that you can but only after it is programmed correctly. Likewise, Bottom Track can keep your ball closer to the bottom than you can manually.

You're right on the money in anticipating slack as the bottom tracking Cannon brings the ball up. However, since you're watching your gear for strikes, it's a simple matter to crank the slack out.
In addition, I tend to troll along with, or parallel to depth contours which also minimizes large changes in depth.
Bottom Track is a deadly tool and a huge advantage but it does not replace angler involvement.

If I'm trying to accurately track a bottom contour, I'm using round balls with fins, NOT pancake weights. I like pancake weights for mid-water column/middle or "shoot" rigger use but they generally do not "behave" when you are bouncing bottom. In my experience, pancake weights tend to develop larger wire angles than round balls due to their tendency to turn and plane or "swing".

As far as downrigger weights go, 99% of the time... it's 15lb balls with fins for me.