Black Box

[adipose clipper]

For years I have heard about fishing with the black box. Having been fairly sucessful over the last 35 years I never considered it. Well winter boredom got the best of me and I installed one.

do I really need to use plastic coated balls? Can I buy a product and dip my balls in it to coat them?

Any advice would be appreciated

ac

[Nelly]

Hey AC,

While I believe in voltage control through use of either the box or Cannon's built in Positive Ion Control, coating your downrigger weights is neither necessary nor effective.

My own experience indicates that the coating invariably cracks, allowing water in and therefore allowing electrolysis to take place as before.

A more effective step is to use Cannon's Terminator or other non-metallic snaps to insulate the ball from the wire, breaking the circuit and taking the ball out if the voltage control equation.

Further, I'm going to play around with the zero-voltage low drag braids this summer, fishing it side-by-side with Positive Ion Controlled wire and I hope to gain a better grasp of the "braid vs wire" debate.

Regarding braid, the only type worth considering is the low drag variety that has a smaller diameter than wire. When Spectra downrigger line first arrived on the market, it was a larger diameter than standard 150 lb test wire and blew back farther rendering it less effective than the tried and true stainless.

Contrary to popular belief, braid can be used on Cannon downriggers and the quick-change spool feature on the new Cannons makes it easy to switch and run a test of your own!
Good luck!

[Morgan]

How does it work with the automatic stop?

[Nelly]

Good question and I should have been more model specific.
While all Cannon Downriggers will work with Spectra braid, the auto stop feature will only function on the LED digital read-out models.

In the previous model line the DT 4 and in the current or new line the DT 5 and DT 10's all have the digital display. Once the downrigger is correctly zeroed, the unit will stop when the counter reads zero.

While the jury is still out on downrigger line or Spectra braid, its nice to know that Cannon owners have the option of trying it out!

[adipose clipper]

Nelly

Thanks for the help. One thing I have already learned is charging your zincs and new bottom paint significantly changed my natural charge.

[Nelly]

Oh you bet it does!!!

The condition of not only your hull and zincs but also your boats electrical system have a tremendous effect on how your boat "fishes".

The benefits of better maintenance are not only realized by more trouble free hours on the water but more fish as well!

[mutinyman]

I used a black box when i was using wire, but no longer as I went to braid 3 yrs ago. It's a lot easier to work with. Also I use the rubber snubbers, which seem to lessen the amount of balls lost when hung up. Go to braid and have one less thing to screw with