Black Box, Help or Hype?

[Doggin' it]

I was wondering if people who have Scotty Electric Downriggers also use the Black Box. We have the High Performance Scottys with the braided line, so is it really necessary? Does it really help?

Thanks,

Kim

 

[scott craven]

No need with braided line.

 

[trophywife]

no wire, no electric current.

 

[Evenweight]

in order for a black box to work you have to fix any electrical leakage causing uncontrolled voltage travelling on the downrigger cable from the boat. You use braid. It doesn't conduct electricity.

Put some Scotty sure stops (or tuna cord) on the bottom of your braid and be happy.

Richard

 

[Doggin' it]

Thanks everyone, I thought so!

 

[Kisinana]

You can still have a problem with your boat voltage. If you bring fish close to the boat and they go nuts it is usually a sign of leakage. This will have no effect on the hooking of them just landing them.

 

[walleyes]

I don't know a fish that doesn't go nuts when it's sees a boat. You can be fishing Pike or Walleye in a tinner with no electronics in it and when a fish sees the boat it goes wild. It's a visual thing not a voltage thing.

Back to the original question and title of the topic.. IMHO, It's more hype than anything else. People making excuses more than anything. Pay attention to the essentials this is your biggest challenge. You can have all the gadgets in the world if you are a poor fishermen it won't do you a darn bit of good.

I just don't get it.. How are people mounting down riggers on boats that they aren't getting insulation from electronics on their boat. The mounting brackets are plastic, the bases of the downriggers are plastic, any of the bolts that are sold by Scotty are steel isolated in plastic, the motor is mounted in a plastic casing, driving a plastic gear, through a rubber belt to a plastic drum. Where are you getting electricity transferred through to your line. In the old commercial boats that discovered this they ran all metal components I could see this being an issue but not in this modern equipment we run. Yes there may be some static electricity gained from trolling a metal line through water but really.. Again we run a plastic line hooked on with a plastic clip set 20' back from the metal line the size of piano wire in the water,, like really guys.. Again,, there are more important issues to be concerned with than this..

 

[Hoochiebob]

Read this: http://www.scotty.com/scotty-support/documents/BBox Booklet 2003.pdf

You will read that the box will only attract fish to the area around your cannonball, not to your lure.
truth is, if you cant catch fish without a black box, you wont have any more luck with one.

 

[Peahead]

I just don't get it.. How are people mounting down riggers on boats that they aren't getting insulation from electronics on their boat. The mounting brackets are plastic, the bases of the downriggers are plastic, any of the bolts that are sold by Scotty are steel isolated in plastic, the motor is mounted in a plastic casing, driving a plastic gear, through a rubber belt to a plastic drum. Where are you getting electricity transferred through to your line. In the old commercial boats that discovered this they ran all metal components I could see this being an issue but not in this modern equipment we run. Yes there may be some static electricity gained from trolling a metal line through water but really.. Again we run a plastic line hooked on with a plastic clip set 20' back from the metal line the size of piano wire in the water,, like really guys.. Again,, there are more important issues to be concerned with than this..

I suggest you do some reading to answer your question as you are obviously missing that the small positive voltage you are wondering about (where it comes from) comes naturally from electrolysis !! --which causes the flow of electricity from metal parts on your hull below water line to the stainless rigger cable when it is in the water. This forms a battery like situation . See the above post by Hootchiebob that has a link to Scotty info on electrolysis and the BB. Also check out this little booklet if you are interested :

"Black Box Electric Fishing Technology" by Malcolm Russell and Dick Pool.

When you take a volt meter reading from your rigger cable to your motor ( or neg terminal on battery) this small voltage should be anywhere in the .7-.9V range with a proper insulated downrigger and no electrical leak from other devices into the water - its your ambient voltage. This voltage can be adjusted by a BBox , that's all....BB is not some magical mystery box - it is quite simple. A buddy of mine built one for about 20 bucks in parts BTW !!!

Take all the marketing hype about Black box catching tons more fish with a huge 'grain of salt' . I won't get into the effects of slight positive voltage and its ability to catch more fish but it has been proven that fish are certainly effected by voltage and also attracted to a slight positive V. Also the research shows that the effect of the voltage does extend well beyond the rigger cable itself , apparently but depends on conditions. It seems to be felt that it absolutely will extend to terminal gear easily up to 15' off the rigger and in still shallow fishing well beyond that ( but of course I can't prove this lol)

Does cable and BB fish better than braid - Overall I don't think so but I feel voltage can effect things at times and with cable I find keeping voltage lower to a proper ambient ( not too hot) is all I use a box for.
I have had some very interesting results cranking the box when sockeye fishing but that's a long story.
As others have said ( but should be obvious) presentation and having all your other ducks in a row is far more important. And for the original poster of this thread ...Braid catches fish perfectly well at 0 voltage if all your other ducks are in fact in a row!
Cheers

 

[walleyes]

All interesting stuff boys. I'm certainly not apposed to this whole concept one can't argue with it but like we have all agreed,, we can't lose focus on the main issue and that is paying attention to the fishing itself..

Good info though guys thx for posting it..