DR ball weight?

[islandboy]

I have been trolling for trout using a DR with a 2lb ball. At slow speeds I have been getting good strikes without a release or solid hookups (sharp hooks, slightly offset - connecting on non-DR rod ). Speeding up once the strike starts results in hookups.

A question for the experienced lake DR trollers: Is a 2lb ball too light?

 

[Oly1]

Yes a two pound ball, is too light. Even the Scotty Lake Trollers can handle 5 pounds I think. What kind of downriggers are you using? If it’s a normal manual downrigger (Scotty 1050 or 1085] I would use an 8pound ball. Gives you more depth control and precise presentation of your lures.

Oly

 

[islandboy]

I am using a Scotty Lake Troller. Will give 5 a try, thank you.

 

[halimark]

Used 2lb balls on my lake trolls for first year, then switched to 3 lbers. Now took off the lake trolls (junk) and added old style 1 ft per turn models and now use 5 lbers. Work better but when the I'm not paying attention bottom bounce happens they do snag faster.

HM

 

[mr eagle]

I use a 10 lb ball on the lake troller scotty when in my tinny, everyone keeps saying its too big but 8 years later its working just fine.

 

[Damien]

I use 5lb balls when lake trolling. Typical speed is 1.1 to 2mph MAX.

At those speeds and basically no current, there isn't much blow back at all. Depth on the rigger effectively matches the ball showing on the sounder.

 

[Char-junkie]

Lake troll I used 5 lbs. depends on depth and speed. 8-10 is what I use for lakers now.

 

[UkeeDreamin]

Are you using the lighter line releases? I use the mini-power grips, work better with the lighter line, slower speeds and smaller fish in freshwater. I use 5-12lb balls depending on lake size, depth and speed of trolling - eg big lakes like Shuswap trolling fast for big rainbows I’ll use the 10’s or even 12’s, when targeting Kokanee in the top 30ft, trolling very slow, 5lbs is more than enough.

Cheers!

Ukee