NextGen Downrigger....??

[Seafever]

Is the downrigger sort of like a mousetrap in that you can't really build a better one?

I've been racking my brain trying to think of how we could do away with the downrigger and come up with a new device that keeps the lure down there until the fish hits.

Other than stuff we already in use like DeepSixes,Planers and heavier weight suspended on the line itself I can't come up with anything except maybe some kind of RC controlled sub that tows your line and
releases upon contact.....and it would have to work real deep....like 250ft and change.

If I was a major fishing tackle supplier I'd offer 50,000 bucks to the first guy who could come up with a plausible invention.....but I'm not .

I never really liked downriggers per se and only use them because there isn't anything else.

Ideas?

 

[Fisher_dude]

Take up flyfishing.

 

[Evenweight]

I think the next move for someone like Scotty is to partner up with Lowrance and have a downrigger that uses power for up AND down. I know Cannon did that with Humminbird. scotty is leaving a big hole in the market that could really work for everyone concerned.

 

[Seafever]

I wouldn't get out of bed for flyfishing.....

There those that say everything is achievable if you put your mind to it..and that absolutely nothing is impossible if you try.

I disagree with those people.

It is impossible to come up with anything better at deep fishing than a downrigger.

If I'm wrong........prove it.....

Here's something that 's currently impossible and you can't do it no matter what your mindset is:-

Walking through a five foot thick concrete wall unassisted by technology and naked.

 

[Ocean Roamer]

Come on, that is easy.

My concrete wall is 5 feet thick by 2 feet tall and i walked thru it naked before it cured.

 

[wildthing]

Ok guys back on track.... but good one OR

have few ideas which i may try out in the next few months

 

[Seafever]

OR.....but you couldn't walk through it when its 10ft high by 10ft wide and the concrete is set.

 

[Sasquatch]

What about the downriggers that can follow the contour of the bottom using a depthfinder, keeping the ball a pre-programmed number of feet above bottom? If they could figure out a way to deal with the reel taking up the slack when the ball rises, that would be a pretty good upgrade.

I realize it's not a new system off keeping a bait down, but still an improvement.

BTW...I love downriggers, particularly since I went electric. (and I love flyfishing)

 

[GDW]

What about the downriggers that can follow the contour of the bottom using a depthfinder, keeping the ball a pre-programmed number of feet above bottom? If they could figure out a way to deal with the reel taking up the slack when the ball rises, that would be a pretty good upgrade.

I believe cannons have this paired with a hummingbird. You need to deal with the slack line though. I believe the cannons give you a temperature reading at the cannon ball too. Sometimes underwater temperature breaks are where the fish are hanging out especially in lakes.

Cannon + hummingbird have got some neat features.

 

[Karma-Kazi]

WOW, it's turning into less and less of a sport called, FISHING", everyday eh?...soon enough it will be called catching i guess........holmes*

For the longest time I was mad at all this technology stuff. We need to leave the fish a few advantages or else they will never survive.

-KK

 

[Seafever]

Holmes:-......well for me I'm not having any "sport' if I'm not "catching".

I'm all about "catching". If it needs by regs to be released....no problem with that....

If I get my quota I will not fish just for the sake of catching and releasing.

I figure they can improve the downrigger as per the above posts.....but I'd like the industry to come with something to get rid of it all together....but that might be a tough road to ho.......

I might be waiting a long time...

 

[GDW]

I know how to get rid of a downriggers... Jig a buzz bomb. Use a cut plug and a slip weight. Planer board? Lead or copper line?

There's 4 options all already exist pick one and get rid of your downriggers.

 

[Last Chance]

I'd love to see the birdsnest wtih a downrigger that controlled the depth of the reel as well!

 

[Seafever]

GDW...

Buzzbombs I like for shallow water....but.....the deeper you go (I'm talking 180 to 200ft) the bigger buzzbomb you need..which will not necessarily match the size of the bait.
Plus buzzbombs take a lot longer than other style jigs to get down there because they flutter so much.
A current can mess you up bigtime using these at deeper depths.
So for shallow water....good...but deeper...no.

Cutplug and slip weight:-......the deeper you go the more weight you need......to the point where you are back fishing like in the good old days...with a Grand Banks tuna pole and and a limit of weight nowadays to 1kg. In times gone by they'd use upwards of 6 to 10lbs on a rod line.. so you can imagine the rods they used to combat weight and drag.
1kg sounds like a lot of weight ...but it isn't......by the time you hit 70ft at normal trolling speeds the line angle is already starting to get too much.

Planer boards,deep sixes and the like:- Too much damn drag at depths again....so it's back to the ultra-stiff ridgid oversize rod to hold it. Which takes the fun out of it and aso you lose more fish on a rod like that.

I don't think lead-line by itself will hold a lure down at trolling speed at depth due to "blowback"...but I've never used it so I could be wrong.....

So far all I can think of is using the downrigger line itself as the fishing line.
You would just clip a lure leader right near the ball with the appropriate amount of setback.
That eliminates two lines (the rods androd lines).
However you wouldn't be able to play the fish much if at all.....and the possible resulting line-crosses and other things might lead to a gigantic screw-up.

I don't even know if this method would be considered "legal" anyway.

 

[spring fever]

GDW...

So far all I can think of is using the downrigger line itself as the fishing line.
You would just clip a lure leader right near the ball with the appropriate amount of setback.
That eliminates two lines (the rods androd lines).
However you wouldn't be able to play the fish much if at all.....and the possible resulting line-crosses and other things might lead to a gigantic screw-up.

I don't even know if this method would be considered "legal" anyway.

It is illegal-and we used to call it a meat line! Strangly enough it often caught the most and biggest fish. Once in awhile it was scary-I had a salmon on one of the old skinny boom handdraulic scottys-Barrents passage off of P mcneil and I thought the side was coming of my 16ft starcraft alum. I did not land the fish but he brought the 10lb cannonball to the surface-I actually was glad when he straightened the hook.

 

[Fisher_dude]

what about a system that counts for blowback?

 

[Seafever]

yes that would be good but my vision is to get rid of the downrigger completely but still be able to get down deep without a ton of drag or having to use one of those 1" diameter boat rods to take the weight.

Spring Fever.....LOL....that must have been some fish if you were concerned about the boat getting ripped up......
What kind of fish can huck a 10lb cannonball around like that....?!!!!........awesome!

 

[Dogbreath]

...What kind of fish can huck a 10lb cannonball around like that....?!

Guess who's coming to dinner.....

 

[lemmy]

Ive got an idea Im going to try this year... Mainline to 3 way swivel , 6-12' leader to low drag spoon , plug or cutplug, then tie an expendable weightonto swivel with 2-4lb. test leader, when fish hits , weight breakup off , seems simple enough and should work. I' m going to try using steelhead chain from work cause its free and fairly dense, might not work in super deep, but in front or the Cap or kelp bed fishing , I think its going to work...be easier fishing by myself for sure!

 

[Dogbreath]

What you need is a simple sinker release should available @ most tackle stores.

OK near Kelp but you'll get cut off by someone's downrigger @ the Cap for sure.