Cannon Down Rigger Question - Sounds like a Hendrix Concert

Started by Brewcrafter, May 10, 2021, 05:55:42 AM

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Brewcrafter

Went out Saturday trolling for stripers; and while I am mostly a "lead core line" guy this trip was on a friends boat with a Cannon downrigger.  Absolutely NOT bagging on the equipment, it worked great, but wondering if anyone else has dealt with this issue - while trolling at 2-3 knots and generally at 35' depth, the wire of the downrigger developed a very noticeable sympathetic vibration that was, well, noticeable and irritating.  To describe it think of it as trolling with a cello player in the boat  :-[ (not that I have anything against cello players).  If I would reach over and put my hand on the dowrigger wire, it would dampen/eliminate the sound.  My friend purchased it new and still has all of the paperwork - so pretty sure we are not missing anything - works great other than the annoying sound that I assume is generated by water moving past the wire (and yes, changing the trolling speed and or the trolling depth (length of wire) would change the volume and tone of the sound).  Again, if I reached over and so much as touched the downrigger wire with my hand it would dampen it to no sound.  The downrigger itself is clamped to the transom of a 16' Alumacraft, but when we checked the pads on the downrigger clamps all of the rubber "grip feet" looked to be very sound and intact.  I even began to speculate if the transom on the boat (aluminum hull) was acting line a "sounding board" of some sort (kind of like the body of a guitar, and in this case the guitar string that is vibrating is the downrigger wire).  So, anybody else ever run across this?  The unit itself worked great and seems high quality, but the endless tone note has got to go.... - john

alantani

yup, wire sings!  that's why guys have switched to spectra. 
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

thorhammer

yep, switched mine out to 200 lb power pro; some guys use mono because its cheaper and more forgiving if a fish runs a line against it. If one runs mono, ya gotta have a backing like dacron (or just crimp a 100 feet of mono onto the downrigger cable) or it will blow the spool out, just like a plastic reel spool. Happened to a buddy.

whalebreath

Many people believe that the vibration you perceived actually attracts fish-one of the minor downrigger producers it may have been Big Jon used to produce a kind of 'fish whistle' that rode on the wire and made certain sounds.

Quotethe endless tone note has got to go....
No you have to learn how to adapt-you admit the thing worked fine but already you're trying to change what worked.

akfish

The vibration bugs me, but I have almost convinced me that it doesn't affect fishing. Switching to braid is great -- except with Cannon electric down riggers which use current through the wire to operate the auto stop. This is not the case with Scotties.
Taku Reel Repair
Juneau, Alaska
907.789.2448

Hardy Boy

The singing means you are going the right speed !! I love it and will never switch to spectra. Wire catches fish on my boat and I don't fish really deep so "blow back" is not an issue. Love the wire singing !!


Cheers:

Todd
Todd

David Hall

I switched my canons over to braid several years ago.  After two seasons I switched back to SS cable.  The auto stop doesn't work with braid and the new canons retrieve at an incredibly fast rate. They will take the terminal hear and everything below that right off the end of your braid slicker than snot.  After losing 2-3 cannonballs I switched back. Also there was no real noticeable difference in the blowback with braid vs steel cable. And there was no difference in my catch rate either.  If I had Scotty's I would run braid because it is easier to work with but I'm not about to rewire  my boat for a different brand of downrigger.  I'm used to canons been running them for 20 years.

Brewcrafter

Great input from everyone, thank you so much!  I will pass along to the owner.  His model is a simple manual model, so no worries about electronics.  As I mentioned, well built but I really don't like to get a headache while fishing from listening to to an endless "Civil Defense Alert" tone (most of y'all are too young to know what the heck I'm referring to :D).  I never thought about the fact that this sound is obviously being transmitted to the lure, but it seems that no one thinks that it is a problem and some feel it accentuates the presentation.  At one point on Saturday I was scheming a way to pull the string silencers off my bow to use in the future but needless to say it would make reeling in the outrigger line very ineffective.  Thank you again everyone, and my friend thanks you as well. - john