Opposite of what I thought. At first the surface looked greater with the pipe. I have used them with some good results. Rainbows hugging bottom. Purposely hit the bottom to stir up rhe dirt. Then bring up five feet. Pop gear and a worm.
I have a couple 4lb fish shaped weights. They seem to track well, and prevent a little blowback. My scotty downriggers are not rated for more than 4 lbs, and they work fine for kokanee. What about hooking up the pipe so it sits horizontal? It might have a lot less drag, but I can see it catching on stuff a lot easier.
If you look at the blowback charts, there really isn't much difference between weight and/or shape below 2 mph. It becomes noticeable at higher trolling speeds. My friend bought 14 pounders for Kokanee fishing. I tried to explain to him that there is such an insignificant difference between 6 and 14 pounds at trolling speeds below 1.5 mph that he might as well save the money and the extra trouble of dealing with heavier weights. Try the same test at 4 mph and I'd be willing to bet that the pipe will have more blow back simply because of all the surface resistance through the water. Just a theory, but I believe the pipe would have more blowback.
If someone had just handed me one of those pipe weights (not having seen one used before and I've only ever used the Cannon ball/fin one), I would have hooked the downrigger line to the other eyelet in the middle and the clip to the one on the end. Seems there would be even less blowback with that as there is a much smaller profile being dragged through the water, wonder if that is actually the case though.
I use 2 down riggers weights. One is a round 9# ball and the other is a 10 #pancake weight. On my sonar, the round one will sometimes show up as bottom but not the pancake. the round one is always a bigger line on the screen. Any thoughts?
I have a small 14 ft. boat and run 2 cannon mini downriggers w/4lb. fish shaped lead weights. Problem is when trolling for trout and salmon at 2.2 to 2.8 mph the lines go to far back after 20 to 25 ft deep. Was thinking about making 5lb Boat tail bullet shaped weights running horizontal. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Would be interested in seeing other shapes (although probably not worth revisiting since the benefits would probably still be marginal). Spheres and cylinders are certainly not the most drag efficient shapes. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_coefficient?wprov=sfla1 If you go to non-traditional shapes... One of the weird factor is that you need to attach the downrigger ball to the line... AND have the "ball" pull a flasher/dodger while maintaining an efficient orientation to minimize drag. That would make design tricky I would imagine.
I used pancake [flat and round] lead downrigger weights with a rear fin that you clipped your release onto and at the top was where the weight tied into the downrigger itself for fishing kings in the pugget sound. It moved through the water nicely and you could custom bend the rear vertical fin to have the weight track out from the boat a few feet at depth [usually less than 100 feet] increasing your spread which can be important for avoiding tangles during turns. Blowback itself though is not a bad thing. If I put a big flasher on one pancake washer and a spoon on the other, the blowback difference was appreciable. But what's really good about not having too much blowback is you can see on your electronics where the ball is in the water column! Talk about being able to target fish. Anyway, great analysis on weights in the video
You had the cylinder placed vertically? Why not place it like a submarine, I would guess that would the correct way to install it? You are lucky, it is pretty much impossible in Denmark to find downrigger weight below 8 pounds (a bit heavy for a kayak)
I’m thinking about getting a DR for my boat for trolling for trout, usually 10-20 feet deep. Is a DR ideal for this or should I just rig up my line and call it good?
when i lower the downrigger ball that doesn't matter how deep it goes it makes a shrinky noise or a humming high-pitched noise that will not go away i hope it doesn't affect the fish. And I have no idea how to get rid of that noise either It's very aggravating.
An added benefit to the pipe weights is they fit in your rod holder.
Great test.
Thanks for sharing 👍
I have the exact stick weight you have in your video. Dip it with some plastic dip and good to go.
Opposite of what I thought. At first the surface looked greater with the pipe. I have used them with some good results. Rainbows hugging bottom. Purposely hit the bottom to stir up rhe dirt. Then bring up five feet. Pop gear and a worm.
I have a couple 4lb fish shaped weights. They seem to track well, and prevent a little blowback. My scotty downriggers are not rated for more than 4 lbs, and they work fine for kokanee.
What about hooking up the pipe so it sits horizontal? It might have a lot less drag, but I can see it catching on stuff a lot easier.
Yeah, this made me giggle... it's hooked up backwards! No wonder it didn't improve things very much.
It's not hooked up backwards. Do your research Steve.
I lost a 10 pounder today. It brought tears to my eyes.
If you look at the blowback charts, there really isn't much difference between weight and/or shape below 2 mph. It becomes noticeable at higher trolling speeds. My friend bought 14 pounders for Kokanee fishing. I tried to explain to him that there is such an insignificant difference between 6 and 14 pounds at trolling speeds below 1.5 mph that he might as well save the money and the extra trouble of dealing with heavier weights. Try the same test at 4 mph and I'd be willing to bet that the pipe will have more blow back simply because of all the surface resistance through the water. Just a theory, but I believe the pipe would have more blowback.
Did I just hear you say "Cheapo" and downrigger weights in the same sentence?
fishing for Koke yes I agree not much difference BUT with 360 flashers or K16 kwiks or other large bait stick weights do make a big difference..
If someone had just handed me one of those pipe weights (not having seen one used before and I've only ever used the Cannon ball/fin one), I would have hooked the downrigger line to the other eyelet in the middle and the clip to the one on the end. Seems there would be even less blowback with that as there is a much smaller profile being dragged through the water, wonder if that is actually the case though.
It would become clear pretty quickly that it wasn't designed for that. It would be unbalanced and spin wildly once you deployed it.
@@spiltmilt Ah OK, that makes sense!
What about pancake weights? I would think that they have less blow back than round or pipe.
I use 2 down riggers weights. One is a round 9# ball and the other is a 10 #pancake weight. On my sonar, the round one will sometimes show up as bottom but not the pancake. the round one is always a bigger line on the screen. Any thoughts?
The round one likely reflects more of your transducer's signal making it more apparent.
What downrigger release clip do you recommend?
Scotty Mini Clip
What do u run on the downrigger...& size.
Braid , steel?
100 lb braid
I have a small 14 ft. boat and run 2 cannon mini downriggers w/4lb. fish shaped lead weights. Problem is when trolling for trout and salmon at 2.2 to 2.8 mph the lines go to far back after 20 to 25 ft deep. Was thinking about making 5lb Boat tail bullet shaped weights running horizontal. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Would be interested in seeing other shapes (although probably not worth revisiting since the benefits would probably still be marginal). Spheres and cylinders are certainly not the most drag efficient shapes.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_coefficient?wprov=sfla1
If you go to non-traditional shapes... One of the weird factor is that you need to attach the downrigger ball to the line... AND have the "ball" pull a flasher/dodger while maintaining an efficient orientation to minimize drag. That would make design tricky I would imagine.
I used pancake [flat and round] lead downrigger weights with a rear fin that you clipped your release onto and at the top was where the weight tied into the downrigger itself for fishing kings in the pugget sound.
It moved through the water nicely and you could custom bend the rear vertical fin to have the weight track out from the boat a few feet at depth [usually less than 100 feet] increasing your spread which can be important for avoiding tangles during turns.
Blowback itself though is not a bad thing. If I put a big flasher on one pancake washer and a spoon on the other, the blowback difference was appreciable.
But what's really good about not having too much blowback is you can see on your electronics where the ball is in the water column! Talk about being able to target fish.
Anyway, great analysis on weights in the video
You had the cylinder placed vertically? Why not place it like a submarine, I would guess that would the correct way to install it? You are lucky, it is pretty much impossible in Denmark to find downrigger weight below 8 pounds (a bit heavy for a kayak)
It would spin endlessly if ran that way
Did you catch any fish that day you were out??
Yes. 4 Kokanee and 1 Rainbow in two hours fishing
I’m thinking about getting a DR for my boat for trolling for trout, usually 10-20 feet deep. Is a DR ideal for this or should I just rig up my line and call it good?
If 20' is the deepest you fish I wouldn't bother with a downrigger
@@spiltmilt what would be a good setup then to do that?
Sliding lead cannonballs 1 to 2 oz will let you cover that depth easily.
when i lower the downrigger ball that doesn't matter how deep it goes it makes a shrinky noise or a humming high-pitched noise that will not go away i hope it doesn't affect the fish. And I have no idea how to get rid of that noise either It's very aggravating.
All downriggers do it but it doesn’t seem to bother fish
@@spiltmilt thank you, for some reason mine sure does squawk a lot.
Pipe weights are better if you lock your keys in your car
2 months late to reply but thanks for the laugh.
So no difference at 1.4 mph are you walleye fishing...
Mostly Kokanee
Really from a kayak
Really