building a downrigger

[geeffa]

i am building my own down rigger and i want to know what i can use as a indercator on the 200lb braid to mark my depths. idont want to use a depth counter yet as i am doing it as cheap as possible. someone said to me to use crimps every 5 mts but i thought it would cut into the line each time you wound it up. what would u fellas use? anyone got any ideas?

[oldboot]

You could whip some cotton on the line (well polyester thread)..... that way you could colour code so you don't have to count.

cheers

[2manylures]

If you have a good depth sounder & position your downrigger in the right place on the boat the sounder will show you the bomb depth.

There's many variables when downrigging, bomb weight, boat speed, bomb depth & the combination of these three being the most important relative to actual depth as opposed to what a depth counter will say.

The bomb will tend to arc back & lift in the water therefore if the counter says eg: 100ft on counter with actual bomb at 85ft.

A tip would be to make the boom as strong as you can to take the weight of the heavies bomb you can find & purchase. The heavier the bomb the less arcing back in the water & lifting of bomb.

Hope that helps a bit.

[geeffa]

thank fella,s it,ll give me something to think about