John 7777

Yes I run a 15 on my Optimum no problem, but it has soft stop and speed control. The Canon tech near where I live told me not to run more then 10 pounds on the Mag 5 or I risk snapping the cable. Says it’s not rare. The weight goes down pretty fast and comes to a sudden stop… snaps the cable. Scotty snubers are rated for 10 pounds, if you buy the heavy duty ones for larger weights they are far less elastic. Could clutch it down, but then your getting up too often if your trying to hug the bottom, and if you read the manual it doesn’t suggest you need to clutch it down to avoid snapping the cable when you stop. So in reality this rigger is not suitable for anything more then an 8-10 pound ball. And we haven’t even discussed the ware and tear on the boat gunnels.

Got one, the Optimum. Don’t need 2. Also don’t need a rigger rated for 20 pound ball that the canon service tech tells me don’t use more then 10 because I’ll snap the cable for it going from speed to zero instantly. All they had to do was add soft stop modulation to the circuit board. Lots of ways they could have solved this problem without adding much cost to the unit.

Yankee Troller yell at them if you need to lol. They are paying way too much attention to speed, but if it’s too much and we can’t adjust it then we’re left with a boat anchor. My only option right now is to order the Optimum housing and circuit board and convert this Mag 5 to an Optimum. I’d rather just slow it down with a smaller shallow spool… or add a resistor?

Ya my mistake I meant the Digitroll. Might just buy a Digitroll circuit board and keypad? Pretty cheap to get that stuff, just can’t find the screen yet.

Ya I might try clutching it up, see how that goes? Might order a circuit board from the mag 10 st as it has soft stop. Wonder if that would work?

Won’t even give us the option of a low speed spool🙄

Ya I have a snubber but the speed is stupid fast. My Optimum has speed control and it’s nice on the gunnels of the boat. In no circumstance does a Downrigger ever need this high of speed, it’s overkill. I was thinking maybe a voltage regulator? Or maybe 2 snubbers, release cable between the two? I do know that if my optimum is on high speed going down the line out from the release sometimes gets caught on the line going back up to the rod, way too fast. What the heck is canon thinking here?

Has anyone ever added a speed controller to the Mag 5? If so which one did you use?