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Down Rigger weight?


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This Aug. will be my first time trolling on Lake Ontario. Im wondering what the best weight cannon ball is to use. I use 8# at 90' down in NJ for lakers with no problems, are they large enough or do I need to get heavier cannon balls for lake Ontario?

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I would go with at least 13lb weights to reduce blowback at that depth. I used to use 8lb balls but it was tough to guess where my flashers and spoons were. Do yourself a favor and get the torpedo weights. Either 13 or 15 lb. Some times there can be strong underwater current and the torpedo weights track very true.

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12 pound fish shape should be ok in August. The big salmon are in shallower staging for the migration and most fishing will be 80 down or less and they seem to like slower trolls at that time. 8 pound rounds will take a lot of cable to get down where the kings are earlier in the year if you are fishing the east end of the lake.

If you want to buy new balls, the 13 lb torpedos sold by AT-TOM-MIK are great. As others have said, they run true and have low drag. I run15 lb torpedos and love them. Some older riggers might squack at 15 lb.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tom hit the nail on the head. I run blacks realeases and for the probe its on the rigger cable above it and I just hold it in place with a small planer release. If you run the line off the back of a shark or torpedo it will not track right cause you'll be pilling the rear up when you tighten down your rod

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Tom hit the nail on the head. I run blacks realeases and for the probe its on the rigger cable above it and I just hold it in place with a small planer release. If you run the line off the back of a shark or torpedo it will not track right cause you'll be pilling the rear up when you tighten down your rod

[ Post made via Android ] Android.png

Is the same true off a basic cannonball? We've been running straight off the ball and have had some sucess but aren't experienced enough to really know the difference. This is our first year trolling.

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The best thing you'll ever do is ditch those balls and go to a shark or torpedo. The diffeence is night and day. Blowback on my probe with a 12 ball was almost 23 ft at 80 down. Went to a 15 lb torpedo and now its like 9 ft. So much easier

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Thanks for all the ino, I use 13# panicake weights with the fins off the back and I normally attached a scotty release to the back of the fin. Just ordered Chamberlain releases and will change them out, thanks again

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