Braided line breaking
- Thread starter robertg
- Start date
Birdsnest
Well-Known Member
Make sure your auto stoppers are working if their not I have had the power of the rigger break balls off. Maybe your braid is tired. Try cutting off an amount that would expose line that has not been exposed much. You could even turn the line around on the spools and expose never used before braid. Every year I cut of 10 or 15 feet for it seems to get the most wear. Nicks and cracks, maybe but you would notice fraying I think.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Seafever
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you need a length of gagnon at the ball end of your braid. I run about an 8ft length of gagnon....tie it to the braid with a Uni-knot (the knot will activate auto-stop when you bring it up).
yep...I'd check for nicks and cracks on the pulleys for sure. I sand my knicks and cracks out with a very light sandpaper so it's nice and smooth and knick free.
Wire used to be bad for that (wearing grooves in the pulleys)
yep...I'd check for nicks and cracks on the pulleys for sure. I sand my knicks and cracks out with a very light sandpaper so it's nice and smooth and knick free.
Wire used to be bad for that (wearing grooves in the pulleys)
just going out to do that, the line is breaking just below the roller while I am trolling, I could see it breaking if I hit the bottom but in all cases nowhere near the bottom and we were just trolling along and not even moving the down rigger up or down and the braid just parts , each time it appears as if it was frayed. So I am going to change the roller and put new braid on.I replaced the braid about 3weeks ago. And Seafever I am using 5 feet of Gagnon at the ball, best thing I have done to stop breaking the ball off when you hang up. Thanks
scott craven
Well-Known Member
I had some 250lb power pro give up the ghost at around 5 years.
you could snap it with bare hands.
change out the braid and you'll be golden
you could snap it with bare hands.
change out the braid and you'll be golden
Seafever
Well-Known Member
When I've had that problem, one thing I did was this:-
I noticed that the pulley unit did not swing all that freely on the end of the boom.
So when trolling along, the braid would be at a greater angle than the pulley unit...thereby inducing chafe and burn point on the braid where it was rubbing because the pulley had not gone all the way back.
So...I took the pulley and everything off the end of the boom, lubed it with some grease that doesn't affect plastic , then put it all back together so there is virtually no resistance and the pulley swings
freely to any angle created. You have to watch how you do it because you don't want the pulley and unit TOO loose on the end or it could jump the retainer grooves and come off.
Works a lot better that way for me anyway.
I noticed that the pulley unit did not swing all that freely on the end of the boom.
So when trolling along, the braid would be at a greater angle than the pulley unit...thereby inducing chafe and burn point on the braid where it was rubbing because the pulley had not gone all the way back.
So...I took the pulley and everything off the end of the boom, lubed it with some grease that doesn't affect plastic , then put it all back together so there is virtually no resistance and the pulley swings
freely to any angle created. You have to watch how you do it because you don't want the pulley and unit TOO loose on the end or it could jump the retainer grooves and come off.
Works a lot better that way for me anyway.
Seafever
Well-Known Member
Line getting caught in the pulley wasn't an issue.
The issue was the braid was rubbing on the edge of the pulley because the pulley did not swing freely to the angle of the braid.
If you get the pulley angle to swing where it supposed to at trolling speed, then the line comes correctly off the pulley with no hotspots or chafing.
If it doesn't swing freely then you get where the pulley goes back so far and then stops.....but the braid angle is greater so it rubs on the side of the pulley.
The issue was the braid was rubbing on the edge of the pulley because the pulley did not swing freely to the angle of the braid.
If you get the pulley angle to swing where it supposed to at trolling speed, then the line comes correctly off the pulley with no hotspots or chafing.
If it doesn't swing freely then you get where the pulley goes back so far and then stops.....but the braid angle is greater so it rubs on the side of the pulley.
TheBigGuy
Well-Known Member
Always use a rubber snubber before the ball. I go one step further and attach a 5 foot section of 300lb test mono to the rubber snubber. The mono acts like a big shock absorber itself. If your pulley has no nicks in it I would suspect you have a bad bunch of spectra. Did you buy it off eBay, there is a lot of cheap knock off spectra sold online that is poor quality. Cut off a small section and test it's breaking strength by adding weight to it. A 12-20 pound ball should not snap a 200lb section of spectra. Using a snubber and mono lead before the ball has solved any break off issues I had in the past.
Good luck solving your problem.
Good luck solving your problem.
scott craven
Well-Known Member
never heard of that ?
TheBigGuy
Well-Known Member
I have used braid on several different downriggers without newer pulleys and I Haven't had any break off issues since I went to the heavy mono and snubber combo. My current downriggers I've had for 25years so I'm pretty sure they don't have the spectra pulley your referring to.
The spectra I ordered from an overseas website in China. The line was 8 strand spectra manufactured in Japan and I've had absolutely no issues with it so far. The line was 185 lb test and I'm using 15 lb rigger balls. No break off issues so far. It seems like a really good quality line for the price. I've only been using it since January, but I've been super happy with it. Just look for lines manufactured in Japan, not China.
If you have run wire on your rigger it creates sharp edges in your pulley. Learned that the hard way by loosing 2 cannonballs in first 2 weeks of switching to braid. My solution was to pull apart my pulleys and sand down the edges. End of problem. Haven't lost any braid in last 4 years and am still using my old pulleys.
Charlie415
Crew Member
I lost a couple of ball about a month back. Checked the rollers and found a deep groove. replaced rollers and braid and all is good now.
