Scotty Braided Dyneema Downrigger Line

There is a misconception that having stainless line causes the need for a black box. Your boat creates an electrical field in the water. (Take a voltmeter stick one lead on the negative of your battery and place the other lead over the side into the water. The reading you get is the field put off by your boat)
Have you ever noticed that some people hook a fish only to have it go nuts as soon as it nears the boat. This is caused by the field the boat puts out.
You can tune your boat by adding or subtracting the zincs on your boat and placing its natural voltage in the area of 0.625 volts.

To answer your original question a friend has replaced his lines with the braided and we have not noticed a difference in the number of fish caught but the line has stood up well. Used only this year so time will tell how it lasts in a year or two. He did previously replaced his lines about every 18 months for the amount of fishing he does.
 
I have a freind that repaced his last you too. It seem to be quite frayed by the end of the season but all you do is cut it an retie it. It should be interesting to see how it last over the next could of years.

Kis

I think the though with the black box is that the current will not work on a non-metalic line. The one I have is hooked to the downrigger line.
 
Havent used the stuff myself but z guy I know spooled up with it and said it had a really bad amount of drag to it and said it was almost useless for fishing offshore when trying to troll deep.
 
I put it on both my riggers at the beginning of the season, and I am very happy with it. There seems to be much less drag through the water, very noticable when trolling deep at the offshore banks. There is no hum, and I have not as of yet had a problem with fraying.

An interesting test that I accidently made was when I was fishing in a crowded spot on the backside of Malcolm island, a guy right beside me hooked a fish, and before I had a chance to get out of his way, the fish was running towards my boat. I flipped the rigger switch to bring the gear up, and in the process, caught the guys line in my rigger line, and actually wound some of his mainline up in my rigger. All of this with the fish still on. I lowered the rigger enough to get his line free, and he was able to land the fish. I credit the line not breaking to the braided line. I know when I've had fish cross other people's wire line, the fish couldn't have snapped off faster :)

Just an interesting story for you.

FishWish
 
fished with a couple different guides, working from April Point this August, who had replaced their stainless with dyna... they spoke highly of it.
what are the advantages?
-stainless frayes, so will dyna inevitably (wonder what those same guides will say in a year or two?)
-less drag due to smaller diameter, yes
-higher 250 lbs test, yes
-no need to rinse the line, yes
-doesn't transfer voltage, yes
-no hum as it travels, yes (but I love that sound, when you've got all the lines in the water and now you wait!!!)
When I purchase a set, I will load up my Scotty electrics with dyna once the stainless are shot.
PinchMe
- 'cause I can't believe I live in such a beautiful part of the World!
 
So does the black box become useless at the point when you
change over to braided line ?
is there another way of connecting it to balance the boat
electricity ?
 
As soon as you put this stuff on sell the black box now you have NO voltage on the line at all scotty brought it out for fisherman who have voltage problems on there boat, this topic has been brought up so many times its getting laughable if your boat is fishing why chanhe if not go for it.

Good luck Wolf
 
I have the braided line and it works just fine.
My only concern is that I have a problem with the release clips slipping on the dacron when in the water. I contacted Scotty and they have had a few complaints about this issue. They suggested adjusting the release clip.
What I did was attatch downrigger stops to the line where I want the clip, this works fine but they of course stop your downrigger on its way back up.
Any other suggestions?
Davie
 
There is another alternative to buying the Scotty braided downrigger line that works great and is quite a bit cheaper than the Scotty line. I replaced the cable on one of my downriggers 2 seasons ago with "Power Pro" Cable Replacement http://www.powerpro.com/purchase/store/categories.asp?PP_CART_CATEGORY_ID=5. It was highly recommended to me by the tackle shop to spend way too much money at. I use the 200 lb test. I have nothing but good things to say about it. It has not frayed and seems tough as ever after 2 seasons. It creates far less drag in the water. Fishing deep, the one with Power Pro hangs noticably straighter down. Every once in a while I cut off a few feet and simply re-tie a polomer knot just in case there is any wear at the ball. It's very simple to re-rig with it as opposed to all the crimps ect.

I agree that attaching a downrigger clip to the line is harder. It wants to slide. What I have done for two years, without ever having the line break or any problem, is put a cable crimp on the Power Pro about 4" above the ball swivel. Then put your clip below the crimp and it won't slip up the line, works great!

Now you're probably wondering if it's so great why haven't I switched over to putting it on the other downrigger. I have a black box so I've left the regular cable on the other one so I'd ge that voltage "field". From what I'm hearing I probably don't need to do that. I'll spool the 2nd rigger with Power Pro this winter.

Slabby
 
quote:Originally posted by Bravefart

What I did was attach downrigger stops to the line where I want the clip, this works fine but they of course stop your downrigger on its way back up.
Any other suggestions?
Davie
Click to expand...
Try sliding some rubber tubing on the part of the downrigger clip that grips the line.
Depending on what size tubing you find you might have to glue it on but it should stop the clip from riding up.
 
I use the rubber tubing trick with my ss line line right now to stop pinching/fraying , works well , intrigued by the idea of longer lasting line though.

AL
 
You don't have to go with the scotty braided line which is about $55.00 for I think 300 ft. You are better to buy Tuff Line which is only 150lb test but you get 600 ft for I think $40.00 and you can do 2 downriggers. You can get the stuff at Island outfitters. Once I finish with the steel line this is the way I am going.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I am going to go with braided line. Great tip on using surgical tubing on the clips.
 
peetz sells the braided line as well , i just cant remember the price but i know it was fairly cheap, they might even have it in bulk
 
been using this for 5 years now. i tie 100 feet to the steel backing and retie the bottom knot once in ahwile. use gangion first 2 feet or so and clip your release to the gangion. put a swivel to close the gate on your electric downrigger. never want steel line in the water again. to much hassle and expense.
 
I have already had a go at using surgical tubing the problem is I cant find any that will fit over the clip and still allow it to close properly.
Davie
 
so whats wrong with SS down rigger lines anyway?
why the need to change?
 
The cheapest place to pick up the braided line that I have found is on ebay. I purchased all my Hali 100lb power pro and it was 40% less that the stores. I have enjoyed the many argruments on the black boxes I am going to wire mine to the thur hull zinc and use the braided line next year. I know most think it is voodo but what the heck it gives the kids something to play with when the fishing is slow.
 
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