Impurities in lead cannonballs

algae

Member
Hi All..Does anybody have any thoughts about how impurities in lead cannonballs can affect voltage, or repel fish..Do cannonballs have to be pure lead...What about hali fishing with a stainless spreader bar and impure lead weight...Thanks Algae
 
i make my own , no affect what so ever ,,

i use braid now : ) ( power-pro 200 )

My Electrical Contractor opinion ,

on fiberglass Sporty Hulls that most of us use , Voltage or current leaks are very unlikely , however on Aluminum conductive hulls ,
i see an opportunity for some issues , also , Commercial trollers , run ALOT more gear than us , ALOT of metals , i believe most of them use
extreme grounding measures , and Electrical Devices to keep things tuned in... im not a Commy , just a stab in the dark here...

I tested braid on one side and cable on the other for a full season , "0" difference , alota ripped lips on both ,
now both on Braid , still in great shape on season 3 ....

fd
 
Because I run braid on both sides I deliberately drilled the bottom of my lead cannonballs and added some copper and zinc small washers screwed in with galvanized screws.....just to give them a little bit of galvanic action as an attractor.

It works for me.

Who knows what the guy that makes the cannonballs is using in the mix.

If he's using old wheel weights in the mix it will be impure as wheel weights contain other things besides lead.

If your cannonballs are rusting like hell.....there is other things besides lead in them.....pure lead does not rust.

Lead ..when poured in a mold ...very often comes out shiny at first. After a few dunkings in the chuck it should start weathering uniformly to a dark grey.

If there's rust all over them as well after this.......you have iron, steel, tin or other metals in there as well.
 
lol , i use whatever i get my hands on ,
the impurities rise to the top when melting , i strain them out , and pour , no rust , no corrosion , no problem ,
hang em and fish em , dont overthink it , usually lose them before they really start to detoriate...

plenty have used my 15lbers , they love them

lol , NO im not selling them anymore , `WAY TOO MUCH WORK !!

fd
 
This topic of voltage comes up all the time. Does not matter what material boat is made of, if you have any metal from it to the water and have a battery in the boat you have conductivity. This is the reason for zincs on your motor leg or hull. Unless you have a major electrical problem conductivity will remain small. Impurities in the cannonball will not change it enough for you to notice.
 
Hi All...What I meant by my question is do you think the lead ball could act like a battery if it has a mix of other metals and is in an electrolyte like salt water. Sorry for the confusion..Algae
 
Originally Posted by Kisinana
Does not matter what material boat is made of .

I totally disagree , 2 boats with the same current paths and Voltage drops will be greatly amplified in a " Conductive hull " Aluminum or steel !
Fiberglass = Isolator
Metal = Conductor

doesn't take an engineer to figure this out , but , i did go to bcit for 6 years on this crap

basic electrical

fd

Comment was you "have metal in the water (ie the leg) and connected to battery in boat you will have conductivity."

35 years experience on systems up to 347Kv, 15KV DC, lightning arrest systems, 50, 60 and 400 HZ
 
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First this is my last post on this poor guys thread , sorry man ,

pm me if need be after

I`ll listen ta ya Kisinana

12 volts should be a piece of cake for you then lol,

how do you get conductivity on a " Dry" Hull ,or dry anything that is not conductive , furthermore , Completely isolated from your
Downrigger Cable ? mounts - spools - pulleys , ALL ISOLATED !|!!

so , are you saying that if i did a resistance reading with my Fluke meter , across the inside of my dry fiberglass hull ,2 feet appart from probe ta probe ,
or from either negative or positive on my battery to the hull , i would have a reading ? im guessing `not ,( on fiberglass ) therefore . i will have 0 Volts - 0 amps ???

However , if the hull was wet ?? maybe that would change , i even question that..

I dont question your experience , thats way more than my credentials have buds ,

if im wrong , please give me some science here`

this is pretty boring ta most im sure , pm or call me if ya like , I`ll pass ya on my number k

later

fd


Comment was you will have conductivity.

35 years experience on systems up to 347Kv, 15KV DC, lightning arrest systems, 50, 60 and 400 HZ
 
WHY bother but I will tell you I have melted tire weights and pure lead and measured them both on the boat really not enough to worry about i use whatever I can get my hands on to. and melt it I personally find it doesnt matter the last time I checked the fish bite the hooks not the cannon balls LOL LOL
 
You guys have been lucky over the years if you haven't had a boat work against you, no matter its construction material. You guys forget that fish are ultra sensitive to millivolts, so it doesn't need to be a lot of excess current to repel fish off. A boat leaking or putting out a single volt is a disaster if your fishing. I've had a couple of problems over the years that had me almost pulling hair. Checked the voltage and found it was just shy of a volt...made the repairs and back catching fish the next trip. I haven't had any grief ever since I became more vigilant with cleaning or replacing worn or dirty zinc's and adding the box.
I'm not the only one who has suffered from this. I remember a trip to Bamfield. A bunch of us Sooke guides used to take clients up there in August. We were all fishing off Brady's Beach and fish were being caught all morning. A major bite, we all loaded up.....except one of our buddies....not even a sniff. It was happening all around him. After the morning was over I took my meter over to him and we checked the riggers. .95 volts. Told him some tricks to get it lower without taking the boat out of the water or having a box. He got it down to high 6's. Back catching fish that afternoon.
 
Algae:- ifyou can get 100% pure lead cannonballs ...you are fortunate.

Most balls have a copper wire connector molded in them....so you get galvanic voltage automatically from day one.

In my job I used melted lead all the time.........which has other metals in it as well. When you melt it the other metals do not rise to the top...only the dirt and crud does (which you scoop off the top thin layer).

If there is tin in there it will mix right in with the lead.......wheel weights can have all sorts of metals in them...and they won't all float to the surface when you mixmelt them with lead.

A vinyl covered cannonball that gets a hole in the vinyl will quickly lose it's insulated effectiveness.

I wouldn't overthink the voltage off the cannonball.........I'd dial everything else in first.
 
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Ok so answer me this then you have 50 boats all near you fishing all different readings etc.... and myself gets a fish to weigh in a derby does voltage really matter when your surounded by all this??? maybe a very small factor in it but not alot!!!!!!!!!!! presentaion of the bait I think is way more important !!!!!!!!!!!

wolf
 
You guys forget that fish are ultra sensitive to millivolts, so it doesn't need to be a lot of excess current to repel fish off.


if that is true then why is the gillnetter in the fraser river test fishery using an electric net, and is catching all species of fish
 
Spring time, what was the voltage being applied to the net? There might also be a big difference between an open ocean fish deciding on a days meal or not and a fish late in its spawning drive with only one thing on its mind....getting up river to spawn. Also a little harder to avoid a net in a river than a piece of bait attached to a downrigger wire in the open ocean.
 
I think one day we should get a boat stick 110v down the wire, rub bananas and oil all over the bait and mount the fish i hook with it. You guys crack me up! come on now, by the time that voltage gets to your gear 40 feet behind the boat i bet you will not get a reading.
 
There are so many variables here it is difficult to know where the true facts lie. The only real way of testing the theories put up here would be to have two identical boats with identical gear, one with voltage applied to the cable and one without. Even then the result could be affected by the different tracks or locations of the boats.

However, there does seem enough anecdotal evidence that a very "hot" boat or cable (1.0V or more) will repel fish and reduce catches. D.C Reid reports an effect similar to Profisher's description here:-

http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/angling/protalk/reid/electric.phtml

The voltage on the cable it will fall off with distance, so if the gear is 40 or 50 feet back from the clip, the effect will be far less than if it is only 15 or 20 feet.

(Yo mama has complicated matters by throwing in scents as well, which is a different subject entirely. Here the evidence is far stronger that salmon are extremely sensitive to different compounds in the water, as would be expected from a fish that is capable of finding its home stream by its "smell".)
 
This is a subject where you either believe or you don't. I have first hand experience so I tend to agree that boat and or line voltage have a positive or negative effect on fish. If you don't believe I'm ok with that, I'm not going to spend time trying to convince you otherwise. I will however most likely approach Malcolm Russell to come talk at the fishing seminar as one of the guest expert speakers. No better person to listen to and then make an informed decision.
 
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