20 pound cannonballs

[demco99]

I've seen these before in stores that cater to commercial fishermen and have been thinking about trying them. I run the older model scotty electric downriggers(not HP), will these be too heavy for them? main reason I want them is because I hate blowback on my gear and want to try out those konezone flashers off my balls this summer... any sporties ever trolled with 20lb balls? opinions? CCB do you make coated 20lb balls? thanks for any input lads..

 

[Derby]

20lber are very hard on the older model riggers ..All 3 PNT store have 18lb and 20lb coat cannon ball ....

 

[Fish Assassin]

CCB makes awesome 20 pound balls with a heavy duty glow coating. They come in many cool colors. I have them available in the Comox Valley if any one is interested.... Got them in different shapes and sizes.

I have run 18's on my riggers (not HP's) going to try 20's next time out.

Check out the colors....

 

[Aces]

Anything bigger than 15 lbs will kill your downriggers. You should upgrade to the hp's if want to use more weight

 

[spring fever]

main reason I want them is because I hate blowback on my gear and want to try out those konezone flashers off my balls this summer... .

I troll a Kone zone daisy chain with a 10 lb ball with no trouble. The Kone zone spins on its own axis and has the same or less drag than a regular flasher. I assume you are using it as a dummy with an anchovy or spoon above it-so you should have the same or marginally less blowback than a regular flasher bait combo

 

[Rockfish]

I have used 20’s on HP’s a lot and have noticed they put a lot of stress on the rigger mounting if you have the extension long boom model and the boom is fully extended. You can actually see the rigger boom bouncing up and down when the ball stops upon retrieve. I wonder about material fatigue, breakage and rigger loss although Scotty says they have not had that problem with them - I asked.

Not sure I am going to fully extend the booms in the future when running 20’s and periodic inspection of all rigger mounting parts is a good idea especially if you have swivel bases which I don’t think are as strong as the non swivel bases. I have noticed that some manufactures of trap pullers that attach to Scotty bases advised they should only be attached to non swivel bases. Scotty says the max weight for the HP is 20lb’s but it is not bogging down at that weight. I could likely get away with 25 if I did not extend the boom a lot.

As for regular speed riggers I would think you are better maxing out around 12 to 14lbs although I know people who use 15lbs and I have myself. Scotty says that 15 is the max and go beyond that and you are looking at burned out motors and early failures. I really notice a difference when running 15 on the 1100 series (reg speed riggers) with them noticeably bogging/running slower than with 10/12lb.

I would say the HP's have a lot more reserve capacity at 20lbs than the reg speed at 15. Even at 15 lbs on a reg speed rigger I would take along a spare rigger and if you go beyond 15 you are asking for problems and I would not want to take to many burned out damaged riggers in for warranty work.

I run both type riggers on the same mounts and wiring, so it is easy to compare the two. If the goal is to reduce blow back remember that drag adds to the weight and you have more total downward pull in a deep high current application than when it is going almost straight down. Remember that 450 feet of steel cable out also adds weight/pull, as does stacking and flashers and finned disks that use water force to plane outward.

If you want to fish deep and in strong current with less blow back; buy some HP’s as that is what they were designed for. Don’t kill your regular speed rigger trying to force it to do something it was not designed to do.

 

[Fish Assassin]

Funny cause when I called Scotty and asked about my 1106's I was told they would pull 18's but it was not recommended. I have tried them and they worked with out any problems. 95% of the balls I sell every year are 15's. More people trade 12's in and buy 15's. 12's get melted...

The only guys I know the run 12's are shallow water fishermen (under 100ft) or guys with manual riggers.

 

[Seafever]

I have never run anything but 12's.......had 'em down to 250ft.......

I used to use 10's on my old handcranks....10's would get down to 180ft.

I think you have to factor in amp-draw too on riggers when you change the weight of the ball.

I was told the HP's draw more amps than the older style.....and the heavier ball you put on the older ones, the amps go up accordingly....

 

[Sculpin]

I have never run anything but 12's.......had 'em down to 250ft.......

I used to use 10's on my old handcranks....10's would get down to 180ft.

I think you have to factor in amp-draw too on riggers when you change the weight of the ball.

I was told the HP's draw more amps than the older style.....and the heavier ball you put on the older ones, the amps go up accordingly....

Pretty much have to go up to get that kind of performance. Anyone running the HP's monitor their batteries to see how low they get while fishing on the kicker? Just curious is all.

 

[Mourning Wood]

Not pretty much..... If the load increases and the volts stay the same the only give is the current. That's about all the input I've got on this one as I'm still working on the electric rigger budget so there's no chance I'm gonna try hand cranking 20's....lol

 

[Rockfish]

Pretty much have to go up to get that kind of performance. Anyone running the HP's monitor their batteries to see how low they get while fishing on the kicker? Just curious is all.

Don’t recall the exact numbers but the HP’s do draw a lot more amps than the 1100 series. Never had a problem with my duel battery setup and never had to use the third completely detached fully charged battery with jumper cables I keep in reserve for emergency starting just in case, as the big Opti's need a lot of amps to start them. That third battery also works as offsetting ballast for the kicker.

At times I am running HP riggers all day with 20’s down deep and heavy use in the fog with Nav lights, duel heated window defoggers and wipers, radar, large chart plotter/sounder, VHF and stereo etc. and still had no problem. The charging system on my kicker does put out 11 amps not the 6 amps you see on some newer kickers, which I suspect helps. Have bought solar panels but still have not got around to installing them on the roof.

 

[Fish Assassin]

Just talked with a guy yesterday that is running 20's on his 1106's without any problems.

 

[halimark]

Not running 20s but FA if you got any 12 lb finned pancakes you are melting? I require 2, but want the pancakes with the large stainless fins?? If so shoot me a PM with price, I am in valley and will pick up.

HM

 

[RCA Dog]

I have been running 18 lb balls on my extendable boom swivel base 1106. I haven't had a problem yet, and I'm not blowing 30 amp fuses. The swivel bases seem fine so far, but I"m keeping an eye on them, so that I will be watching as the whole works goes over the side. I did blow some 30 amp fuses while using my prawn puller in less than calm conditions though. My thought is, if I'm not blowing the 30 amp fuse, then I'm not overloading the motor. What size fuse is everybody running on the HP riggers ?

RCA

 

[Northislander]

Ive been running 20 amp fuses with my HP using a 20 lb ball. After about 4 trips out haven't had a fuse blow on me yet. Didn't know that scotty recommends a 30 amp fuse.

 

[Fish Assassin]

Not running 20s but FA if you got any 12 lb finned pancakes you are melting? I require 2, but want the pancakes with the large stainless fins?? If so shoot me a PM with price, I am in valley and will pick up.

HM

Sent a couple in for melting last week that sucks. Got lots of round and finned balls though 12-20lbs

 

[RCA Dog]

Scotty says use a 30 amp fuse for the regular downriggers. I wasn't sure about the HP's, but Mourning Wood is right, if voltage stays the same, but load goes up, the amp draw will go up in direct proportion. So if the regular rigger will pull a 10 lb ball up from whatever depth in whatever time, and a HP will pull a 20 lb ball up from the same depth in the same time, then the HP is drawing twice as many amps. I suspect Northislander that you are underfused, which is not a bad thing, if you are not blowing them.

RCA