ChilliSpoons
Well-Known Member
Can someone explain what it means to have your boat properly bonded ?
I use a black box with my wire and would never change to braid but that's me.I was a firm believer in currents put out by boats helped improve or reduce fish numbers. The old saying some boats catch fish others don't. But after switching from the old stainless downrigger cable to the new braided line I think the problem has been eliminated. Braided line does not conduct or carry current. Before your boat current was carried through the stainless cable as well as generated its own current with the resistance of trolling.
Me Too.I use a black box with my wire and would never change to braid but that's me.
It depends on the strength of each field. One Georgian Bay angler is the perfect example. His boat metals, like swim platform and trim tabs, were not included in his bonding system, and he simply could not catch fish. This includes salmon and trout beyond 100 ft depths. He purchased some of my voltage tuned lures, and he still couldn't catch fish. So, there you have a strongly negative boat signature as well as lures giving off positive voltage fields in close proximity. Once I learned this, my focus went directly to curing the boat issues. He went through and connected all underwater metals and added appropriate anodes, and then he caught fish. That was 8 years ago, and he is still buying my tackle every year.What doesn't make sense in these stories is that when you say a struggling angler is fishing alongside a successful angler and the reason should be the electrical field - if fish are so sensitive to electrical fields then wouldn't the bad field of the struggling angler contaminate the nearby successful boat and prevent the successful angler to have better results? Or is the boat field effect indeed just immediate around the boat as aqua suggests but then all this theory wouldn't apply to any lure a little distance or depth away from the boat. Which is it?
If your trim tabs are not connected to the bonding system, I would look in the bilge to see if the attaching bolts go right through and are accessible. If so, connect a good quality wire to the bolts and ground to the engine block, bonding wire, negative battery ground (all will work). If not able to connect that way, it will have to be done from the outside, and most likely run wires from the trim tab bolts to your outboard bracket or bonding system. In either case, double check with an ohm meter to confirm a good connection. I assume that you are talking about a fiberglass boat, and you are probably overzinced as is. Because of this, I would not add any zinc to the trim tabs until you assess the fishing. This is to improve the ratio of zinc to exposed boat metals.How would you bond trim tabs?
Thanks agentaqua. I was more aimed at the distance as well as how sensitive fish are. You say a few feet, I say hundreds of feet. It has been claimed that sharks can quickly sense the smell of blood at 1/4 mile. HOGWASH! It isn't scientifically possible. I was looking for a video on shark smell that I had watched a few years ago, but it must have been removed. It involved a 3 or 4 ft nocturnal shark in a 20 ft glass tank that was about 8 ft deep. The shark was hiding under boulders on one end, and simply never came out when the area was lit. One of the researchers climbed up on an end platform and pricked his finger and touched it to the water surface. Within 2 seconds, the shark bolted from it's hiding and made 3 laps of the tank before returning to hiding. Like I stated, they were focusing on the shark's smell, but what the shark was really sensing was the electrical current that all living bodies possess. Absolutely every motion that muscles make are through the voltage that the sodium and potassium (ions) cells send through our nervous system. It is impossible for smell to be transmitted like that, but not for electrical current. So, there you have a shark recognising a minuscule amount of voltage. Sharks have the ampullae of lorenzini sensors that are superior to what a salmon can sense, but it still gives you an idea of how sensitive fish can be.Thanks for sharing your observations, iwannagofishin. If you reread my post above - I have no issue with the observations. I believe them to be valid. Just problems with the assumption as to the range of the electric fields. That critique is backed-up by science. I also believe that fish can sense the ions. For longer-scale effects for fish past a few feet - I believe that is the more likely causal mechanism. I included the available science on sharks as a contrast or example. I don't think anything I posted invalidates your observations. It's a good discussion. Thanks again.
Why have commercial vessels used a form of black box for over 50 yrs and do to this day , gotta be something to it ...cant argue with that or maybe u can , dont care ...I like what I do on the water so I and my ride alongs are happy , not gonna convert me to braid now , but good luck to u and all the other reformers lol tight lines and be safe what ever u all use (PS I'm getting more and more into jigging, less balls and gear lost and being sealed . In some areas way more effective than DR )What doesn't make sense in these stories is that when you say a struggling angler is fishing alongside a successful angler and the reason should be the electrical field - if fish are so sensitive to electrical fields then wouldn't the bad field of the struggling angler contaminate the nearby successful boat and prevent the successful angler to have better results? Or is the boat field effect indeed just immediate around the boat as aqua suggests but then all this theory wouldn't apply to any lure a little distance or depth away from the boat. Which is it?
I commercial trolled for many years, and had 3 different vessels up to a 54ft freezer boat. They all had black boxes. As far as I am concerned, as long as the boat was good, and mine were, the black box was not necessary to be a highliner. Never once in all my years can I say that I dialed up more fish with my black box. I can see it working on boats with a 'ho hum' signature. I also believe that the bait ball chase can be more productive. CheersWhy have commercial vessels used a form of black box for over 50 yrs and do to this day , gotta be something to it ...cant argue with that or maybe u can , dont care ...I like what I do on the water so I and my ride alongs are happy , not gonna convert me to braid now , but good luck to u and all the other reformers lol tight lines and be safe what ever u all use (PS I'm getting more and more into jigging, less balls and gear lost and being sealed . In some areas way more effective than DR )
Hmm, then why have them on board. I fully agree it's not the end all to success and there are many more important aspects but , it's either ..It is useful or not ....oh and by the way have you or would you flushed the box and put Braid on all your commerical boats ...not likely hu !I commercial trolled for many years, and had 3 different vessels up to a 54ft freezer boat. They all had black boxes. As far as I am concerned, as long as the boat was good, and mine were, the black box was not necessary to be a highliner. Never once in all my years can I say that I dialed up more fish with my black box. I can see it working on boats with a 'ho hum' signature. I also believe that the bait ball chase can be more productive. Cheers