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D.R. Line&Ball size


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Hi guys,been reading & searching the GL forum for a little while and still need more help,I know this is the place! First a little history about me. Started fishing The Pond two years ago out of my buddies boat a 1650 Lund. I bought Walker clamp on D.R.s added rod holders, we were fishing. Didn't do bad on coho,steelhead & a few kings. Well I told my wife bigger is better and safer(for fishing she agreed). So I bought a 1800 Lund Adventure with a 115 EFI & a 5HP 4-s Mercurys. To save a little I got a pair of older 4 foot arm Big Jon manual D.R.s. The clutchs,spools& guide rollers are all in great shape. So here is my ?. Cable size and length,also what ball size? I fogot to add I'm going out of "The Ditch" in Portage,IN and maybe 100 FOW at the most,I know Mi. water. Thanks for any help. Rudey

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I use 8 pound balls on big jon manuals. My body says that's enough for me. If i need to go faster & get it out deeper i'll just let out more line. Cable length i'd put on 300-400. Due to removing kinks & break offs and not having to worry about it for a long time. Cable size. I don't have a clue. I think its 150 pound test.

Welcome to GLF.

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Rudey,

I fished BJ Manuals for years..I think they came standard with 150 # cable and 150-200' of cable...I don't think I've ever fished Downriggers below 120'. Only time over 20 years I needed to respool was when a rookie was driving the boat and cut the DR line on the i/o...8 lb cannonballs worked fine.

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i just got away from the manuals 2 yrs ago. and boy am i glad i did. i liked the 10 lb pancake weights with my manuals. you dont get near as much blowback from them as you do the 8 lb round balls. but the 10 lb,s are alittle more to crank in. i now use the 13 lb pancake weights with the electrics i bought. i soppose you could go with the heavier weights on the manuals, but they would be a job cranking them in. i think i would stay with 10 lb . i used manuals for about 30 yrs. just couldnt invest in the electric ones.

then 2 years ago i was on ebay and bought 1 display big jon sportsmans for 180.00 on auction. then i contacted the seller direct and bought another one for 250.00. then last year i got a bigger boat and wanted 4 riggers. so i got 2 big jon pro tournaments with auto stop for 525.00 on ebay. then i needed longer booms for the back of my boat, to get out over my swim platform. so i sold my 2 sportsmans for 300.00 and went to lordoftheriggers.com and got 2 more of the pro tournaments. the first set i got didnt have rod holders or swivel bases. i used the ones i had with my sportsmans. the second set i bought with swivel bases 1 clamp on rod holder and a slide mount, then got another set of slide mounts for the 1st set i bought. i think the 2nd set with the assy,s costed me like 759.00 for everything. so i have alittle over 1000.00 in 4 big jon pro tournaments with swivel bases slide mounts and double rod holders on 2 and single holders on 2. but after using many manuals for 30 yrs i think i deserve to have the electric ones.

i think if i was going to put new cable on those manuals i would try the braided line they use for rigger cable. if and when my cable needs replaced thats what im going to do. if you have 150 ft of good cable and plan on fishing less than 100 ft, you should be good with what you have. if you plan to fish deeper in the summer i would just put 300 ft on them to start with. and if you ever get the chance, spend the extra for a set of electrics.

if your still not sure what weights you want i might be able to help you out. i have an old set of 10 lb pancake weights, there alittle rough but can still be used. you can always strip the coating off and just paint them. then i have a set of cabelas 8 lb balls with the little fins thats still in pretty good shape. i will ship all 4 weights to you for 60.00. then you can try both size weights and keep all of them or resell the ones you dont like. i dont think your going to beat the chance to try both weights for 60.00. i could melt them down and sell the lead for around 50.00. i believe i can ship then usps priorty mail for around 20.00. so im letting you have the weights for 10.00 each. just let me know. i would prefer to get paid by money order. i dont know you but i will trust you for the money. if you want them just sent me your address in a pm, and i will get them shipped out to you.

oh yea on 1 of the pancake weights the coating started coming off and i hot glued it back on. so if you decide to strip them you will need to heat up the glue to get it off. but you really dont need to strip them, they work just great the way they are. i just thought i should tell you about it. then you wont get them ans say he,s glued this one, he shafted me. i want you to know what your getting. the cabelas balls would cost you as much as im asking for all 4 weights.

sherman

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Thanks to all! Looks like I will go with 200 ft. of 150 lb. cable and get to try the best of both worlds in weights. Thanks to sherman51 I will be able to try 8lb. balls & 10lb. pancakes.

Rudey

sure am glad i could help you out. i just got the weights boxed up and will get them shipped out tomorrow. i should be able to ship them priorty mail for less than 20.00. so even for used weights the price was right. the new cabelas 8 lb balls with the fins are 34.99 each and the cabelas 10 lb pancake weights are 46.99. i could be wrong but i think you,ll end up using the pancake weights.

and dont forget to check out the chamberlain releases at downriggerrelease.com, and if you decide to try them check out the prices at midwesthuntersoutlet.com

sherman

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Some guys don't like the pancakes, but I love them. A trick a charter captain showed me was to put a 10 degree bend (in opposite directions, of course) in the fins to help them track better. They'll go slightly to the outsides which helps with keeping lines separated. What some guys do with 4 riggers is run balls on the inside and pancakes with fins bent (or directional ones) out on the outsides. Something to consider maybe. I've never had a pancakes tangle, but had guys tell me they have. Dunno, but I've never run one that wasn't bent either.

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