The infamous Black Box

[Anonymous]

I was just curious who uses the Black Box on their boats? If you don't know what I mean, I'm talking about

http://www.sportco.com/ProductCart/pc/v ... duct=43900

I know it sounds a little hoaky, but I know of at least one list member, whom I respect alot and he swears by this item.
If you have one, can you make a comparison to how things were before you had it?

[G-Man]

Quadradomus,

If you use wire line on your downrigger and a lead ball, you are going to develop a charge, this is a fact. I have a background in electrical engineering so trust me on this. Add an aluminum boat to the mix and some zinc anodes and who knows what kind of charge you are presenting to the fish below. Kokonuts had asked this same question a few months back and being the lazy sack that I am I'll just copy and paste what I wrote then.

I do believe that the black box works but it depends on your boat if you really need one. If you have a volt meter and know how to use it, check out this link: http://www.protroll.com/books/?id=5&p_id=4 especially if you have an aluminum boat! My father ran downriggers off of his aluminum sled for sockeye and damned if we never hooked one using them. When we switched to the "old fashioned" banana sinkers, easy limits. I bought my new aluminum boat in 2005 and outfitted it with 2 downriggers, both with 150lb TuffLine. Had absolutely no issues catching Sockeye that season and have had no problems with any other species. My father changed his downrigger line that year and limited without a hitch. The TuffLine is great, you can get a 300 yard (more than enough for 2 downriggers) spool for less that the cost of 1 spool of specialty downrigger braid, no cable whine/hum and best of all, no crimping required! I use the Penn downriggers but have heard that the braid can cause some other brands spools to split because it winds itself on so tight. Also, keep your down rigger balls painted to minimize the electrical charge it will generate. All this voltage is created when you have two different types of exposed metals near one another with a conductive medium (water) joining the two, sort of like a battery. In my opinion a black box will help you negate a charge that will repel a fish that has come to investigate your offereings, but I don't think it helps you attract more fish. Your lures, flashers and scent/bait will do the job.

In salt water it can make a big difference. Tom Nelson, of Salmon University fame, swears by one. He's done enough field testing to know what helps and what doesn't. If you have a charge issue on your boat and want to catch salmon, you can try super line and painted lead balls or plug in a black box. I do know that Tom catches a hell of a lot more salmon than most folks do, so you may want to take that into consideration.

[The Quadfather]

G-man, Thanks for sending that link. I will have to try that test with a volt meter. I usually do try and do a searach within the forum search engine when I am going to post something that may have been talked about. When I searched Black Box I got all kinds of culinary posts.

[A9]

I don't know if they work all that well. They aren't cheap and if you put one in your boat quad you'd have wires running everywhere....

Just one more thing to go wrong on a boat too...

I'd focus on getting your presentation down better then worrying a ton about the electrical currents. But thats just me...

[The Quadfather]

I don't know if they work all that well. They aren't cheap and if you put one in your boat quad you'd have wires running everywhere....

Just one more thing to go wrong on a boat too...

I'd focus on getting your presentation down better then worrying a ton about the electrical currents. But thats just me...

I probably wouldn't go that far really, I am just curious as to doing the test and what it shows. Maybe if I had a 30K Grady Whiite.

[Kokonuts]

I still havnt tested my boat, its something that I plan on doing this winter.

I have been wondering if BRAIDED Line would work better, has anyone tried it ?

Thanks, KOKONUTS

[The Quadfather]

I still havnt tested my boat, its something that I plan on doing this winter.

I have been wondering if BRAIDED Line would work better, has anyone tried it ?

Thanks, KOKONUTS

Kokonuts, check out the above post from G-man. He talked about "Tuffline" I'm not sure if it is a braided line, but that is kinda what the post implied.

[Anonymous]

Yep! the tuffline is the only thing to use. Much easier to deal with than wire. 200# test, 1800 feet for about $90 internet price. You can put 400' on 4 riggers and have 200 for spare. Much less drag than steel so your weight doesn't trail as far back.

[G-Man]

I still havnt tested my boat, its something that I plan on doing this winter.

I have been wondering if BRAIDED Line would work better, has anyone tried it ?

Thanks, KOKONUTS

Kokonuts, check out the above post from G-man. He talked about "Tuffline" I'm not sure if it is a braided line, but that is kinda what the post implied.

Tuffline is a braided super line. Is less expensive than most of the other lines and 130 to 150lb test should do you just fine if you want to try it on your downrigger. I ordered my on line but you can now find it at most tackle shops, the trick is finding it in a heavy enough test.

[The Quadfather]

I still havnt tested my boat, its something that I plan on doing this winter.

I have been wondering if BRAIDED Line would work better, has anyone tried it ?

Thanks, KOKONUTS

Kokonuts, check out the above post from G-man. He talked about "Tuffline" I'm not sure if it is a braided line, but that is kinda what the post implied.

Tuffline is a braided super line. Is less expensive than most of the other lines and 130 to 150lb test should do you just fine if you want to try it on your downrigger. I ordered my on line but you can now find it at most tackle shops, the trick is finding it in a heavy enough test.

Great idea, I'm all over that. I notice that my ball does drag quite a bit, and I often use a 10lb ball.
Thanks