Tuning Your Boat to Catch More Fish

[bwturtle]

My boat has seemed “fishy” enough over the past few years, but this year has been AWFUL, not even getting shakers.   Im not having a hard time finding fish, getting them to bite is another story.   I’ve only had luck when lengthening my rigger leads.  I did add some interior lighting, onboard charger and a third battery, wondering if that’s enough to throw things “off”.
For what I’ve got invested in equipment and gas costs, experimenting with a portable black box or two doesn’t seem so bad.
Would I just need one per rigger, or would one per rigger be optimal?

[SpoonPullers.com]

[Allan Dampier]

Interesting that Scotty has a black box system and Cannon have Positive Ion Control. Both have been around for decades and both use downrigger wire to achieve the desired 0.6v? 

You seem to be saying that the two leading downrigger manufacturers are wrong in the products they develop and sell?

http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/6102bcd9eb461/Black-Box-Booklet.pdf

https://www.cannondownriggers.com/learn/technology/positive-ion-control

Not at all. When you are applying voltage with a black box or ion control, the voltage is present on the wire. But, if guys without those think that they have natural voltage, it simply does not happen. This is backed up by science. You cannot have a voltage producing cell without a connected pathway. Isolated trolling wire does not have a connected pathway to the boat metals, and using the water for both the connected path and the return path is impossible. No such cell exists.
There is a galvanic corrosion cell which is what your boat is, where 2 or more different metals (anode and cathode) are in contact and in an electrolyte. The other is a voltaic cell (common battery), or it's simpler variation, where a load is required between the anode to the cathode to create a circuit, and for the voltage to flow. They both have a connected pathway.

[Allan Dampier]

My boat has seemed “fishy” enough over the past few years, but this year has been AWFUL, not even getting shakers.   Im not having a hard time finding fish, getting them to bite is another story.   I’ve only had luck when lengthening my rigger leads.  I did add some interior lighting, onboard charger and a third battery, wondering if that’s enough to throw things “off”.
For what I’ve got invested in equipment and gas costs, experimenting with a portable black box or two doesn’t seem so bad.
Would I just need one per rigger, or would one per rigger be optimal?

One per rigger would be optimal. If you only have one on one side, you will usually catch most of the receptive fish on that side of the boat. Saying that, I have talked with many guys who can only catch fish if they get there lures a long way from the boat, as much as 150 feet back in some cases. There was always an issue with their boat.
Can you post pictures of your transom, as well as a good description of bare underwater metals. Include a rough estimate of the surface area of all anodes if possible. We will see if I can take you from zero to hero.

[bwturtle]

@Iwannagifishin, thanks!
I’ll send via pm as soon as I get the chance

[pierre3737]

Interesting that when I installed a new mercury 4 stroke 150 and new pro kicker 15 I also installed a battery isolator and new fuse panel along with all new wiring and haven’t caught any salmon over about three pounds since.

[SS Krapola]

If I had to do all this to catch fish, I would sell my boat and take up lawn bowling.

[bwturtle]

pm sent Iwannagifishin

[pc154]

I am the first to agree with DRJOE. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Maybe we should hear from the guys who bought a new boat, and now they can't catch as much fish as they did with their old one. Don't be shy, Pipe in with your 2 cents .... or 40% of a nickel.

2015 Lund Impact 1875.  Painted black including the bottom.

2015 Merc 115 4 stroke and Merc 9.9 kicker.

I bought this boat in the spring of 2020.  I seemed to do OK that year with salmon on the northshore.   About the same as my previous boat.

In 2021 I replaced the trolling motor as well as a hummingbird graph and added a fishhawk X4.

Since that time my success rate has dropped in a very, very big way.  I am still fishing the same area the same way and others are catching fish but I am not.

Also, the more I think about this, I believe that I’m not even marking the same amount of fish or baitballs on my graph now.

My downriggers are Cannons but they are manuals, not electric.

I’ve done a lot of reading and tried testing some stuff but electricity is something I really have no idea about.

[porkpie]

If I had to do all this to catch fish, I would sell my boat and take up lawn bowling.

LOL, I’m with him!