Cannon downriggers...

[Monty Mikho]

Im looking at a few MAG 10's and 20's. How important is the Positive Ion Control? Also is the HS (high speed) series a must? Im guessing I will only be going down 100 or so feet.

[JFontaine]

I cant prove or disprove PIC but every fishing for a living has it. I guess its one of those when in doubt things....
HS is not super important for 100' unless you are fishing tournaments.
The swivel locking bases are crazy expensive so if you those are included you will see about $75.00 higher price. Steel line is cheap to replace if you get used. You need Black Marine releases too. Nothing else is worth having. Dont worry about stackers until you are good at just running the pair. I would avoid used downriggers, especially saltwater used. The auto-up/auto-stop is a must .
http://allwatersfishing.com/images/pixel_trans.gif

http://allwatersfishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=7749

I will dig around and see if I have any more downrigger releases and clevises, pads, etc sitting around.

[Monty Mikho]

I cant prove or disprove PIC but every fishing for a living has it. I guess its one of those when in doubt things....
HS is not super important for 100' unless you are fishing tournaments.
The swivel locking bases are crazy expensive so if you those are included you will see about $75.00 higher price. Steel line is cheap to replace if you get used. You need Black Marine releases too. Nothing else is worth having. Dont worry about stackers until you are good at just running the pair. I would avoid used downriggers, especially saltwater used. The auto-up/auto-stop is a must .
http://allwatersfishing.com/images/pixel_trans.gif

http://allwatersfishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=7749

I will dig around and see if I have any more downrigger releases and clevises, pads, etc sitting around.

Awesome!! I was looking at some used ones on e-bay but I guess for an extra $150 I can get new stuff. It looks like the Mag 10 has auto stop and PIC. The rod holders dont look like a ton of money so no biggie on that. I believe Mag 10 has a swivel base included but Im sure the Mag 20 does. Cant remember but maybe its only their tournament series. I will have to go look again.

From reading it seems the swivel is a must. I also noticed some models had a weight holder to keep it from swing onto the boat. Im sticking to cannon stuff per your, 2091 and the guy at works advice. All of you also agreed on power retrieve. I'm only looking at getting two units and I believe that should be all I will need.

Again thanks to you guys for helping me out. I hate buying something and figuring out its not what I wanted or needed.

[JFontaine]

I had Mag 10s (not the tournament ones). They just had a big beefy hook to hold the ball. I have seen the balls jump out of the plastic deck "holders" and whack hard in rough water. I would just use the hook, slack in the cable, hang the ball on the hook, take up slack, lock down spool, haul ass. :)

The big black canon bases with the swivel is mandatory, always turn the downrigger facing forward when you are moving the boat at any speed unless its flat out. :)

[gbm]

what are trying to fish for ?

[Monty Mikho]

what are trying to fish for ?

Walleye
Salmon
Trout
Muskie

I found some MAG 10 HS at Costco for $449.00 each. Best price I could find on them.

Is it better to get something without PIC and add the adjustable PIC (Black Box) unit to them? I read a book that shows how to check for the correct voltage and to track voltage leaks. In that book they had a black box but its kind of an older book

The other option was to get a digi-troll (around $400 more each) and add the sonar option. They have variable voltage control. It tracks the bottle of the lake and you can set how far off bottom you want to fish. It automatically pulled the weight to the correct depth from the bottom. I know some books said walleye sit kind of low in the lake in the day time. Erie is around 22-24 feet deep from where I was at.

[JFontaine]

I have only been around the digitrolls once. We were walleye fishing Devils Lake and he had 4 of them running. They always scared the shit out of me when they just kicked in all the sudden! They worked really well and followed the contours nicely. Unless you are going to fish for trout a lot I would pass on them unless you have a big pile of spare money. Then I would get them for sure. :)

[gbm]

Monty , I have a Cannon Mag 10 in mint condition , I used it Twice .You can get it for $325 and you pay for shipping. I only used it twice because shortly after buying the cannon , I purchased lingerfeld pitman elect reels. Using planers is a cheap and effective way to get baits in lower water colunms or wire line and in-line lead.What size reels do you use ?How fast do you troll for these fish.

[JFontaine]

In his home waters I think his plan is to use dispeys along with the downriggers and planerboards to get the spread.