Black Box?

[chukardave1]

Sitting here thinking about fishing while it's 15 degrees outside. Gotta Love It! Anyway are any of you guys running with a black box for your downriggers? I picked one up a couple years ago on my way up to Seattle for a sockeye season on Lk Washington. I was in my dad's boat and just kind of quick rigged it to get it up and running. Well we get out there and start fishing. We are watching everyone and their brother catch fish. Had a guy in Kayak row right past us and hook a fish, that one hurt. About a hour passes and we still have nothing. My dad and brother are begging me to turn off the black box but I am stubborn and just tell them to watch their rods. We finally started catching fish but it was really weird the long dry spell we had. I have tried it a couple times since and have it wired in my boat. I have read that kokanee are particularly sensitive but I have not noticed any perceivable difference, but then again I have only fiddled with it a couple times.

Anyone have any take on using a black box, especially for kokanee?

[ElkTalker]

I use one for kokanee fishing and would not leave home without it. It true that not all boats benefit from a black box, but I always set mine anyways. Kokanee are very sensitive to electric currents. I was told that it is even possible to pull a school of kokanee if your cables are emitting the right current. I tried to test this by finding a school of kokanee with my fish finder. Then marking the edge of a school with my gps, I then dropped my cables and set my box and drove through the school again. It seemed to work. Always on the second pass the school would pull out about 30-40ft. This year at Crescent Lake, I fished for an hour without any action after a great morning. I realized my box was off so I turned it back on. Not even five minuets later we started catching fish again. I wouldn’t say it makes all the difference, but now that they are less than $100. Its worth the investment.

[fish-on-bend]

Cannon electrics are preset with a positive ion charge, I forget exactly what the charge is. I believe that the charge is only good if your bait or lure is close to the ball. For macks or bulls I usually have a 300' set back from the ball, I doubt it does any good that far back. Kokes and salmon are probably the best application. I know waterfish and fallriverguy have some knowledge on this one.

[Rick on Rogue]

Originally Posted by ElkTalker

I use one for kokanee fishing and would not leave home without it. It true that not all boats benefit from a black box, but I always set mine anyways. Kokanee are very sensitive to electric currents. I was told that it is even possible to pull a school of kokanee if your cables are emitting the right current. I tried to test this by finding a school of kokanee with my fish finder. Then marking the edge of a school with my gps, I then dropped my cables and set my box and drove through the school again. It seemed to work. Always on the second pass the school would pull out about 30-40ft. This year at Crescent Lake, I fished for an hour without any action after a great morning. I realized my box was off so I turned it back on. Not even five minuets later we started catching fish again. I wouldn’t say it makes all the difference, but now that they are less than $100. Its worth the investment.

I am taking off the cable and replacing it with P-Line. Won't need black box.

[FallRiverGuy]

Some people swear by them. I have one and use all the time, but have forgotten to turn in to on and have still caught fish. If your boat is properly wired and there are not electrical leaks, it may not be as important. I use mine to make sure I am not repelling fish. As for bringing them in, I am not sure about that.

[ElkTalker]

Originally Posted by Rick on Rogue

I am taking off the cable and replacing it with P-Line. Won't need black box.

If you replace the cable with P line, you loose the potential for the cable to attract fish.

Also the charge only extends this far or 20ft from the cable. So if you fish with 300ft of line out you have no need for the box.

I don’t jig for kokanee, but a guy I met said when he finds a school of kokanee he lowers his downriggers and sets the box and the fish stay right there the whole time.
ET

[fish-on-bend]

I experimented with Scotty downrigger braided line last year. I have 2 Cannon electrics with pre-set positive ion charge, like a non-adjustable black box. The catch rate was actually higher on the steel cable. Also blow back at depths over 100' was worse with the braid, probably because it absorbed water while the steel repelled water? Also the braid started to fray after 1 season, I have never worn out a steel cable. I switched back to steel. I like the hum...... Rick---if you want my Scotty braid I'll sell it to you real cheap.

[FallRiverGuy]

Originally Posted by ElkTalker

I don’t jig for kokanee, but a guy I met said when he finds a school of kokanee he lowers his downriggers and sets the box and the fish stay right there the whole time.
ET

That would actually be a good experiment to see if you could cause the schools of fish to come and go. But I have to wonder why a school of fish would hang in one spot if the food was gone. I would have to think that food would be a bigger factor than electrical current. But then again, I am not a fish.

[Waterfish]

To decide whether or not to get a black box for my boat, I tested the boat to see if it was putting out a negative charge (negative charges repel fish). It's pretty easy to test your boat if you follow the steps in Pro-Troll's black box book. You can find the book at Sportsman's Warehouse and other sporting goods stores, or you can order it. Here is a link to the book: http://www.protroll.com/books/?id=5 The book costs about $8.95.

Besides the book, you will also need a digital volt meter. The meter shown in the Pro-troll book is made by Cen-Tech, and you can buy this same meter at Harbor Freight for the astounding prince of only $5.95! To start the tests, set the meter so that it reads from 0 to 1.0 volts.

The electrical tests check to see if either your boat, or your downrigger cables are producing negative charges. If you are putting out negative charges, you will need to run ground wires to anything hanging in the water that is not already connected to the negative post of you battery. Things like trim tabs, kicker motor, bronze transom drain plug, etc. Also very important is to make sure that the zinc anodes on the lower end of your boat engines are in new or very good condition and not covered with white chalky corrosion.

If you've grounded everything that could cause a negative charge, and you are STILL producing a negative charge, then its time to buy a black box.

Luckily, I the tests showed that my boat and downrigger cable produced a low positive charge of about 0.25 volts. I believe that a positive charge of around 0.65 is ideal for kokanee. Since my boat does not create a negative charge, I haven't bought a black box. With a black box I could increase the positive charge up to 0.65 and maybe I would catch a few more fish...

I am going to stay with steel cable because of the reasons that Fish-on-Bend stated, plus the benefit of attracting fish with a positive charge if I ever decide to get a black box.

There's quite a difference in price between a Scotty black box (around $300.00) and a Pro-troll black box ($72.00 at Sportsmans Warehouse). I've heard that the cheaper Pro-troll boxes don't last as long as a Scotty, but that's heresay so take it for what its worth.

[Captain Kirk]

Originally Posted by ElkTalker

but now that they are less than $100. Its worth the investment.

ElkTalker,

Are you refurring to the Cabelas Black Box? Because i see they have one for 109.00 But the Scotty last time I looked was still over $300

Thanks

Kirk

[SummitOne]

I purchased the one from Cabela's for $109. Sportsmans has the exact some one, less the word Cabelas for $79.

[ElkTalker]

I got mine at cabelas last year for $109 but I saw them at sportsmans for a lot less.

[Splash]

I found this thread awhile back and found it quite interesting. There are a couple of good links.

http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?p=698001

[fish-on-bend]

Waterfish and I fished together last weekend and he did a charge test on my boat. My 2 Cannon electrics put out a +.56 charge. I thyink thats right where I want to be. Also no other bad negative charges on my boat except for a transom plug and that wasn't bad.